Speaker 1: In the spring of nineteen ninety seven. There was no
Speaker 1: escaping the news wops women's professional basketball in the United
Speaker 1: States was going to be a thing. For decades, the
Speaker 1: best that talented hoops players could hope for was a
Speaker 1: chance of the US Olympic team or a roster spot
Speaker 1: on one of the European professional teams. Pro Leagues had
Speaker 1: popped up over the years, but disappeared as quickly as
Speaker 1: they materialized. That all changed with a ninety six Olympic
Speaker 1: game and the NBA's announcement that it would create a
Speaker 1: women's league.
Speaker 2: I am pleased to announce that the Board of Governors
Speaker 2: approves the concept of the NBA establishing the Women's National
Speaker 2: Basketball Association.
Speaker 1: It was David Stern's newest obsession, his baby. He ensured
Speaker 1: that it was fully funded and helped secure tea contracts
Speaker 1: and arenas for the women to play in. Rebecca Lobo
Speaker 1: was one of the first to sign on.
Speaker 3: Rebecca Lobo and Cheryl Swoops had become the first players
Speaker 3: to sign contracts.
Speaker 4: I was excited about it. I was excited about a
Speaker 4: new challenge playing professionally, but really didn't really have any
Speaker 4: idea what was to come like when we started doing
Speaker 4: promotional stuff. I think maybe November December of nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 4: There weren't even team logos yet, Like you see stuff
Speaker 4: with Me, Cheryl, Lisa, Lynette Wood in those early days
Speaker 4: and we're just in the WNBA logoed mesh tank top
Speaker 4: and mesh shorts because that's all they had. They had
Speaker 4: a logo for the league, no team colors, no team
Speaker 4: logos yet. I don't even remember when those were unfailed,
Speaker 4: but it was like all so new that I was like,
Speaker 4: all right, where's my mesh tank top when the WNBA logo,
Speaker 4: Let's go make a commercial. That's kind of what it was.
Speaker 1: The most creative ideas often come from a place of
Speaker 1: constraint of limitation.
Speaker 2: No logo, no team names, no problem.
Speaker 1: And the famous commercial was that we got next commercial
Speaker 1: and I mean, it's you and Cheryl's SWOOVESA and Lisa Leslie,
Speaker 1: you know, coming.
Speaker 2: Out of the tunnel. So awesome. It was just like
Speaker 2: one of the great commercials.
Speaker 4: Ever, you know. So we wear these long leather coats
Speaker 4: for this and they said their inspiration was reservoir dogs,
Speaker 4: which I had not seen. At the end of the shoot,
Speaker 4: we're like, can we keep these coats. They say, yes,
Speaker 4: I still have that coat in my basement. Don't wear it.
Speaker 4: I haven't worn it, but I've got this like maybe
Speaker 4: at some point we'll go and like, you know, somebody
Speaker 4: will want it because it was part of that commercial
Speaker 4: with this long leather jacket used in the original. I
Speaker 4: don't have the bray anymore, but I do have the
Speaker 4: long leather jacket.
Speaker 1: We got next, one of the great things to come
Speaker 1: from the NBA's famed marketing department, The song Little Green
Speaker 1: Bag by George Baker's selection was.
Speaker 2: The earworm that the new league needed.
Speaker 1: The visuals were in fact inspired by Quentin Tarantino's cult
Speaker 1: classic reservoir dogs, Leslie Lobo swoops and matching kangle flat
Speaker 1: caps flipped backwards, floor length leathered trench coats and WNBA
Speaker 1: gym bags strutting down a tunnel towards a bright light.
Speaker 1: It's quintessential nineties. The hair, the makeup, the attitude, the beret.
Speaker 1: That was the other thing they had you guys, I
Speaker 1: mean it was it was hysterical. It was like your
Speaker 1: basketball players, but they actually had you guys like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're going to make them look like fashion icons, you know,
Speaker 1: like you guys had full pageant makeup on and everything.
Speaker 4: I think Lisa like had a bear middriff and like
Speaker 4: this was nineteen ninety six, so like now you can't
Speaker 4: buy close that that don't show your middrift. But in
Speaker 4: those days, she likes they had her all, you know,
Speaker 4: cued it.
Speaker 1: Out and uh oh yeah, she was like super model material,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean it was definitely like sex Appeal
Speaker 1: meets basketball, like that was.
Speaker 2: That commercial is.
Speaker 1: So iconic, and I think you should wear that jacket.
Speaker 1: I do think you should take it out and wear
Speaker 1: it like on the air, Like I think we should
Speaker 1: figure something out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like it's so old that I mean it with
Speaker 4: the fashion cycle, it'll probably be in again at some
Speaker 4: point in the near future.
Speaker 2: Here's how Val Ackerman remembers it.
Speaker 5: I mean, I remember we were sitting in a conference
Speaker 5: room and NBA Entertainment came in and presented this and
Speaker 5: we were are jaws dropped. Keep in mind, we had
Speaker 5: no footage in the first year. Heading into the first season,
Speaker 5: we had no game footage because we hadn't launched it,
Speaker 5: so we had to do promotional spots that were really
Speaker 5: just player based on the players that we had signed,
Speaker 5: and it was really for a long time just the
Speaker 5: three of them were the only players we had signed
Speaker 5: it and who we knew much about because they'd been
Speaker 5: on the Olympic team, so we were very very familiar
Speaker 5: with their capability and we felt very comfortable pushing them
Speaker 5: out there as the stars. And that campaign just captured
Speaker 5: at all because it, you know, we got next to
Speaker 5: the basketball phrase if you're on the playground and you know,
Speaker 5: and you win, you get next. If you lose, you're off.
Speaker 5: And we here we were saying, okay, now it's Archurn.
Speaker 5: You know, the men have had their day. Now it's
Speaker 5: on us.
Speaker 1: The video ended with the date June twenty first, nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven.
Speaker 2: Ready or Not? The countdown had begun.
Speaker 1: From the NBA and iHeart podcasts This is NBA DNA
Speaker 1: with Me Hannah Storm, Episode eight, Part two from Pipe
Speaker 1: Dreams to Hoop Dreams.
Speaker 3: Their coach said that would be the key to the game,
Speaker 3: boxing out for rebounds, Paramo.
Speaker 2: For three and Shade Hiss and everything is going to.
Speaker 1: Call that inaugural season of the WNBA Intense would be
Speaker 1: an understatement.
Speaker 6: It all starts with leaps of us emotionally mentally what
Speaker 6: she does out on the floor.
Speaker 1: We worked NonStop on the NBC side setting up a
Speaker 1: new league. Creating anything from scratch is logistically complicated for starters,
Speaker 1: where do you play?
