Latest WNBA record couldn’t have come at a better time for players

The WNBA’s rise in popularity has steadily continued this season. Game 5 of the semifinals between the Aces and Fever was the most-watched WNBA Semifinal game ever on ESPN. Once it was clear that the finals would be a matchup between the Aces and the Mercury, there was a bit of discontent among some fans who had hoped for other teams to make it. Many even claimed that no one would watch a Mercury-Aces final. That prediction couldn’t have been more wrong. 

The viewership through the first three games of the finals was the best the WNBA had seen in 25 years (the numbers from Game 4 haven’t been released yet). According to ESPN PR, Game 1 drew an average of 1.9 million viewers and peaked at 2.5 million, making it the most-watched WNBA Finals game in 28 years. Only the single-elimination championship game in 1997 drew more viewers. 

Seeing record viewership numbers in a finals series that ended in a sweep and primarily featured veteran stars rather than fan-magnets Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers, proves two important points: The WNBA’s new-found popularity is sustainable outside of those young stars, and the players’ leverage in the CBA negotiations continues to improve.

The October 31 deadline is getting close

The current CBA that players and the league signed in 2020 will expire on October 31. Negotiations to reach a new agreement are still ongoing, but the progress doesn’t seem very promising. The rift between players and league leadership has been in the public eye ever since Napheesa Collier used her exit interview to blast Cathy Engelbert’s leadership. 

Since then, Engelbert has given a press conference in which she denied some of Collier’s claims, Collier canceled a meeting with the commissioner, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has only responded to the issue with a dismissive attitude, and the WNBA’s latest CBA offer reportedly still didn’t meet players’ demands. All that makes it seem unlikely that a new CBA will be agreed upon by the end of the month. If that happens, both sides can agree to an extension of the current CBA and continue negotiations. 

An extension seems like the most likely and best scenario at the moment. WNBA players have never been in a better position to negotiate higher salaries, better revenue shares, and the best possible working conditions than they are now. Setting a new viewership record in the finals only improves the players’ position and adds weight to their demands.