The sport has gone from “Ho Hum” to millions of new fans watching. But many newcomers don’t want to see a game that borders on brutality.
The WNBA needs to learn a practice that is followed in other women’s sports. Women’s lacrosse is a beautifully fast-paced game filled with physicality that is growing in popularity as fast as any sport in America. However, by rule, one thing that has remained constant is that it does not allow body checking. The same rule applies in women’s hockey–no body checking is permitted.
So why does the WNBA allow, defend, and, in some cases, even encourage bodychecking? One reason is outside encouragement. Take, for example, advice given by Draymond Green of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, a player known for his rough play style. He has advocated adding an “enforcer” to every WNBA team–a player who can retaliate against opponents who insist on playing the ‘bully role” and body checking.
There’s also the matter of the WNBA’s newfound popularity. The sport wasn’t widely followed until Caitlin Clark entered the league, meaning millions of eyes followed her from college to the pros. But many new fans aren’t the same folks who watch professional boxing, wrestling, martial Arts, or UFC fighting. So, concerns about the game are being voiced, not by just a few, but by many. Those fans want to see a masterful display of basketball–a beautiful game, as the legendary John Wooden once put it–not a game of pushing and showing that borders on brutality inflicted by bodycheckers and enforcers.
This bad-look situation has gone too far and fast—just in the first few weeks of the new season—and is now at the crisis stage. It jeopardizes sustaining the newfound popularity of professional women’s basketball.
WNBA, you have fought a long and hard battle to establish yourself. Finally, you’ve gained the market traction you deserve, which should have happened long ago. Now you have it, but your viability is also at stake. To respond, stay true to yourself: stop the bodychecking and end ugly basketball.
