IN AN EMPTY MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, TERESA Weatherspoon runs the New York Liberty through a drill they call ""C.'' ""Let's go, black,'' she yells to her teammates, divided for the scrimmage into black or white jerseys. The white squad passes crisply, once, twice, before Weatherspoon throws her muscled body at a momentarily unguarded ball. She has been hobbled by a thigh injury, but glares through the pain, as uncompromising as the tiger tattooed across her back. ""When I play you on defense,'' she says, ""I love when you look me in the eye. I'm attacking. I think about being the aggressor at all times.'' ""Spoon,'' as she is known, smacks palms with her teammates, and chests and hips, too--tough love that echoes through the empty arena. She pulls the protective pad from her thigh and, limping, runs the drill one more time. ""I like to get a hit on me.''
To the 17,499 girls--and boys and women and men--who will fill the Garden on game day, Weatherspoon is a new model of jock hero, for a new type of league. As fan Jessica Jalubowski, age 6, put it, to the consternation of her mother, ""Teresa kicks ass!'' And this new league, the Women's National Basketball Association, which rumbles to its first championship game this week, is a critical test for women's pro sports. Twenty-five years after Title IX of the Civil Rights Act required schools to provide equal opportunities for female athletes, the women's sports market--both those who play and those who like to watch--has never been bigger. But while women have thrived in pro golf and tennis, they have yet to break through in team sports (page 63). Three attempts at basketball leagues have flopped in the last two decades, including one brief inspiration that featured clingy unitards and lower baskets.
Jammed into the nexus of prime-time sports and gender politics, the WNBA offers an untested combination of old and new, a game of naked female aggression played below the rim. Val Ackerman, the league's upbeat president, is keenly aware of past failures: she had to play her pro ball in France. Along with the lower-profile American Basketball League, which debuted last fall, the WNBA seeks to break that streak. ""We've never had this level of exposure before, or the track records of all the NBA organizations behind us,'' she says. Last Friday, the WNBA sold its 1 millionth ticket. ""I don't see any liabilities. I see a growth factor,'' says the sports buyer for a major ad agency in New York. ""But whether the novelty wears off in the second year, nobody knows.''
Commercially, the league is less a revolution than a brand extension. Wholly owned and run by the 29 teams of the NBA, it is something to busy the NBA's formidable marketing and merchandising machine while the men are on summer vacation. Before a ball hit the court, the WNBA had TV deals with NBC, ESPN and Lifetime, and a handful of national sponsors, including the starmakers at Nike. ""We have taken a page from the NBA 101 book,'' says Rick Welts, chief marketing officer for both the NBA and its sister league. ""I don't know about you, but I wasn't a huge fan of women's basketball until we started getting to know the players' stories.'' From the outset, the league bet not on its play, but on three hypeable images: Houston Comet forward Sheryl Swoopes, inconveniently on maternity leave; New York Liberty's Rebecca Lobo, an academic All-American and college hero (never mind that her pro play has seemed overmatched), and glamorous Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie walking the fashion runways as well as running the court.
The quality of play has so far lagged behind. When the league's promos peppered NBA broadcasts with the playground challenge, ""We got next,'' they did not have the game to back it up. Early play was sloppy, in part because the teams were new, and many players had trouble adjusting to the league's slightly smaller, oatmeal-and-orange ball. Teams had only three weeks of preseason, and many players seem sluggish from the travel schedule. And the women, who stand six feet tall on average, will never play with the balletic athleticism of the men: when the defenses clamp down, they cannot soar to overcome. In an early season low, Lisa Leslie leapt for a dunk and came down on her backside. Some in the audience erupted in laughter.
But as the season has progressed, the better teams have tightened. And the athletes themselves are a revelation: chiseled, committed, hard core--no closer to the mortals who walk the streets than are their brothers in the NBA. Basketball remains a struggle to dominate one's opponent; it is a thrill to watch such powerful women kick behind. As Weatherspoon says, ""I was born with this intensity. My family saw just how important basketball was to me because of it.'' As with the men's game, the competition can get trash-talkingly personal. Says Houston guard Fran Harris, ""We realize there are little eyes on us. But there's times when it definitely turns into that street ball, "Not in my house,' fist-pumping, in-your-face kind of thing.''
