WNBA’s Coverage Gap

October 23, 2020

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WNBA postseason coverage was lacking from major outlets, cord-cutters continue to impact AT&T, Adidas is reportedly looking to sell Reebok, and Manchester United reports COVID-19’s impact on its last fiscal year.

Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports

Women’s sports notoriously receive a fraction of the coverage men’s sports see, but a tracking of coverage during the entirety of the WNBA Playoffs — which wrapped earlier this month with the Seattle Storm’s win over the Las Vegas Aces — showed just how little. In six major newspapers across the country, the WNBA garnered just over 3% of total sports coverage.

The New York Times had the most women’s basketball reporting of the big six papers in that time frame, with 10.2% of its coverage dedicated to the WNBA — and another 6.4% for other women’s sports. The Chicago Tribune performed the worst, with a paltry 0.8% of its sports coverage dedicated to the WNBA. Newspapers in the home cities of the finalists — the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Seattle Times — performed a bit better than most, with 5.07% and 12.12%, respectively.

Despite the mainstream coverage gap, the W had a solid summer in the Wubble. The season began with the viral orange hoodie campaign, which is now the league’s best-selling merchandise item ever. Skincare and makeup brand Glossier also recently became the WNBA’s first “beauty partner.”

Major Outlets’ Sports Coverage During WNBA Playoffs:

NFL — 28.11%
MLB — 20.14%
NBA — 13.41%
College Football — 12.90%
NHL — 6.00%
WNBA — 3.10%

Cord-Cutting Continues

Jefferson Graham via Imagn

AT&T reported a 5% year-over-year drop in quarterly revenue to $42.3 billion. Decreasing pay-television customers and movie theater closures offset the growth from wireless, broadband and its HBO Max streaming service.

The company’s pay-TV segment dropped 627,000 customers, continuing a mass exodus from the platform — it lost approximately 1 million customers each of the last two quarters. The loss of pay-TV subscribers helps tell the broader story of massive ratings drops seen for many sports properties.

HBO Max — which launched in May — now has 8.6 million subscribers, but is still lagging behind competitor Disney+, which has added more than 60.5 million subscribers globally since launching in November 2019.

Streaming Headlines

ESPN is moving more of its written content under ESPN+, which also includes live sports streaming and studio show offerings.
Hulu has dropped Sinclair-owned Fox regional sports networks, including YES.
NBC Sports will shift its rugby coverage to Peacock.

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Kick Off The Reeboks

Petar Milošević via Wikimedia Commons

Adidas is reportedly looking to shed Reebok 14 years after acquiring the brand for $3.8 billion. An internal review of Reebok is still in the “early stages,” but Adidas hasn’t achieved much success with the brand that was founded in 1958.

Reebok sales dropped 42% in the second quarter of 2020, while accounting for 8% of Adidas’ total sales in the first half of the year. Adidas has focused Reebok on fitness in recent years, and it currently has official footwear and apparel sponsorship deals with UFC and Spartan Race. It also has a deal with CrossFit that is set to expire this year.

Several companies could be interested in Reebok, including Timberland and North Face owner VF Corp and China’s Anta. Adidas could reportedly ask for less than $2.4 billion.

Man U’s Fiscal Dip

Ank Kumar via Wikimedia Commons

Without fans in attendance for much of the English Premier League season, Manchester United reported an 18.8% drop in revenue for its 2020 fiscal year ending in June. The world’s third-most valuable soccer team reported a loss of $29 million on $641 million in revenue, down from last year’s $24 million profit.

Manchester United saw match-day revenue drop 19% year-over-year, but did note some losses were offset by reduced costs. Along with the pandemic impacting the bottomline, so too did the club’s subpar play on the field — it missed out on the valuable UEFA Champions League tournament last year, which contributed to a 41.9% dip in broadcast revenue year-over-year.

Commercial revenue was up with a 5.6% jump in sponsorships, thanks to eight new global partnerships including a strategic deal with Chinese retailer Alibaba.

Manchester United’s Fiscal Year By the Numbers:

$352 million in commercial revenue
$177 million in broadcast revenue
$113 million in match-day revenue
Stock price has dropped from $16 to $13 in the past year

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Latest On FOS

Ball Corporation is making its next move in sports to help push sustainability, putting its name on the home of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. The Colorado-based company, largely known for producing cans and jars, released the Ball Aluminum Cup in 2019, essentially a more eco-friendly version of the plastic cups used in arenas.

The Saints have rolled out new content efforts aimed at bridging the physical gap between themselves and Saints Nation — including “Dome at Home,” a second-screen experience feature on the team app.

Weeks before he suited up for his first NFL game, Cowboys backup quarterback Ben DiNucci was involved in an effort to help others, partnering with ISlide to design a product that benefits a student group at his alma mater.

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59% of respondents said they haven’t listened to an audiobook in the past year; 21% have listened to one to two; and 20% have listened to more than three.

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