Speaker 2: And when people are always questioning, you.
Speaker 1: Know, why does the WNBA play in the summer? Well,
Speaker 1: they had to fill arenas And that was a big
Speaker 1: way that the league got sold. Was not only did
Speaker 1: it afford the owners an opportunity to fill their arenas
Speaker 1: in the summer, but also it allowed the players to
Speaker 1: still maintain playing overseas well.
Speaker 5: I will say that the main reason you're right on
Speaker 5: both of those counts, The main reason that was television.
Speaker 5: The thinking was we would not be able to get
Speaker 5: prime TV windows if you played in the normal basketball
Speaker 5: fall winter time frame, because those prime windows had been
Speaker 5: consumed already by the NBA, by college basketball men and women,
Speaker 5: the NHL. You had sort of NFL going well into
Speaker 5: now January maybe, February late later on February maybe, and
Speaker 5: every day.
Speaker 2: Of the week now too, right, late.
Speaker 7: Season baseball, late season baseball, in the fall, early season baseball.
Speaker 5: And you can't, you can't.
Speaker 2: You gotta have a window, phone, you gotta a window.
Speaker 5: And that was the summer. And this was, you know,
Speaker 5: the year after Major League Soccer had launched, so NBA
Speaker 5: hadn't yet figured out like how to program the summer
Speaker 5: for themselves with their summer league. So we saw there
Speaker 5: the opportunity, and in fact, our early network arrangements were
Speaker 5: with NBCESPN and Lifetime a game of the week in
Speaker 5: primetime television. So that was the driver because TV meant
Speaker 5: credibility and exposure and revenue.
Speaker 3: Houston trailing by launch twenty seconds. Let's a play on
Speaker 3: the broadcasting. It was a huge shift for me.
Speaker 1: For the first time in my career, I'd be calling games.
Speaker 1: So the stars had already begun to blossom. The Olympics
Speaker 1: just added another layer to Cheryl Swoopster rebec Lobo, Lisa Leslie,
Speaker 1: they are they are household names at this point because
Speaker 1: everybody watches the Olympics, even if you weren't paying attention
Speaker 1: to women's college basketball. Then jump to the decision by
Speaker 1: the NBA We're going to make a business out of this,
Speaker 1: and NBC saying we are going to broadcast those games, and.
Speaker 2: Lisa you are going to produce those games.
Speaker 5: I know it was.
Speaker 8: It was unbelievable and Hannah, you're going to do to
Speaker 8: play back play exactly?
Speaker 2: I was like, what right?
Speaker 8: So, yeah, it was a huge thrill for me. I
Speaker 8: hadn't produced many live sporting events at that time. I
Speaker 8: was mostly you know, the head filmmaker, and to get
Speaker 8: that opportunity as a as a woman in sports television
Speaker 8: was huge for me. To you know, have the support
Speaker 8: of the NBA, to have the support of NBC Sports
Speaker 8: to put me in that position really was a huge honor.
Speaker 4: And then when they told me that you were going to.
Speaker 8: Be my play, my play by play person and Annie
Speaker 8: and Annie Myers was going to be the analyst, it
Speaker 8: was just a dream come true.
Speaker 2: All women crew, a.
Speaker 3: Sellout crowd in Houston, Texas, Hannah Storm, Ann Myers, Lisa Mlaski,
Speaker 3: and Benbrew.
Speaker 8: And to be able to do it with you, Hannah,
Speaker 8: especially because you were just you know, you had just
Speaker 8: given birth and we had to figure that piece out
Speaker 8: of how we're going to kind of do rehearsals and stuff,
Speaker 8: and you were weaning off breastfeeding, and oh yeah, it
Speaker 8: was really a fun time and one of my favorite experiences,
Speaker 8: you know. Ever at NBC I must say it was difficult.
Speaker 8: It was difficult, but it was we got better each game.
Speaker 8: I thought, Okay, I got an ulcer that summer. That
Speaker 8: just tells you everything you.
Speaker 2: Need to know.
Speaker 1: It was hard, yeah, I mean we had I was
Speaker 1: pregnant during the Atlanta Olympics. Then I had my daughter
Speaker 1: Hannah in January, so that was just coming off maternity leave.
Speaker 1: And they were like, you're gonna do play by play,
Speaker 1: which I had never done in my life, right, And
Speaker 1: so I went up actually to Yukon and did a
Speaker 1: couple of games, sat there and observed this lovely woman
Speaker 1: named Doris Burke.
Speaker 8: Right, and Terry Schindler was I think producing that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Terry Siller was reducing it.
Speaker 1: I just remember like I couldn't even the words like
Speaker 1: couldn't even come out of my mouth.
Speaker 2: I'm like, she'd scored. There's a bucket.
Speaker 1: And the guy who really mentored me and was awesome
Speaker 1: was Marv Albert Talker.
Speaker 4: From Free Yes.
Speaker 2: The phone unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I would you know back in the day, you know,
Speaker 1: send Marv my tape, my little practice game, some practice games,
Speaker 1: and then we would get on the phone and he
Speaker 1: would give me pointers.
Speaker 2: But I mean, honestly, it was terrifying. Didn't be good
Speaker 2: for making things happen. You've got to come up on
Speaker 2: an all game launch. She was either scored points in the.
Speaker 6: Bank, she penetrates becaushes off.
Speaker 2: For her teammates. You can't say she's just a score.
Speaker 9: Well, I was working for ESPN, I was doing the
Speaker 9: Women's Final four, and I was doing other than broadcasts
Speaker 9: on the ninety five team. So when NBC came to
Speaker 9: me to do the broadcast, I was a little hesitant
Speaker 9: because I was committed to ESPN. But NBC came in strong,
Speaker 9: and they came in quick, and they said, we've six
Speaker 9: year deal and we were going. And NBC was still
Speaker 9: really kind of being a network, was really kind of
Speaker 9: the top of being able to work for, you know,
Speaker 9: a network like that. And so I'd like to think
Speaker 9: that I meant offenses because I did come back and
Speaker 9: work for ESPN.
Speaker 1: So you had worked with, among other people, the great
Speaker 1: Keith Jackson. So you worked with the greatest, one of
Speaker 1: one of the very greatest of all time, and then
Speaker 1: you have to work with me totally inexperience, had never
Speaker 1: called play by play. Doris Burke helped me, do you
Speaker 1: know a few practice games Marv Albert helped me, do
Speaker 1: you know, gave me some pointers and stuff.
Speaker 2: But I had never done it before in my life.
Speaker 9: You had good connections.
Speaker 2: I mean I was terrified. I got an ulcer that summer.