The challenge, for the WNBA, is not only to channel this aggression, but to sell it. Sports marketer Bill Doyle contends that especially for younger fans, pro basketball has blossomed as ""less of a sport, more of a lifestyle and an urban attitude [that is] pervasive throughout the culture.'' The women's league, he says, is set to tap this culture. ""When we've done research among young basketball fans, the gender issue isn't a big deal. They accept that [women players] can be just as aggressive as the men. They're like, "Sheryl Swoopes, in your face'.''
So far the returns are good. Attendance, at roughly 9,000 a game, is double the league's conservative expectations. In Phoenix, crowds for Mercury home games top 13,000. NBC's ratings for the season opener surpassed all other sports in its time slot, and have averaged 1.4 million households per game, very good for the dog days of summer. A slight majority of viewers, interestingly, is male, NBA fans who can't get enough roundball action. Courtside regulars like Rosie O'Donnell, Gregory Hines, Tyra Banks and Penny Marshall have added celebrity cachet.
But the high-octave electricity at the games has come from the young girls--and grown women, too--who have finally found conquerors they can relate to. ""Because it's an all-women league, we're rooting for the league to succeed,'' says Reina Platt, 31, who never went to a basketball game before the Liberty arrived. ""We're seeing role models that we've never seen in other sports.'' She grew up idolizing Chris Evert-Lloyd and played organized tennis. Had the WNBA been around 20 years ago? ""I probably would've played basketball.'' With ticket prices averaging about $15--less than half the NBA average--and profanity in check, the arenas are friendly to families. Last week, Layne Feldman, 9, scoured every souvenir stand at Madison Square Garden for a Rebecca Lobo jersey, only to find they'd all sold out. ""I like her because she was a good student,'' Layne says. ""And she represents women, but she's aggressive, too.''
The league also has another, less trumpeted core constituency. Though TV broadcasts pan moms with their kids, plenty of women come on their own. Says Sarah Pettit, editor of Out magazine, ""Next to the "Ellen' episode, this is the biggest news in the lesbian community all year long. If there's one thing lesbians are talking about, it's who's on the bench and who's on the floor.'' Issues of sexual orientation have long been taboo in women's sports. The author and ex-jock Mariah Burton Nelson says she was released from her team in the old World Basketball League after marching in a 1979 gay-pride rally. ""Homophobia of women's sports leagues has gotten a lot subtler over the years. Now we see action shots of strong, sweaty women,'' but, she says, they are balanced by images of femininity, to comfort some fans or advertisers. ""There's still an implication that all these women are heterosexual.'' The WNBA, for its part, does not acknowledge any gay following. ""I'm not aware of that,'' says Welts. ""We don't take attendance that way. The league does not discriminate.''
What the league does is market images. When Swoopes learned last winter that she was pregnant--an unplanned gift, she told NEWSWEEK--she worried about what it would mean to her commercial benefactors. ""I just thought all my sponsors, they're not going to want me anymore.'' Instead, her pregnancy has proved a bonanza. ""We embrace maternity,'' says Welts. With each shot of 2-month-old Jordan on the sideline with stay-at-home father Eric Jackson, the league reinforces its image as a family venture, the good apple in the increasingly rotting barrel of professional sports.
In this sense, it is the anti-NBA. While the men's league suffers the foolishness and egos of young millionaires just out of high school, the WNBA requires players to complete their college eligibility or be 21. And you couldn't melt butter with their off-court platitudes. ""I think most women players stayed in school for the entire four years, so they're somewhat more savvy on what to say and how to say it,'' says an executive with both leagues. ""They're also eager to cooperate and do things to make this league successful. That's often not the case in the NBA.''
Houston's Cynthia Cooper, the league's surprise best player, is typical of many mature players. After winning two national championships at the University of Southern California, she spent the next 10 seasons in Spain and Italy, unable to play pro ball in her home country. ""I would score 60 points in a game,'' she says, ""and come home to a telephone.'' Now she can be near her mother, who is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, a cause the league has rallied around. ""This is a women's league, and we're specifically doing something for women.''
The women have made a virtue of their underdog scrappiness. But their lives can be difficult and, by professional sports standards, underrewarded. Though the league spent lavishly on a $15 million marketing campaign, it cut costs on salaries. Pay for top stars for the 28-game season is set at $50,000 (since all teams are owned jointly, there are no bidding wars); lesser players make as little as $10,000. By league rule, the WNBA teams fly commercial airlines, coach. In the Houston practice gym, the Comets don't even have their own names on their cubicles. Sheryl Swoopes uses one marked Charles Barkley.
