WNBA is entering a new era: Skyrocketing viewership, sold-out arenas, young stars
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«He's like, 'Oh, I had to fly commercial. I didn't have these charter flights.' Or, 'Oh, these guys are making $40 million. Like, my contract was only — I don't know, $10 million.' And he kind of sounds disgruntled,» Bird said on NPR's «Fresh Air» last month.
Bird, who retired from the WNBA after the 2022 season, cannot wait to toss out her own back-in-my-day tales.
«I've always joked, I hope I'm that disgruntled athlete because that means all the blood, sweat and tears was for something,» she said. «It means the game has grown.»
Bird has not been out of the league even two full years, but the league she will watch this summer is already in a better place than it was when she quit playing.
Changes momentous and minute are aplenty as the 28th regular season begins Tuesday. For years, as Bird and her generation of players graced the hardwood, the WNBA chipped away at areas of growth. But now the pace of the adjustments is explosive.
«To be very honest, the impact of the wave right now is more profound than I thought it was going to be,» said Lisa Brummel, an owner of the Seattle Storm, which added Bird to its ownership group this spring. «It got to be a bigger wave a lot faster than what I think we projected it to be. And wow, I'll say it feels amazing.»
Television viewership numbers have skyrocketed across women's basketball. April's draft averaged a record 2.47 million viewers, a 307% increase over last year, and it was the most-viewed WNBA telecast since 2000. The first preseason exhibition for Chicago Sky