Speaker 9: Well, remember we had to do that. We had to
Speaker 9: do that practice gig. We had that practice game. It
Speaker 9: was Anna game was a Milwaukee and I can't remember
Speaker 9: who it was, but that was our first you know,
Speaker 9: we had to get our timing together. We didn't know
Speaker 9: each other, I mean, you know, and it was hard
Speaker 9: and certainly not knowing the players, which I knew the
Speaker 9: players because I've seen them a long plays since they
Speaker 9: were eighteen years old. And but yeah, we I thought
Speaker 9: we had a good connection.
Speaker 2: It's so exciting.
Speaker 10: Hi, everybody had a storm, joined by Hall of Famer
Speaker 10: and and unfortunately the biggest star here in Los Angeles
Speaker 10: as a woman who grew up just blocked away from
Speaker 10: the great Western form and start at USC, Lisa Leslie.
Speaker 2: As we saw last week.
Speaker 1: Following the success of the We Got Next campaign, came
Speaker 1: the league's two drafts. The first was an elite draft.
Speaker 1: Every city needs a franchise player Swoops again, Cheryl Swoops,
Speaker 1: who grew up in Texas and starred at Texas Tech
Speaker 1: went to Houston. Lobo, Rebecca Lobo, who starred at Yukon,
Speaker 1: went to New York.
Speaker 2: Leslie from That's a Tour was on.
Speaker 1: Lisa Leslie, who grew up in Compton and start at
Speaker 1: usc was a natural fit for LA. There were two
Speaker 1: drafts also before that first season, because you had to
Speaker 1: figure out how to put this league together. So you
Speaker 1: have an elite draft, the purpose sending a player who
Speaker 1: might be a regional star to a city. So you
Speaker 1: have Cheryl Swoops in Houston, Rebecca Lobo in New York,
Speaker 1: and Lisa Leslian La, all of which make a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. And then you have a draft for college
Speaker 1: players and unsigned veterans.
Speaker 2: So that was a really interesting.
Speaker 1: Process, and I'm wondering what it was like for you
Speaker 1: announcing Tina Thompson a usc AS that first number one
Speaker 1: college pick two percent data.
Speaker 5: Well, we're glad she came with us because we were
Speaker 5: in effect competing with players at that point with the
Speaker 5: American Basketball League the ABL, they were not as resourced
Speaker 5: as we were. They played in the Winner, they came
Speaker 5: out with very high player salaries, which in the end
Speaker 5: they couldn't support and so they ended up folding I
Speaker 5: think after their second season or so, and those players
Speaker 5: then came into the WNBA. But Tina, you know, Tina
Speaker 5: elected to come with us. She was, of course a
Speaker 5: Hall of Famer during her amazing career, with the comments.
Speaker 6: Tina Thompson the MVP, the stars are out tonight.
Speaker 5: She joined two other super stars in Cynthia Cooper and
Speaker 5: Cheryl Swoops.
Speaker 3: Swoop was inching toward the first ever w NBA playoff
Speaker 3: triple double.
Speaker 11: Oh you are the best in the world, Cheryl.
Speaker 2: Right side.
Speaker 5: We had eight teams. We knew more about women's basketball
Speaker 5: than our teams did, so we took a lot of
Speaker 5: liberties here in sort of spreading it around. So we
Speaker 5: took the best sixteen players of the time, which we thought,
Speaker 5: in our opinion, assigned two to each of the eight teams.
Speaker 5: And that that was how Houston got Cheryl and Cynthia.
Speaker 2: That was on us.
Speaker 4: We blew it.
Speaker 5: We didn't realize how good Cynthia Cooper was.
Speaker 2: Cooper driving the land.
Speaker 1: Then they won more consecutive championship. Oh my gosh, we
Speaker 1: created a dynasty.
Speaker 5: We created a dynasty, and you know, Cheryl, we put
Speaker 5: in Texas because that was a marketing decision, sure. And
Speaker 5: then the Elite Draft, which which you noted, was our
Speaker 5: second tier, where we then found what we thought were
Speaker 5: the next sixteen best players and put them in like
Speaker 5: a pool. And then we filled out the rest of
Speaker 5: the rosters with again the college draft and everybody else.
Speaker 5: So we just we needed to stock the teams to
Speaker 5: get it going. And then after that it became more
Speaker 5: normal in terms of the draft every year, et cetera.
Speaker 5: But it took a while because of how bargaining unfolded
Speaker 5: with the players to really get it to a point
Speaker 5: now where it looks more like what you see in
Speaker 5: men's sports, with the draft, with free agency, with players
Speaker 5: filling their contract obligations, having opportunities under certain circumstances to
Speaker 5: switch teams. But those early you know, those early teams,
Speaker 5: we had some amazing women, great pioneers, eventually hall of
Speaker 5: famers women's basketball and Nasmithenix tron.
Speaker 2: To secure a postseason spot.
Speaker 1: Now scoops to the left hand on the pump bags
Speaker 1: field off the Commets with the league's first dynasty, and
Speaker 1: the sports world much as me of a three peet
Speaker 1: and the comments would eventually win four championships in a row.
Speaker 2: Cutting in through the hold. Nobody would be.
Speaker 1: A new They were the conference rivals of Rebecca Lobo's
Speaker 1: New York Liberty in the East.
Speaker 2: The point he gets on board back and Lowbo will
Speaker 2: lay that right.
Speaker 1: In along with the Charlotte Sting and Cleveland Rockers. You
Speaker 1: obviously you were one of the faces of the new League.
Speaker 1: So you know, you've always had a lot of responsibility.
Speaker 1: You had, you know, a lot of pressure on you.
Speaker 1: Or was it more fun or did you feel like,
Speaker 1: dang man, I better deliver. Here they are they are
Speaker 1: making me one of the most prominent faces.
Speaker 2: And also in the New York market, it.
Speaker 4: Was more fun than it was anything else because of
Speaker 4: course this was also before social media and everything, so
Speaker 4: it's not like there was constant negativity being thrown into
Speaker 4: your pocket by Joe Schmoe from wherever, and so like,
Speaker 4: you know, we're getting to go to NBA All Star.
Speaker 4: We went to NBA All Star I think it was
Speaker 4: in San Antonio, maybe that was ninety five with the
Speaker 4: Olympic team, but we were at a couple you know,
Speaker 4: NBA All Star weekends and we were also going to
Speaker 4: the parties at Planet Hollywood or wherever they were on
Speaker 4: those things. All of a sudden, you find yourself in
Speaker 4: a room and you're like, you know, ten yards from
Speaker 4: Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis or like other who were
Speaker 4: at a time a list like people that you're watching
Speaker 4: in the movies. And so that part of it was
Speaker 4: really fun, and getting to go to NBA events and
Speaker 4: parties and just being involved in things. And then when
Speaker 4: they started announcing, you know, allocations and drafts, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 4: I've got some teammates. Now I've got Teresa Weatherspoon and
Speaker 4: Vicki Johnson and Sue Wix, Like, oh, this is cool.
