how do we feel about Engelbert now? between investigating the Aces, announcing one expansion franchise, fundraising efforts, and anything else that came up this past year. poll lasts till the end of New Years Day.
Did she twist the arm of Joe Lacob to finally get an expansion team? I don't blame her for both Toronto and Portland falling apart. Not sure about the disaster that happened in Vegas with Hamby. I wonder how much scrabbling is being done to try and get a 14th team to join Golden State in 2025? I also don't think it's wise to have a 40 game schedule next season. Prioritization might become a huge headache this free agency as well.
not having a 14th team lined up in time for the great gold rush of 2025’s Draft likely won’t hurt the league, but it will hurt the masses of fringe talent out of eligibility that year. for that, i remain a bit bitter.
while it’s been established that we have differing opinions on this matter of expansion, i suppose we both can take solace in the Golden State franchise beginning play in 2025. perhaps even for differing reasons, but still.
I'm happy with expansion, but I don't think Engelbert had much to do with the decision. Executing the details, yes, but that's administration, not leadership.
on the other hand, the other argument is, is it really in the best interest of NBA’s primary stakeholders – assuming they control the W, which is absolutely plausible – to see the W expand in both schedule and number of franchises? or to stay at essentially a minor-league level?
on the other hand, the other argument is, is it really in the best interest of NBA’s primary stakeholders – assuming they control the W, which is absolutely plausible – to see the W expand in both schedule and number of franchises? or to stay at essentially a minor-league level?
Now that's the key question, and it really depends on the motivations of the NBA and the rest of the owners of the league.
The answer is apparently that the owners want to see existing franchises stable and profitable before expanding, and feel that the boost in ratings brought on by expansion isn't worth the downside of watering down the talent and adding ownership they're not 100% sure about.
And I'm sure existing teams have no desire to lose rotation players off of already thin rosters to expansion, plus drop further in the draft. Everybody wants to win, as that's what drives attendance and sponsorship, and expansion will hurt all teams' quality of play. Presumably it will hurt some more than others, but I don't think it's clear to the owners which teams fall in which group -- and even if they did know, they would band against the deeper teams who could absorb expansion draft losses more than most.
It was looking like Portland and Toronto were going to get in along with Golden State. Portland joining in 2025 while Toronto was probably 2026 or 27 with 16th team. Now Cathy is trying to get something settled to get that 14th team to join Golden State in '25 to keep the league even.
we’ll probably never know who messed up the Portland bid more, between the league vs. the prospective owner(s). felt like there could’ve been blame to go around on both sides to a slight degree. if calling the team the “Rose City ____” instead of the “Portland ____” was a sticking point for Engelbert, then that honestly seems kinda petty to me. 😓 again, we may never know.
but i’ve lost hope at this point that a 14th team will be announced in a timely manner such that they can start play in 2025 with the Golden State team. at least we’ll have the one.
Cathy's two biggest obstacles for her tenure are coming up. The players will opt out of the current CBA and there's a new TV deal that needs to happen. Both will likely shape the long-term future of the league. By 2025, Cathy will have been commissioner for 6 years. Longer than the three previous "Presidents" the league has had. Only getting one expansion team in during her time will be a negative though. Of course, that all depends on how long Cathy keeps the job.
I fully believe Cathy will get a blockbuster deal for the TV deal. The CBA will be contentious no matter what and she will get a lot of negative press for that regardless of what she does.
I think if she secures a strong deal, she should look for a successor. I think she could likely get a much higher paying gig after this.
that 0 people have voted for the “disapproval” option in the polls really speaks to how much respect she has gained. either that, or this is simply the first semi-competent ‘leader’ the W has ever had. (probably not though, considering how the longtime fans still bring up the good ole Val Ackerman days from time to time – an era that was a bit before my own time.)
