An Investigation of Marketing Problems and Possible Solutions in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Location
CSU North Ballroom
Start Date
25-4-2006 10:00 AM
End Date
25-4-2006 12:00 PM
Student's Major
Human Performance
Student's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Mentor's Name
Soonhwan Lee
Mentor's Department
Human Performance
Mentor's College
Allied Health and Nursing
Description
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was formed in 1997 after a previous successful team at the 1996 Summer Olympics. It initially started with eight teams and has recently expanded to 14 reams. The National Basketball Association (NBA) team owners o\yn the WNBA teams that are in the same locations except two independent teams, such as Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky. The WNBA stresses three points: girl empowerment, family appropriate entertainment, and concern over available role models for children. There are currently 14 marketing partners that are teamed up with the WNBA. There are three targets segments that represent 41% of the population in the WNBA market segmentations. They are the WNBAers, Urban Women, and Kid-centrics. However, there are some marketing problems that could be holding the league back from reaching its potential peak success in the WNBA. A few of those problems include lack of media coverage, ownership structure, and the previously failed leagues. It has to compete with the NBA, college basketball, overseas leagues, and other job opportunities for the players. Possible solutions for the marketing problem are more name recognition, reasonable size of target markets with no NBA teams, smaller venues, more local media coverage, and change of ownership structure. The further discussion for possible marketing solutions was discussed.
An Investigation of Marketing Problems and Possible Solutions in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
CSU North Ballroom
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was formed in 1997 after a previous successful team at the 1996 Summer Olympics. It initially started with eight teams and has recently expanded to 14 reams. The National Basketball Association (NBA) team owners o\yn the WNBA teams that are in the same locations except two independent teams, such as Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky. The WNBA stresses three points: girl empowerment, family appropriate entertainment, and concern over available role models for children. There are currently 14 marketing partners that are teamed up with the WNBA. There are three targets segments that represent 41% of the population in the WNBA market segmentations. They are the WNBAers, Urban Women, and Kid-centrics. However, there are some marketing problems that could be holding the league back from reaching its potential peak success in the WNBA. A few of those problems include lack of media coverage, ownership structure, and the previously failed leagues. It has to compete with the NBA, college basketball, overseas leagues, and other job opportunities for the players. Possible solutions for the marketing problem are more name recognition, reasonable size of target markets with no NBA teams, smaller venues, more local media coverage, and change of ownership structure. The further discussion for possible marketing solutions was discussed.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Amanda; Danielle Husby; and Jennifer Sellner. "An Investigation of Marketing Problems and Possible Solutions in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 25, 2006.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2006/poster-session-E/6