Speaker 4: It's starting to come together. Once training camps started, once
Speaker 4: the season started, the city has so much to offer,
Speaker 4: and you know, there'd be different events again, and like,
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, Spoon and I are invited to
Speaker 4: go and be at this event where there's all these
Speaker 4: professional athletes and actors and whatever. Else.
Speaker 1: In the West, it was the Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury,
Speaker 1: Sacramento Monarchs, and Utah Stars.
Speaker 2: At NBC, it was our job to.
Speaker 1: Introduce sports fans to the faces of the new league Annie,
Speaker 1: Lisa and I interviewed players for profiles to run at halftime,
Speaker 1: doing whatever we could to engage fans, and.
Speaker 5: We all thought it was important, all of.
Speaker 8: Us, I think, right that we needed to let the
Speaker 8: audience know who these incredible women are. And that's the
Speaker 8: purpose of profile type storytelling in general, which started, you know,
Speaker 8: at the Olympics, and then I wanted to bring that
Speaker 8: over into the WNBA because they were you know, yes,
Speaker 8: Rebecca Lobo and Lisa Leslie and Charles Soopster household names,
Speaker 8: but not everybody else. Like and I remember the first
Speaker 8: game because we were doing the New York Liberty at
Speaker 8: the Sparks, I went to Europe to shoot with Teresa.
Speaker 4: Weatherskinol Theresa Wellstreet because you're for that first half time piece.
Speaker 8: She was in Lake Cmo playing you know, Italian ball,
Speaker 8: and and she she's now coaching in the w n
Speaker 8: b A, And it was important for us to have
Speaker 8: even for you know, for you to be doing interviews
Speaker 8: with some of these players prior to so in addition
Speaker 8: to your play by play, you worked in seamlessly you know,
Speaker 8: little anecdotal stories about each player and some of the rivals,
Speaker 8: and you know some of the players who played against
Speaker 8: each other in college, knowing all that, which seems second
Speaker 8: nature now.
Speaker 2: In some cases, the stories wrote themselves.
Speaker 4: Which's the advanced pass for three hits?
Speaker 2: She's got ten.
Speaker 6: Of the game.
Speaker 1: And Cheryl Swoops is one of the one of the
Speaker 1: main stars. She's in that we got next campaign. She
Speaker 1: is all over everything promoting the league, and she's pregnant
Speaker 1: and she is not going to play for a while.
Speaker 2: I think she came back a lot earlier than you know.
Speaker 1: She's pretty superhuman and actually came back to play that
Speaker 1: first year. But that was probably a very, I'm imagining,
Speaker 1: you know, an interesting element to deal with as you
Speaker 1: were going into this first season.
Speaker 5: I remember it was circa New Year's Day, nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 5: Renee Brown, who dear friend, who we hired, had been
Speaker 5: an assistant coach on the ninety six team, who I
Speaker 5: hired to be our player director, and so she was
Speaker 5: the one out there signing getting players for us to sign.
Speaker 5: And I remember her calling me and saying, are you
Speaker 5: sitting down? And I said okay, and she said big news.
Speaker 5: She said, Cheryl's expecting she's pregnant. And this was after
Speaker 5: we had signed her. We were using her in at
Speaker 5: you know, in the marketing campaigns, et cetera. And my
Speaker 5: first question was, you know, what does she do? I said,
Speaker 5: that's great, you know, Chris, you gotta be happy for
Speaker 5: someone who's having a Chimee said.
Speaker 4: What does she do?
Speaker 5: And she said June twenty first, she said she wants
Speaker 5: to just keep doing as much as she can. And
Speaker 5: I said, okay, so well, you know, just do what
Speaker 5: we have to do. And that's what we did, made
Speaker 5: sure she was okay. There's actually there was some creative
Speaker 5: things that were done to kind of as she got
Speaker 5: more pregnant, to sort of show her a little less
Speaker 5: from the bottom down and then more from the bottom up,
Speaker 5: from the waist up. And she was great. I mean,
Speaker 5: she kept herself in shape. She of course did not
Speaker 5: start the season with us because she couldn't, but unbelievably
Speaker 5: she did want to play in that first season. And
Speaker 5: I remember her coming back in August. I remember it
Speaker 5: was a big story.
Speaker 4: She came back.
Speaker 5: I think she was out for about six weeks hand
Speaker 5: if I'm not mistaken, yep, she was, and she came back.
Speaker 5: Her line that first came back wasn't all that spectacular,
Speaker 5: but with each passing game she got better and better better.
Speaker 5: Of course, they won the title that year, and she
Speaker 5: had no small role in that.
Speaker 1: The first ever WNBA game took place as promised on
Speaker 1: June twenty first, nineteen ninety seven, at the LA Forum, home.
Speaker 2: Of the Lakers. It was Rebecca Lobo's New York.
Speaker 1: Liberty against Lisa Leslie's La Spars Marque.
Speaker 3: Matchup between Leslie and Lobo as the two cornerstone franchise
Speaker 3: of the Women's NBA square off here this afternoon in
Speaker 3: the debut game, and now here for the player introductions,
Speaker 3: our PA announcer Roger.
Speaker 1: The New York Liberty defeated the Sparks that day, sixty
Speaker 1: seven to fifty seven.
Speaker 6: Lads Lobo and Lobo at the basket of sort, Rebecca
Speaker 6: Lobo with sixteen.
Speaker 2: Points, the Lobos on the top sixty two.
Speaker 1: Now I called that game, I called the first season
Speaker 1: for NBC, and I remember being terrified, absolutely terrified.
Speaker 2: As a player. What was your experience in that game?
Speaker 4: Excitement and nerves because like I grew up as a
Speaker 4: Celtics band watching Celtics Lakers, Celtics Lakers, So I'm in
Speaker 4: I'm in this, this arena that I've only seen on
Speaker 4: television before, and some of like the iconic memories I
Speaker 4: have as a kid as a kid watching.
Speaker 1: The late banners are hanging from the ceiling and all that,
Speaker 1: right exactly, and like.
Speaker 4: We're on the team bus and this is back in
Speaker 4: the day. By the way, it was great to be
Speaker 4: involved in the WNBA in the early days because especially
Speaker 4: that first year and second year, when you were on
Speaker 4: the road, you were staying where the teams put their
Speaker 4: male counterparts. So we were staying I think at the
Speaker 4: Ritz or the Four Seasons because that's where the Knicks state.
