As basketball seasons come and go, familiar names like Micheal Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlin and more male National Basketball Association (NBA) stars are always brought up when talking about the best of the best, but what about women?
For years, the Women’s National Ball Association (WNBA) has been overlooked for not being entertaining enough or looked at as not able to bring in the same money as many NBA games.
However, this season showed new possibilities for the WNBA as the 2023 playoffs had its highest TV viewership in 20 years and it’s highest attendance record in 13.
Many might not be familiar with the talents of certain players like Sue Bird, who retired last year after spending 19 years with the Seattle Storm, and remains the WNBA’s all-time winningest player with an iimpressive 333 games.
Some might not even be familair with top players who are from El Paso like Kayla Thornton who currently plays for the New York Liberty. Thornton who played under the renowned Keitha Adams, who has since returned to UTEP this season and also played in this year’s WNBA finals against the Las Vegas Aces.
These are just two of hundreds of talented women basketball players who are consistently overlooked because they don’t bring a “wow factor” to the game, according to some who claim to be sports fanatics. The talent is there for many to be entertained, audiences just need to tune in.
A common misconception is the lack of people being interested or even lack of competitiveness when personally, womens basketball has consistently put out intense matches all year round and not just during its playoff season.
For example, this 2023 season the Las Vegas Aces became the first team to win back-to-back championships, proving the team’s consistency and strengths.
The same is accurate for college basketball. Last month the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team broke the record for women’s basketball single-game attendance record, selling 55,646 tickets for the game, which took place outside at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium. Numbers like these prove that women’s basketball has as much entertainment value as men’s basketball. Modern times have shown women’s sports has entertainment value either equal to or surpassing that of male sports.
Though I do believe a lot of the desire to support women’s sports came from the back-to-back World Cup wins by the United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) in 2015 and 2019, I believe it is time we support on a deeper level by rooting for collegiate women athletes and other sports more.
From our own UTEP Miners to asking cities to create bigger, better and safe spaces for women sports to thrive in.
Slowly, certain cities have understood the memo that women’s sports are a part of the world of athletics. They are real athletes, and they can also put on a show while showing off their athleticism and skills. Kansas City has announced a stadium dedicated to the Women’s soccer club, Kansas City Current, expansion of adding new clubs like the Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles, created by Natalie Portman to support women.
There are no doubt women sports are seeing an increase in viewership and appreciation, but I believe there is still a long way to go, especially here locally.
We can always grow, and I hope I get to see that growth in El Paso. Allowing them to get with the times and focus on women’s sports and its audience just as much as they did when they wanted to remove Durangito; a historical neighborhood in El Paso, for an entertainment district.
Itzel Anahi Giron is the Editor-in Chief and may be reached at [email protected]; @by.itzel.giron on Instagram, and @itzel_anahi_16 on X.
