Whoopi Goldberg wants ESPN to go all-in with the WNBA as Caitlin Clark joins the league and expected to make a big impact. While appearing on The View last week, Goldberg called out ESPN for lowballing the WNBA in its media rights deal as viewership for the league increases. The Academy Award winner revealed that the entire salary books for Clark’s new team, the Indiana Fever, are lower than most NBA rookies.
“The women have the headlines, they have the fans, they have the viewers; when the hell are they going to get paid?” Goldberg asked. “Because ESPN, who we work with as part of the Disney thing, they came in and swooped in.”
Goldberg continued: “I know there’s a re-up coming, but they should have kissed this deal by taking care of all of the WNBA and giving them enough money for a bump up. They should have sweetened that deal.”
This year’s WNBA Draft on ESPN averaged 2.5 millon viewers, the second-most watched WNBA television boradcast in history. The next WNBA broadcast deal will start in 2026, and the negotiaons are under, as mentioned by Awful Announcing.
ESPN has joint deal with WNBA and NBA
The WNBA and NBA have a joint deal with ESPN that is beleived to contrtibute up to two thirds of the WNBA’s $60 million in annual broadcast revenues, according to Sports Pro Media. The hope is for the WNBA to achieve up to $100 million in broadcast revenue in 2024. It’s possible the league could break off from the NBA and seek its own deal.
“We hope to at least double our rights fees,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said on CNBC earlier this month, per Front Office Sports. “Women’s sports rights fees have been undervalued for too long, so we have this enormous opportunity at a time where the media landscape is changing so much. We’re really excited to get out in the marketplace.”
As the WNBA is seeking more money, it’s also looking to add more teams. Engelbert beleives that the league could have 16 teams by 2028.
“It’s complex because you need the arena and practice facility and player housing and all the things you need, committed long-term ownership groups,” Engelbert said before the draft, per ESPN. “And so, the nice thing is we’re getting a lot of calls, we’re continuing to engage with cities.”
Engelbert said Philadelphia, Toronto, Portland, Denver and Nashville are potential spots for WNBA teams. A 13th team is coming and will be owned and opertated by the Golden State Warriors.
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