Speaker 4: So like that first year we were I mean, we
Speaker 4: were flying commercially, but in a lot of ways we're
Speaker 4: you know, it's what the teams knew. All let's put
Speaker 4: him up at a really nice hotel. They don't quite
Speaker 4: do that anymore. But I remember being on the bus
Speaker 4: on the way to the Forum and seeing this giant
Speaker 4: billboard and it was just a huge me and profile
Speaker 4: Lisa Leslian profile we got next opening day and just
Speaker 4: seeing that on the way like, oh my gosh, we've
Speaker 4: done all of this promotion to this point. Now here
Speaker 4: it is. And then I think it was in film.
Speaker 4: That morning, we're watching tape and we're having our meeting
Speaker 4: when Nancy Dars who was our coach, and she's going
Speaker 4: over the assignments and she's like, you know, Rebecca, you
Speaker 4: have Lisa Bloom and Kim Hampton, one of our veterans
Speaker 4: who I love, just said, let me take Lisa and
Speaker 4: then and then Rebecca can focus more on the offensive hand.
Speaker 4: And I remember just being like, Okay, I like that.
Speaker 4: That works for me.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 4: And then so but yeah, going out and you know,
Speaker 4: doing media and all of that stuff the day prior,
Speaker 4: and uh, when the game was finally there, it was
Speaker 4: like and there were celebrities court side, which I had
Speaker 4: never experienced, but they were there that day at the Forum,
Speaker 4: and just being like, wow, it's here, but not feeling
Speaker 4: and overwhelming anything other than it's we get to finally
Speaker 4: play basketball.
Speaker 1: For me, it was somewhat terrifying, surreal and thrilling.
Speaker 2: Here's a valve.
Speaker 5: It was an amazing day and night. We had a
Speaker 5: small we had a team from the league office that
Speaker 5: of course trooped out there to see it. I was
Speaker 5: with my dear friend Rick Welts, as I mentioned, who
Speaker 5: was this president of NBA properties at the time. We
Speaker 5: were sort of joined at the hip in the year
Speaker 5: leading in, so we were out there together. I remember,
Speaker 5: you know, visiting Jerry Buss before the game in the
Speaker 5: Forum club. He was divorced at that point. He had
Speaker 5: a young woman with him who he introduced us to
Speaker 5: and said he was very excited that she was going
Speaker 5: to be throwing up the ball for the opening tip.
Speaker 5: And I remember looking at Rick like, wait a minute,
Speaker 5: I thought that was supposed to be me, and he
Speaker 5: and I made a panic phone call back to the
Speaker 5: home office. We didn't want to offend doctor Buss, but
Speaker 5: I really did think it was supposed to be me
Speaker 5: and not her, and we straightened that out. It was
Speaker 5: me in the end, because I know, but that was
Speaker 5: kind of a you know, old Brick and I laughed
Speaker 5: about that moment.
Speaker 2: Fine Leslie gets into it.
Speaker 5: I remember the other thing. Two things. I remember that
Speaker 5: the anthem singer didn't arrive on time. I think it
Speaker 5: was Jeffrey Osborne. Maybe I'm wrong, Oh my god.
Speaker 7: Stuck in traffic, right, stuck in traffic, yes, stuck in traffic,
Speaker 7: and we just waited and waited, and then we ended
Speaker 7: up they ended up unearthing some scratchy recording of the anthem,
Speaker 7: so we used that.
Speaker 5: You know, you know, usually you will have this very
Speaker 5: celebrity singer. We didn't have that. And then I remember
Speaker 5: it not being a very good game. I think the
Speaker 5: players were just so nervous and you may remember that too.
Speaker 5: They were just nervous. And Penny Toller made the first
Speaker 5: shot and.
Speaker 3: The first basket it do WRNBA history is scored by
Speaker 3: Penny Teller at.
Speaker 1: Long Beach Steak, and everyone wanted to know was Lisa
Speaker 1: gonna dunk? You know, and that unfortunately, that was the
Speaker 1: storyline going in.
Speaker 5: And the fans. I just remember the fans coming. We
Speaker 5: had a very good crowd. It wasn't a sell out there,
Speaker 5: but it was probably at least thirteen thousand or so,
Speaker 5: which was very very good crowd, and they were buying stuff.
Speaker 5: And I remember the programs that we sold for that
Speaker 5: first year that we got Next on on the cover.
Speaker 5: It was just it was you were teary eyed because
Speaker 5: all the hard work had paid off. It really happened.
Speaker 5: Balls were bouncing, referees were blowing whistles, You heard sneakers
Speaker 5: squeaking on the hardwood floor, and it was real.
Speaker 2: This is really awesome.
Speaker 6: I have talked to a lot of people that have
Speaker 6: come in and a lot of basketball people. There's so
Speaker 6: much excitement you almost feel like you're playing. Everybody is
Speaker 6: so fire.
Speaker 1: On the broadcast side, we had back to back games,
Speaker 1: first La then Phoenix the very next day.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona. Summertime here.
Speaker 3: And the hottest ticket in this hot town is that
Speaker 3: for the Phoenix Mercury as they are.
Speaker 1: I mean the final attendance in LA. I think they
Speaker 1: were expecting twelve that fans, and the final attendance in
Speaker 1: LA was over fourteen thousand, so they were fans like
Speaker 1: in the upper decks. And then talk about Phoenix, they
Speaker 1: had the Suns had established this incredible fan base. And
Speaker 1: then how about New York, the New York Liberty. That
Speaker 1: was a great atmosphere too, Right, what do you remember
Speaker 1: about it because we did their home opener.
Speaker 9: Well, first of all, I want to go to you know, Phoenix,
Speaker 9: and Cheryl Miller just blows everybody away. I mean with
Speaker 9: her enthusiasm and her excitement. One of the great names
Speaker 9: in a Hall of Famer of the game could coach
Speaker 9: and you know her second year they were in the
Speaker 9: finals against Houston, and you know she was there four years.
Speaker 9: But you know, players would just they said, we'll go
Speaker 9: through a wall for you know, just the different players
Speaker 9: that we had in the league. Andrea Stintson was It
Speaker 9: was between her and Cynthia Cooper as far as who
Speaker 9: was going to be the MVP at the end of
Speaker 9: the year. But Andrea Stintson was just fabulous and fun
Speaker 9: to watch. And but like you said, going to Madison
Speaker 9: Square Garden and seeing the New York Liberty and having
Speaker 9: Teresa Weatherspoon, who played at LSU was an eighty eight Olympian,
Speaker 9: gave you such intense energy and she was going to
Speaker 9: beat you defensively, an incredible passer, played with Kim Hampton
Speaker 9: and Lobull was on that team. And you know at
Speaker 9: LOVO Lobile coming off the Yukon Player the Year, winning
Speaker 9: the championship the Olympic team in ninety six, and Rebecca
Speaker 9: was such a big name and faith in New York.
