AMNA NAWAZ: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented WNBA season, with record numbers on the court, in the stands and on television. And now, John Yang reports, there’s a big new television deal that could usher in a new era for the league.

JOHN YANG: The WNBA has been around since 1996, but it seems like a lot of people are paying attention to it for the first time.

Attendance is at its highest since the 1990s, with viewership up 183 percent from last season.

Play is currently on hold due to the All-Star Game this weekend in Phoenix and the Olympic Games that begin in France later this month.

Sabreena Merchant writes basketball stories for The Athletic.

She’s in Phoenix for the All-Star Game.

Sabreena, how does this enormous popularity come about?

SABREENA MERCHANT, The Athletic: I think there are a number of factors at play, but you really have to narrow it down to this year’s rookie class, particularly Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and the huge following they’ve been able to bring in from college basketball.

They had two of the most-watched college games of all time in the 2023 national championship game between Iowa and LSU and then again in the Elite Eight in 2024.

And the rivalry between the two and the momentum it created for college basketball has now spilled over into the WNBA.

So I think the seeds for growth in the WNBA have clearly been planted before, but I would say Clark and Reese have been the catalysts that have driven this dramatic rise this year.

JOHN YANG: And Clark and Reese are being compared to two other players who had the same rookie year, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Is that an apt comparison?

SABREENA MERCHANT: I ​​think so.

I think we’re seeing the WNBA at a turning point, similar to what the NBA was in the ’80s.

Just think about the NBA before Magic and Bird, when the Finals were still broadcast on delay.

And the WNBA clearly hasn’t been that way in recent seasons, but we’re talking about a league where the finals were watched by fewer than a million people.

And now every time there is a match on national television, more than seven thousand people watch the match.

So there is definitely a similar prosperity compared to Magic and Larry in the 80s.

I also think you can say some things about the rivalry between Caitlin and Angel in college and the cross-racial comparisons between Caitlin and Angel, similar to Magic and Bird.

So there are a lot of similar elements.

And if the WNBA experience comes anywhere close to the popularity the NBA achieved, it’ll be worth it.

JOHN YANG: You mentioned television.

Your — The Athletic reports that the new television deal will earn the WNBA about $200 million in its first year, about four times what it currently gets for television.

What does that mean for the competition, for the individual teams and for the players’ salaries?

SABREENA MERCHANT: Yeah, I mean, it’s about $200 million with the existing rights partners, and the WNBA already has deals with CBS and ION that they can add to the deal they currently have with NBC, ESPN and Amazon.

So it’s possible that even in the first year of this new deal, the amount could be almost six times higher than it is now.

So suffice it to say, a lot more money is going to the WNBA.

I think this will have a major impact on the collective labor agreement and the negotiations that will take place for this new collective labor agreement.

The WNBA Players Association can opt out of the current CBA at the end of this season and establish a new one for the start of the 2026 season.

And this will be the first time that the owners or the players are really operating from a position of strength.

And now you can use all that revenue the competition generates to dramatically improve the player experience.

We’re talking about improvements to their travel amenities, the hotel rooms they get along the way, maternity and parental benefits that could be added to the CBA.

Obviously, individual player salaries are a big part of this.

Consider the maximum player salary in the WNBA right now, which is around $250,000, and the lowest player salary in the NBA, which is around $500,000.

So maybe a seven-figure contract in the WNBA is something we can expect in the future with this influx of TV money.

Now that the WNBA players are getting a fairer distribution of their income, and we’re getting $2.2 billion over 11 years, the players are getting a leg up by getting more income for their salaries.

JOHN YANG: What is needed to keep this growth on track? Can growth continue on the same path or is the growth so steep now that it will eventually level off?

And what is needed to continue this popularity?

SABREENA MERCHANT: I ​​think it’s kind of a positive feedback loop, where people start following the competition.

Obviously they have the entry-level prospects of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but if you look at those two, you’ll be familiar with Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson or one of the other big stars playing in the WNBA this year.

And that will only continue.

I think this is the steepest we’ll ever see, but I don’t think we’ll necessarily see a flattening out.

The more the WNBA is on TV, in national time slots and during prime time, the more fans will come.

It’s kind of a struggling sport, compared to the WNBA you see on TV.

It’s really hard to find games.

And assuming this new TV rights deal gives them a significant foothold with ESPN and NBC and ideally more nationally available networks that aren’t just hidden on cable or through streamers, I think the growth will continue.

I think improving the game quality will promote growth.

And everything we see in college basketball, all that interest and popularity in college basketball, will also find its way into the WNBA.

JOHN YANG: Sabreena Merchant from The Athletic, thank you very much.

SABREENA MERCHANT: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And our thanks to you, John.