The ABL, by comparison, offers better money, with salaries reaching $125,000 for a 40-game season. By most accounts, it offers a better game (chart), including eight of 12 Olympic Dream Teamers. But as a machine for manufacturing celebrity, the ABL can't compete. A Nike executive who asked not to be identified said that the company steers players toward the WNBA. ""Of course no one is forcing the players, but they are encouraged to go the route where there is the most visibility. The ABL just doesn't have the type of exposure that sells product, and that's the business we're in--selling product.'' The company, which sponsors players in both leagues, denies that it nudges them one way or the other.
A WNBA star like Swoopes can have her own Nike shoe, her own basketball, sports bra, ankle support, action figure, videotape and phone card, plus endorsement deals with Dr Pepper and Discover card. She also has a ""personal-services contract'' with the WNBA, for promotional appearances, worth well more than her hardwood salary--a package worth about $1 million. Men's endorsements still dwarf women's by ""about 10 to 1,'' says Swoopes's agent, Joel Bell, who also represents NBA star Jerry Stackhouse. ""But that's a lot better than three years ago, when it was 10 to zero.''
In the Houston locker room, Van Chancellor--the league's only male head coach--is trying to steer his players around these worldly distractions. ""Don't you get all torn up about your endorsements, about your playing time, about your money, about your publicity,'' he preaches, his thick Mississippi drawl lubricating the jock-talk sanctimony. ""Keep thinking, "Hey, I'm playing for every little girl in the world.' And if she wants my signature, I'll have time to say, "How're you doing, sister? I'm glad you came out to watch us play'.''
It is part pep talk, part seduction. Later that afternoon, the team is holding a clinic for underprivileged kids from Girls Inc. ""Who can stay and help?'' Away from the sponsors, away from questions about whether a league can make it without slam-dunking thrills, 50 girls file into the Westside Tennis Club later that afternoon. Backup forward Yolanda Moore coaches them in dribbling, and also in goals and discipline. And the other business of the WNBA, perhaps the more important business, extends its reach into the Houston afternoon, and beyond. If this is what's next, they got it.
ONE ON ONE ON ONE: COMPARING LEAGUES
How did the WNBA do in its regular season? Attendance was high, but shooting was low. The newest women's league had more experienced players than the ABL, But they were paid less-millions less than the men in the NBA. Other matchups:
Player averages WNBA ABL NBA Years of pro experience 4.3* 3.8* 4.6 Age 27 yrs. 27 yrs. 27.7 yrs. Height 6 ft. 5 ft. 11.5 in. 6 ft. 7 in. Weight 164 lb. n.a. 223.7 lb. Salary $30,000 $70,000 $2.3 million Shooting percentages Field goals 41% 43.9% 45.5% Free throws 71% 75% 73.8% Three-pointers** 31% 35.1% 36% Points per game (avg.) 69 78.2 96.9 Number of teams 8 8++ 29 Games per season 28 40 82 Reg.-season attendance(avg.) 9,391+ 3,600 17,077 Ticket price (avg.) $14-$15 $10 $34 *Includes overseas experience, +to date. **Men's 3-point line is 23 ft; women's is 19 ft. 9 inc. ++Does not include long beach expansion team added 1997-98. Sources: WNBA, ABI, NBA, Nielsen Sports Marketing
Balls in Play: The NBA and the ABL use a size 7 ball that is 29% inches in circumference. The WNBA ball is a size 6, one inch smaller.
TV ratings: NBC brought WNBA games to an average of 1.4 million households this season, compared with the 2.9 million house-holds watching major-league baseball on Fox. The NBA averaged 4.8 million house-holds for the regular season on NBC.