Speaker 2: Rebecca Lobo.
Speaker 3: We last saw her as an Olympian winning gold in
Speaker 3: Atlanta along with her teammate Lisa Leslie. The two of
Speaker 3: them went against each other in practice and now they
Speaker 3: get a chance to square off as professional.
Speaker 5: So I did four games in a row and then
Speaker 5: winded up back in New York at the end of
Speaker 5: the week where the Liberty had their home opener, which
Speaker 5: was in that and I was with Dave. David came
Speaker 5: to that one, so my husband and my mother and
Speaker 5: my mother in law and I sat with David and
Speaker 5: Diane stern A mod and were shot and Felicia were shot.
Speaker 5: They were to get and that's who we sat with
Speaker 5: at the game, and they were just piling into the guard,
Speaker 5: piling in, and David it was a looking around like stunned.
Speaker 5: I mean, this guy's never speechless. He just didn't have
Speaker 5: anything to say. He was just taking it all in.
Speaker 5: And that was a crowning moment. And I was really
Speaker 5: happy for him and me, but I was really happy
Speaker 5: for him because he, you know, he he made it happen,
Speaker 5: and for him to see with his own eyes that
Speaker 5: it was real and the people cared about this and
Speaker 5: there was something to this.
Speaker 2: It was a moment.
Speaker 5: I'll never forget.
Speaker 2: The paint he gets a board back and lay back.
Speaker 1: The New York Liberty had an incredible fan base that
Speaker 1: first season, complete with court side celebrities just like the Knicks,
Speaker 1: Tyra Banks, Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Jet who actually made voodoo
Speaker 1: dollphs of the opposing team. Now, of course the Liberty
Speaker 1: plays at Barkley's, but they began at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 1: So you play your first home game against Phoenix on
Speaker 1: June twenty ninth, and that's at the Garden, winning that
Speaker 1: one to a sixty five to fifty seven. There were
Speaker 1: almost eighteen thousand people there that day. What do you
Speaker 1: recall about that first home game.
Speaker 4: The memory I have, The strongest memory I have from
Speaker 4: that first home game was we had spent I don't know,
Speaker 4: a couple weeks prior. We had gone to some studio
Speaker 4: and filmed our introduction that was going to play up
Speaker 4: on the jumbo tron at the time, like there's different
Speaker 4: ones of us stepping outside of a skyscraper and like
Speaker 4: one of us catches the ball and passes to somebody
Speaker 4: else who steps out of a skryscraper. At the time,
Speaker 4: it was like really cool. It's like, oh, it was cool.
Speaker 4: So they play that and then they're doing the home
Speaker 4: team introductions and my strongest memory is it was so
Speaker 4: loud in the garden. We couldn't hear our name called,
Speaker 4: So I think I may have been second to last introduced,
Speaker 4: but like somebody would be introduced and we didn't know
Speaker 4: the order yet because it was our first home game,
Speaker 4: and like one of the other players who could hear
Speaker 4: it would like push that player, like you go. It
Speaker 4: was so loud. Eighteen thousand were so loud that you
Speaker 4: could not hear your name during introductions on the PA.
Speaker 4: So that's like my strongest memory. And then also because
Speaker 4: we had been told by Kara blaize Zowski, like every
Speaker 4: team in the league had to spend ten because like
Speaker 4: ten grand to get the drape, the big black drape,
Speaker 4: so that when they didn't fill the upper bowl, they
Speaker 4: could you know, make it look it would still look
Speaker 4: good on TV. It would still look good on TV.
Speaker 4: And not only did we not need the drape for
Speaker 4: that game, they did not need it for the entire season.
Speaker 4: They were always there were always fans in that upper bowl,
Speaker 4: but just kind of being blown away of And where
Speaker 4: some of us were staying was right across the street
Speaker 4: at the south Gate Tower at thirty first and seventh,
Speaker 4: So we got to the game by walking across the street,
Speaker 4: like sometimes through the fans to get to the security gate.
Speaker 4: It's wild to them, like we weren't driving up through
Speaker 4: the tunnel or anything. We didn't even you know, that
Speaker 4: was not an option. Were walking across the street. Hey guys,
Speaker 4: I got to get to my game or else I
Speaker 4: you know, sign more autographs the Liberty.
Speaker 1: That first season, you lead the team and blocked shots
Speaker 1: and rebounds. That season, as I mentioned, the ratings were good.
Speaker 1: And then we get to the playoffs, which at the
Speaker 1: time consisted of teams one through four, and Team one
Speaker 1: would play Team four and Team two would play Team three,
Speaker 1: and then the winners of those games would go on
Speaker 1: to play for the championship. You end up playing the
Speaker 1: Houston comments Moment's.
Speaker 2: Late at thirty to twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Arcade and the Cheryl swoops again one of the one
Speaker 1: of the major stars is on the other side. But
Speaker 1: really what the comments were about was a player who
Speaker 1: had been overseas for years, Cynthia Cooper.
Speaker 2: Our team points off the beautiful shot.
Speaker 1: She kind of became a revelation that season. You guys
Speaker 1: had a nice rivalry and it had the comments number
Speaker 1: that season before the championship game.
Speaker 4: Right, yeah, And I can remember hosting Houston at the Garden,
Speaker 4: and I think that's another game that we sold out
Speaker 4: eighteen thousand or whatever it was, and we were we
Speaker 4: finished second in the Eastern Conference because Houston was in
Speaker 4: the Eastern Conference and the early years of the league,
Speaker 4: and so first round of the playoffs, as you mentioned,
Speaker 4: single elimination, we go and play at Phoenix. I think, yeah,
Speaker 4: it was at Phoenix, win that game and then we
Speaker 4: ended up playing at Houston. But yeah, I do remember
Speaker 4: like just playing Houston in those early years and early on,
Speaker 4: you know, Cheryl wasn't with them yet because she had
Speaker 4: just given birth to her son. She eventually rejoins the team,
Speaker 4: not completely at top form, because how can you be
Speaker 4: after just carrying and delivering a baby. But still it
Speaker 4: was a short season player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's not season.
Speaker 1: She doesn't have time to like work her way in
Speaker 1: for a couple of months in play right, Yes.
Speaker 4: But she was still very prettut she played. But they've
Speaker 4: got this player who I'm like, who's Cynthia Cooper? And
Speaker 4: how come nobody in the league can guard her off
Speaker 4: a pick and roll?
Speaker 3: Cooper Cooper driving dishing it up?
Speaker 2: What's a lab One night.
