How Philadelphia’s WNBA team can close the sports fan gap — Erin Batth talks Providence

Basketball Wednesday

Presented by The BIG EAST Conference

But as we often do here at Basketball Wednesday, today we’re going to talk about the Philadelphia 76ers.

No, not about the team on the court, though in another life I’d be working on three different features about V.J. Edgecombe by now. But I’d like to provide an update on last year’s piece, in which I talked about my wife’s nascent NBA fandom.

To recap: she is not one of the fans for whom the WNBA built its business model around for most of the first 25 years of the W’s existence, but the inverse, the kind of fan who has powered the Indiana Fever’s rise — she fell in love with the WNBA, and sought out the NBA because they were playing during the WNBA offseason.

It didn’t really take last year. Despite her early-season pep talk from Kate Scott, 24-58 and a sea of injuries and missing players limited her interest. But when her New York Liberty’s season ended early, Rachel was ready to try again. She loves basketball now. And who wouldn’t?

So it came to pass that when the Sixers’ home opener took place this weekend at the same time we found a rare date night in our schedule, we made the decision to turn it into a 76ers evening. And friends, let me tell you: it was so easy! We could have attended the game, of course. But with child pickups on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, we needed to stay local.

Quickly, I did a bit of sleuthing, and it turns out that no fewer than five sports bars and taverns within three miles of my house were showing the 76ers on enormous televisions. No need to find a dedicated space for women’s sports, though delightfully, one is here, and another is coming next summer — it turns out that men’s sports is everywhere! (I kid, of course, I know this, but it was still somewhat mind-blowing, given how much time I spend in the women’s sports space, to see how omnipresent it all is.)

And this is the part where we have to mention: the Sixers are not Philadelphia’s team! I mean, sure, they play in Philadelphia, but this is an Eagles town. If the Eagles moved, once the period of mourning ended, Philadelphia would be a Phillies town. Or a Flyers town. The Sixers in Philly terms are a lot like their mascot, Franklin the Dog. The Phillie Phanatic is an institution, Gritty is beloved. Franklin is just a mascot who exists. (Personally, I miss Big Shot.)

And the Sixers have spent much of the past decade all but intentionally alienating their fans, first with The Process, then with a general manager who used burner accounts to denigrate his own team, followed by whatever the Ben Simmons Era was and then, finally, last year’s mess.

But it is Sixers season here all the same. The broadcast is stellar, led by the peerless Kate Scott on play-by-play, and there’s ample pregame and postgame coverage as well on NBC Sports Philadelphia. There’s a radio broadcast on a local FM station. Sixers gear is widely available. There are so many excellent Sixers reporters, people like the Inquirer’s Gina Mizell and Philly Voice’s Adam Aaronson, just to name a few.

The result is that as Rachel is finding her favorites, she can immerse herself in fandom. Edgecombe? Yes, she’s been aware of him since the day the Sixers drafted him, could watch him in Summer League and on the occasion of his debut, she could read about Edgecombe’s friends back home. She’d already heard about, from multiple angles, how this could be Tyrese Maxey‘s breakout season as a true star. And she’s ready for the return of Paul George and Jared McCain, whenever it occurs.

The Philadelphia WNBA team has more than four years to build up this kind of infrastructure, to make certain that not only is there a saturation-level of awareness for the new team in 2030, but that casual fans are given a glide path to turning into diehards. They need a Kate Scott-level broadcaster to show them the way, play-by-play. Scott, delightfully, is also returning to women’s basketball, but at the national level for Versant. (Not totally sure how Kate Scott does everything she does.) Kylen Mills, Megan McKeown, Maria Marino and Sloane Martin should all have full-time team TV gigs by then, but if they don’t…

And what’s been particularly striking to me is that we aren’t seeing WNBA teams merely succeed in markets where the NBA has failed to deliver. That was my pet theory for part of what helped charge the Liberty’s ascent among fans in Brooklyn — the Nets haven’t exactly grabbed the brass ring since moving from New Jersey — the the Fever’s rise came amid a Pacers trip to the WNBA Finals, and the Valkyries managed to create Ballhalla in Year 1 right within the late prime of Steph Curry. NBA conditions truly do not seem to matter for WNBA success in a market.

They do matter for NBA success, though. On Monday night, we dropped off our children and found ourselves with around an hour for dinner. We grabbed a burger. And we didn’t have to even ask the restaurant to put on the Sixers. They were already on the television when we arrived.

By Tuesday, it was on in my house. The Sixers are 4-0 and some team gear is showing up on children around town this week. Meanwhile, Rachel is excited to get to a game in-person soon, even though I expect she will wear Liberty gear when she does so. This is how easy the WNBA needs to make it here in Philly. Fortunately, they have plenty of time to get it right.

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Five at The IX: Erin Batth, Providence

(Note: the Friars are picked to finish tenth preseason. If they finish that low, I will purchase and eat a lifesize cardboard cutout of the late Providence mayor, Buddy Cianci.)