PHOTOS (COLOR): Stealth Bomber: While Swoopes, Lobo and Leslie got hype-and endorsements-Cooper got points
BLOND STREAK: MICHELE TIMMS
Team: Phoenix Mercury Position: Guard Age: 32 Height: 5'7" Weight: 132 Years pro: 13 Key stat: 2.62 steals per game
MICHELE TIMMS DOESN'T just get out there and play hard--she's third in the league in assists, second in steals. The Melbourne, Australia, native doesn't just politely laud the fans for their support of the Phoenix Mercury--she spent two hours signing autographs after the season opener, then wrote a letter to The Arizona Republic apologizing for not being able to get to every last person. And Timms doesn't just like clean socks--she wears a new pair for every game, and has saved every last one in her 13-year pro career. ""It's not a hobby,'' she says with mock seriousness. ""It's a sock fetish.'' The platinum-haired guard's intensity has kept the Mercury in the running for the Western Conference Championship from day one; between her formidable outside shot and an ability to force turnovers, the standout from the '96 Australian Olympic team rocks on offense and defense. Teammate Nancy Lieberman-Cline, who has squared off against the finest players of the '70s, '80s and '90s, says simply, ""Michele is the best point guard I've ever seen.'' Not to mention the most fastidious.
COOL UNDER FIRE: RUTHIE BOLTON-HOLIFIELD
Team: Sacramento Monarchs Position: Guard Age: 30 Height: 5'9" Weight: 150 College: Auburn Years pro: 6 Key stat: 19.8 points per game
FOR RUTHIE BOLTON-HOLIFIELD, the discipline of WNBA training camp was a piece of cake. Compared, that is, with the basic training she went through in the army reserves. As for team spirit, that's not too tough to muster after growing up in a family of 20 children, where, she says, ""even just sitting around the house, we'd end up five on a couch designed for four. We had to get along.'' So, with that background, what did Bolton-Holifield do when singled out to be the offensive heart of a struggling team? She made it look easy, firing in an average of 19.8 points per game and posting top-20 stats in every category but blocked shots. ""I actually put a lot of pressure on myself,'' says the 1996 Olympic gold medalist. ""If we are behind by 10, I want to get us back in with one shot.'' The same drive led her to play her way around the world, but now she is glad to be back where her siblings--and 72 nieces and nephews--can watch her play. And no, if five of them want to go to a game, she doesn't give them four tickets.
DIVERSE ASSETS: LYNETTE WOODARD
Team: Cleveland Rockers Position: Guard Age: 38 Height: 6' Weight: 160 Years pro: 9Key stat: 1.69 steals per game
HAVING WAITED LONGER than almost anyone else in the league to see her pro-ball dreams come true, Lynette Woodard is finally having the last laugh. The girl whose family poked fun at her ambition to become a Harlem Globetrotter is now lending her superb jump shot and powerful drives to the basket to the Cleveland Rockers--and those two seasons with the Globe-trotters in the '80s didn't hurt a bit. Woodard had retired from the game in '93 after years playing in Italy and Japan to become a New York stock-broker. But she didn't hesitate for a moment when the WNBA was created, arranging to work from the road via laptop and telephone. The two games are similar, says Woodard: ""You've got to hustle for those accounts, defend them because someone's always trying to steal 'em from you, and you've got to rebound when a client says no. I don't think there could be a better job for me.'' Well, we can think of one.
SPARK PLUG: JAMILA WIDEMAN
Team: L.A. Sparks Position: Guard Age: 21 Height: 5'6" Weight: 135 Years pro: 0 Key stat: 23 minutes per game
RECENT STANFORD GRAD Jamila Wideman weighed less than three pounds at birth, and her parents didn't think she'd survive her first few months. Later the daughter of acclaimed writer John Edgar Wideman had to deal with the pressures of celebrity--especially after her brother killed another teen at the age of 16 and was sentenced to life in prison. Now the first-round L.A. Sparks draft pick has gone from being a much-hyped starter to playing off the bench. Has all this adversity daunted her or made her bitter? Just try to get Wideman to grumble about the vets who bag more playing time and the famous stars who sometimes elude her defense. ""These are women I grew up hearing about but never got a chance to see play,'' says the rookie. ""Now, not only do I get to see them play, I have to guard them!'' The little girl who used to entertain herself patiently at the other end of the court while her dad and brothers played basketball on Saturday mornings is now enchanting L.A. fans with her dogged defense and team spirit; the Sparks get more personal-appearance requests for Jamila than they do for the team's star, Lisa Leslie. Says her first coach and proud dad: ""Nobody's come running by my door with any Nobel Prizes for writing yet. But for basketball I already have one.''
Debra Rosenberg, Sarah Van Boven and T. Trent Gegax