Speaker 1: That first season was short, just twenty eight games over
Speaker 1: two months. In the end, it was the Comments versus
Speaker 1: the Liberty for the first ever w NBA title. Do
Speaker 1: you remember, because I do, specifically the championship. It was
Speaker 1: just a championship game, you know, the way they had
Speaker 1: set it up. One game and they defeat the New
Speaker 1: York Liberty. And I remember sitting in the summit in Houston.
Speaker 1: My mom was there, so I was able to bring
Speaker 1: my baby. But I remember sitting with you and the
Speaker 1: confetti falling from the ceiling of the summit onto the
Speaker 1: players and the fans.
Speaker 2: That feared there was incredible.
Speaker 1: And I panic for a moment, like, wow, I better
Speaker 1: say something profound, And I think I said something like
Speaker 1: the Houston Comments have won the first of the NBA Championship.
Speaker 2: Thanks Lisa on the Houston Comments.
Speaker 3: We'll go down in history as the first ever w
Speaker 3: NBA champions.
Speaker 1: But you do you remember the feeling of just like,
Speaker 1: we worked so hard that season. We had production meetings
Speaker 1: that lasted four hours. We were grinding week after week
Speaker 1: dealing with all this pressure. Do you sort of remember
Speaker 1: the feeling of as that confetti was falling and it
Speaker 1: kind of as that season wound to a close.
Speaker 2: What you were feeling, Well, it's.
Speaker 9: So much builds up to it. And like you talked
Speaker 9: about ninety five, ninety six, now you're ninety seven, and
Speaker 9: you know, people took a lot of athletes will say,
Speaker 9: you know, what we do on the court, what you
Speaker 9: get to see, you don't see behind the scenes. What
Speaker 9: got us there, the hard work, like you said, even
Speaker 9: with us, the work that we did behind the scenes.
Speaker 9: But for me, it was euphoria, honestly, meaning the game
Speaker 9: as long as I have and seeing where it came
Speaker 9: from and all the different people that have tried to
Speaker 9: make another league happen and so forth. And you know,
Speaker 9: you've got to go through failures before you have successes,
Speaker 9: and certainly I think the w NBA has gone through
Speaker 9: a lot of that too. And but that, yeah, to
Speaker 9: see the confetti and to see that people cared and
Speaker 9: that people put money into the league and into their
Speaker 9: teams and that they supported it was so important. And
Speaker 9: to know that you felt validated as women athletes.
Speaker 11: Today we're all part of history.
Speaker 1: He knew that.
Speaker 2: I mean, did you.
Speaker 1: Envision at the time, because you made it to the
Speaker 1: championship Games, you think, oh, we'll get it next year.
Speaker 2: We'll get it next year. We'll get it next year.
Speaker 1: What was it like, kind of running up against that
Speaker 1: juggernaut every year?
Speaker 4: It was just I'm not sure exactly what it was.
Speaker 4: I do, however, remember maybe their third championship, maybe their
Speaker 4: third or fourth championship, and we're getting ready to play
Speaker 4: them one of those years. So we didn't make it
Speaker 4: to it in ninety eight, so maybe ninety nine or
Speaker 4: two thousand, whenever. Whenever, those one of those years, we
Speaker 4: end up playing Houston in the playoffs. And I had
Speaker 4: a friend who was on the on the comics that year,
Speaker 4: and we had literally that morning at shoot arounds, or
Speaker 4: maybe it was the day before because it's a day
Speaker 4: game or something like that. We had gone over like
Speaker 4: for two hours in our shoot around. How we're going
Speaker 4: to guard this, how we're going to guard that, How
Speaker 4: we're going to try to guard see in the pick
Speaker 4: and roll. And my friend told me that Houston shoot
Speaker 4: around was like twenty minutes, and they were like, it
Speaker 4: didn't matter. They still beat us that game and that
Speaker 4: series because they had the best players in the world
Speaker 4: and they had the best team.
Speaker 1: It's so believable, isn't it. Crazy that the Liberty have
Speaker 1: never won a title. I know, I know, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, this could be the year. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: kind of wild to think, like, here we are two
Speaker 1: and a half decades later and they still haven't won
Speaker 1: a title.
Speaker 4: Well, and it's just incredible to see the Liberty's journey
Speaker 4: because they've been such an important franchise to the success
Speaker 4: of the WNBA since the beginning, you know, a super
Speaker 4: team last year playing in the finals, you know, selling
Speaker 4: out Barkley Center, and then this year, you know, we
Speaker 4: really have a potential to go for a deep run,
Speaker 4: if not potentially win a championship as well. But it's
Speaker 4: in some ways it kind of mirrors like the WNB.
Speaker 4: It started off with a bang, and then like there's
Speaker 4: some ebbs and flows, and it feels like now it's
Speaker 4: really on the rise again.
Speaker 1: How proud are you of your part in that legacy
Speaker 1: of the WABA which is continuing and ongoing obviously.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was. It was my overwhelming feeling the bubble
Speaker 4: season of twenty twenty, where the women's players use their
Speaker 4: voice every single turn that they could to stand up
Speaker 4: for what was right. My overwhelming feeling was I am
Speaker 4: so proud to have been a part of this league
Speaker 4: from the beginning and to have these women in a
Speaker 4: place now where if they see something is wrong, they're
Speaker 4: going to speak out on it. That they're always going
Speaker 4: to be on the right side of social justice issues
Speaker 4: and they're always going to be willing to speak out
Speaker 4: on those issues, oftentimes before any other any other athletes do.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's crazy to think, gosh, maybe late nineties,
Speaker 4: early two thousands, two Wix, my teammate with a liberty
Speaker 4: comes out and the first openly gay maybe professional athletes
Speaker 4: at the time, certainly in a team sport, and how
Speaker 4: different that is now and how players can be their
Speaker 4: true selves, people in society in general can be And
Speaker 4: the part that she played in getting everyone there. You know,
Speaker 4: they're they're people who you know, did a lot on
Speaker 4: the court, but there are a lot of important things
Speaker 4: happening off the court as well, and certainly to see
Speaker 4: how the women are now is something I take an
Speaker 4: incredible amount of pride in the even the smallest piece
Speaker 4: I played in the in the foundation of it all.
Speaker 3: It's been a great opportunity for us all to be
Speaker 3: here at the very beginning of this season of something
Speaker 3: special and something that will impact sports for years to come.
Speaker 3: Once again, the final score from Houston to come at
Speaker 3: sixty five.
Speaker 2: Pretty sure. We cried quite a bit that summer.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we did.
Speaker 1: Of just a relief and pressure or you know, you
Speaker 1: talk about the pressure on the players, but there was.
Speaker 1: There was a huge amount of pressure on us. This
Speaker 1: was David Stern's baby, this was national TV, this was
Speaker 1: the first.