Cathy's the fifth Commissioner/President. She's lasted 4 years currently heading into her fifth year. Laurel Richie & Lisa Borders lasted four years each. Donna Orender lasted 5 years. Val Ackerman stayed for ten years. It appears she'll be around through the launch of Golden State, getting a new TV deal and a new CBA. After that, her job would be to stabilize the league after 2025 and focus on expansion (again).
as the tv deal runs out at the end of the 2025 season, i think it should be negotiated and finalized by no later than the end of the upcoming season. (i doubt we hear much from her this coming season related to expansion & whatnot.)
if what’s going on with ESPN/the ACC and its biggest brand(s) is any indication, Engelbert needs to diversify the tv partners for the next deal and minimize ESPN’s involvement moving forward. i think she’s going in that direction, too. an all-streaming deal like MLS has with Apple would be bad as well. basically copy the Big Ten’s media deal as best you can, Cathy E.!
as the tv deal runs out at the end of the 2025 season, i think it should be negotiated and finalized by no later than the end of the upcoming season. (i doubt we hear much from her this coming season related to expansion & whatnot.)
if what’s going on with ESPN/the ACC and its biggest brand(s) is any indication, Engelbert needs to diversify the tv partners for the next deal and minimize ESPN’s involvement moving forward. i think she’s going in that direction, too. an all-streaming deal like MLS has with Apple would be bad as well. basically copy the Big Ten’s media deal as best you can, Cathy E.!
My big concern with minimizing the ESPN deal is the loss of free promotion. ESPN promotes the fuck out of their own content. The stark difference in NASCAR amd NHL coverage when ESPN does or does not have a contract with the respective sports is very telling. As much as people like to complain, the increase in talk on ESPN about the league has benefited the league immensely. If you have no games on ESPN, and possibly if they are no longer your marquee partner, then you will lose a substantial amount of talking head /SportsCenter press. I think ESPN knows this leverage too which makes negotiating with them a bit complicated. I do not think the league will be able to retain their sports media coverage if, say, CBS, is the marquee partner. No one watches CBS for sports coverage.
I do wonder if an ESPN/ESPN+ deal could be the best option? I personally like the diversification of the TV deal but I would be VERY alarmed for the momentum of the league if they end up with a deal like MLS. Great money but complete isolation in the sports media landscape.
imo Engelbert just needs to threaten to walk away from ESPN and truly show ESPN that she's prepared to walk away from them if they try to get most/all of the W's content again but lowball her in negotiations. most likely ESPN keeps a majority of the W's content, which is not terrible but only if it's good value for the W. still, let's hope there are bidders we wouldn't necessarily expect, such as Fox, NBC, TNT, etc. truly the more, the merrier here.
i also gotta think that one of the current partners (ION, Prime, etc.) may make a push to get the majority of the content if what they're showing so far on their platforms has been bringing them the ratings they want to see.
It's an interesting situation. The owners of the WNBA must decide whether it is more fan-friendly and more ratings with ESPN as the major provider, or dividing the content among smaller, more hard to find, outlets like Ion and streaming services.
It's also possible that a major paradigm shift in cable could happen, decoupling ESPN and other such networks from basic packages.
With the RSNs going under, you would think streaming is the future, but the market is changing rapidly, and I don't think anyone can say for sure where we'll be five years from now.
MLS with the Apple TV+ deal doesn't count ratings, either. They're going by subscribers. WNBA already has a small deal with Amazon Prime and was thinking that may be their big money long-term. if ESPN really wants the WNBA back, they need more games on TV. Bring back the Tuesday night double-headers and a weekend game on ABC. Keep Thursdays for Amazon and Fridays for ION. Maybe get another TV partner and they can broadcast on Wednesdays?
and i get why the league avoids putting games on Mondays, but what they really need to avoid is scheduling Sunday games from September onward as much as possible, with the exception of whatever games ESPN inevitably chooses to air as NFL counterprogramming. that would theoretically mean having to utilize Mondays at least a little more at that point in the schedule.