The 2024 WNBA season has been one of the most exciting in league history. The league's competitiveness and the addition of rising stars from the spring draft have dialogue at unprecedented levels. WNBA legend and former Seattle Storm star Sue Bird spoke about the league learning how to maintain its buzz, drawing on the mistakes of a past US Women's Soccer World Cup team.
The US Women's Soccer team won the 1999 FIBA World Cup, which gathered a lot of increased attention. However, the buzz began to fade, and Sue Bird compared the falloff to the 1996 Team USA Women's basketball squad that won a gold medal around the same time the WNBA began.
“There have been these pivotal moments and I think what we’ve seen is a peak and then sadly some sort of drop off after. We didn’t have the infrastructure, we didn’t have enough understanding of how to keep the moment going, and I do think that’s what the difference [is] about what’s happening now,” Bird said, via an episode of Open Run.
“I think we’re learning from, whether you talk about the 99’ers with soccer, you know for me obviously as a basketball player it’s that ‘96 Women’s team in Atlanta that started the WNBA. Again, it’s kind of had some peaks and some valley’s and now because of those learning curves I guess we understand that we have to keep pushing now’s not the time to be like, oh we made it, we’re good, we’re done. Now’s actually the time to keep pushing, keep talking about things,” Bird added.
Sue Bird highlights how WNBA can keep conversation going
Bird's larger point captured the need for the WNBA to keep its excitement and dialogue sustainable. One way the league is doing so is by highlighting the stars who have entered the league as national sensations.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese brought heaps and mounds of fans to the WNBA when they were drafted before the 2024 season. The boom of Clark and Reese's rivalry began in college when LSU faced Iowa in the 2023 NCAA Tournament championship. The Tigers beat the Hawkeyes, and Reese was not shy about letting Clark and the world know she had arrived.
Fast forward to 2024, and both Reese and Clark have their teams in a position to make the WNBA Playoffs. The individual matchups between the Sky and the Fever have broken viewership records and only look to grow as the two stars continue to face off.
With Clark, Reese, and several other talented, interesting athletes leading the next generation of the WNBA, the league will be in good hands.
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