Speaker 2: Year of the league. We hadn't done it before.
Speaker 1: There was an enormous amount of pressure to get it right.
Speaker 1: And I think looking back on it, what I'm really
Speaker 1: proud of is that we covered it like the.
Speaker 2: NBA was covered.
Speaker 1: We we treated it like a major sporting event. We
Speaker 1: treated it like it deserved to be treated. And listen,
Speaker 1: I can't even we poured our heart and soul into that.
Speaker 1: I mean, if nothing else, just the effort, Yeah, we tried.
Speaker 1: The passion was there in spades, right.
Speaker 8: Yeah, And there were some you know, great moments, and yes,
Speaker 8: you know, I know I made some mistakes along the
Speaker 8: way that season. You know, you just learning, come on, yeah,
Speaker 8: who is live basketball? And yeah, you know, but you know, overall,
Speaker 8: I think it made an impact. We you know, getting
Speaker 8: to know those players better in some of the coaches
Speaker 8: like Nancy darsh at New York, and you know, just
Speaker 8: it was a special time, a really special time. And
Speaker 8: I hope that, you know, as the league continues to grow,
Speaker 8: and I think the players do they look back at
Speaker 8: those early days because it was hard, and you know,
Speaker 8: most of these players, I think ten players from that
Speaker 8: Olympic team wound up playing and or coaching in the WNBA.
Speaker 2: And would have a storied career.
Speaker 1: As general manager of the Phoenix Mercury, she built her
Speaker 1: own champions winning titles in two thousand and seven, oh
Speaker 1: nine and twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2: Where do you see the league going now?
Speaker 1: On the heels of this incredibly successful NCAA Tournament of
Speaker 1: the Stars, really rising tide lifts all boats.
Speaker 2: There are casual sports.
Speaker 1: Fans now who can name multiple rookies coming into the league.
Speaker 1: With Caitlin Clark leading the way and teams literally changing
Speaker 1: the venues of their games for when she comes into town.
Speaker 1: Charter Flights have now been approved an expansion team in Toronto.
Speaker 2: Where do you see this league going?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, you go.
Speaker 9: Back to day one with bel Ackerman and and all
Speaker 9: the other presidents we've had and Donna Orangeer and now
Speaker 9: we've got Kathy Ngelberg who's done a terrific job as
Speaker 9: far as getting sponsors and so forth, and people locking in.
Speaker 9: The sponsorships have been huge. But you know, people used
Speaker 9: to ask me, oh, where's the WNBA going? It's a
Speaker 9: floding league. And you know, we were adding teams Detroit
Speaker 9: and Washington and Miami Orlando and some teams who weren't
Speaker 9: doing while and so forth, and you know, Utah got
Speaker 9: you know, went under and went to San Antonio and
Speaker 9: San Antonio Las Vegas, and it just people would ask,
Speaker 9: where do you see the league? I said, ask me
Speaker 9: in twenty years. Well, now we're twenty eight years in
Speaker 9: and I'm thinking, hey, another twenty eight we're going to
Speaker 9: be around to show question. I think the fact that
Speaker 9: you know, more and more companies understanding that women's sports
Speaker 9: has taken what over fifty plus years with tied to
Speaker 9: nine to get us there, but they see the benefits
Speaker 9: of what women's sports can bring to the table and
Speaker 9: housemaking money. And certainly social media is a big part
Speaker 9: of things today, and so is betting because a lot
Speaker 9: of these betting companies are major sponsors. And so those
Speaker 9: two things to me, have really changed sports a lot,
Speaker 9: and I think they see that women's sports is kind
Speaker 9: of a new and up and coming even though it's
Speaker 9: been coming for a long time. I you know, the
Speaker 9: expansions coming. As you said, I mean, there are so
Speaker 9: many cities that want women's basketball, and we have the
Speaker 9: excitement of the college players. The NIL has changed things,
Speaker 9: The transport port rule has changed things, and so those
Speaker 9: are things at all these college and high school coaches
Speaker 9: are concerned about are they going to leave and how
Speaker 9: much money they're making it on that level, and then
Speaker 9: coming to the pros, salaries are going to go up
Speaker 9: and up. I would like to see, you know, obviously
Speaker 9: where there's a salary cap. I know that the charter
Speaker 9: flights have just come in to play because of Britney
Speaker 9: Grinder really last year when she came back from Russia.
Speaker 9: She was the start of it. Because now you can
Speaker 9: say Caitlin Clark coming in and you know, the really
Speaker 9: security that these players need, and so that's been something
Speaker 9: that's been plus for the players, I think as far
Speaker 9: as having the charter flights, but also you know, I
Speaker 9: personally would love to see this league longer than four
Speaker 9: four and a half months. I'd love to see it
Speaker 9: at six or seven months. I also would like to
Speaker 9: see it at some point and I don't know however
Speaker 9: they're ever going to work it out. But every two
Speaker 9: years they change when the season starts because of the
Speaker 9: World Cup and also the Olympics, and they take three
Speaker 9: four weeks off. So that's tough because now you've got
Speaker 9: to gear back up and sell it again. So when
Speaker 9: you're out of the market after four months, it's it's
Speaker 9: hard to market the product. And I think because of
Speaker 9: what happened to Britney Griner last year in Russia, not
Speaker 9: as many players they're going over to certain countries, but
Speaker 9: there are still players going over season playing whether it's
Speaker 9: in Italy or Spain or Irelander. You know, there's so
Speaker 9: many different other places to play, and so that's still there.
Speaker 9: But you don't want these kids playing twelve months out
Speaker 9: of the year, and that's what's happening. So I would
Speaker 9: love to see the WNBA be the league that our
Speaker 9: players play in.
Speaker 1: Whether the increased interest in women's basketball continues to manifest
Speaker 1: itself in larger salaries and longer seasons remains to be seen,
Speaker 1: but there is no doubt significant progress has been made
Speaker 1: on the backs of all of those who came before.
Speaker 1: Next Time on NBA DNA, The Spectacular Return of the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers NBA DNA with Hannah Storm is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeart Podcasts, The NBA, and Brainstorm and Productions.
Speaker 1: The show is written and executive produced by me Hannah Storm,
Speaker 1: along with Julia Weaver and Alex French. Our lead producer
Speaker 1: and showrunner is Julia Weaver. Our senior producers are Peter Kouder,
Speaker 1: Alex French, and Brandon Reese. Editing and sound design by
Speaker 1: Kirk Garn and Julia Weaver. The show's executive producers are
Speaker 1: Carmen Belmont, Jason English, Sean ty Tone, Steve Weintraup, and
Speaker 1: Jason weikelt
Speaker 4: He s