The WNBA is still young in terms of professional sports, and with today's world heading the way it is. We believe women in professional sports leagues values will continue to grow as it ages. Who knew the NBA would ever grow to the heights it has grown to today? The Merger of the ABA and NBA put professional basketball in the eyes of many, along with great market pushes and flashy halftime shows
by the likes of Dr. Buss and the Lakers, and the rivalry with the Boston Celtics helped make the NBA a household name.
I believe the WNBA will continue to grow as they lock up more TV air time, and lucrative player contracts. A few big names in the WNBA might be great long term investment's, based on statistic's here are some of the best WNBA players since the conception of the WNBA, and their perspective rookie cards.
1.) Diana Taurasi - 2004 Fleer Ultra RC
2.) Tamika Catchings - 2001 Fleer Ultra RC
3.) Cynthia Cooper - 1997 Pinnacle Inside RC
4.) Maya Moore - 2011 Rittenhouse RC Autograph
5.) Lisa Leslie - 1997 Pinnacle Inside RC
6.) Sheryl Swoopes - 1997 Pinnacle Inside RC
7.) Lauren Jackson - 2001 Fleer Ultra RC
8.) Sue Bird - 2002 Fleer Ultra RC
9.) Candace Parker - 2011 Rittenhouse RC
10.) Sylvia Fowles - 2008 Rittenhouse RC
All of these cards can still be found for a few bucks, up to around $1500 being the most expensive in a PSA 10 example. With the way the NBA card market exploded it could be a great long term investment, in 20-30 years, these cards might bring a huge return especially as most of them were not printed in mass quantity's as their NBA counterparts were. I firmly believe as we age into this new world, women's sports will become widely more accepted and may introduce more female card collectors.
Yes, we hear your arguments of it not being as exciting as the NBA, because they aren't doing fancy dunk's, analysts like Shaq saying the rim height should be lower.. Right now the WNBA generates around $60,000,000 in revenue yearly compared to the NBA's $7.9billion. In our eyes that just goes to show how much more room for growth is open. Women weren't even allowed to vote in the United States until 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed, that's less than 100 years ago..
The WNBA has also been more in the news as of recently, with the argument of equal pay and Brittney Griner's Russian arrest for having Marijuana while crossing customs. Well you know how the saying goes, any press whether bad or good, is good press. Also this year the WNBA announced their games will be broadcast on CBS, Prime Video, Facebook Watch, and NBA TV. The fact that they are bringing their games to free platforms will bring in a whole new group of fans who never sought out to watch WNBA before, especially the younger crowd using the streaming platforms such as Facebook. The previous TV contract the WNBA had was signed 12 years ago, for a $12 million dollar a year base. The new contract with CBS is at least $25 million a year. The more exposure, the faster the league will continue to grow, and the faster the value of the leagues greatest players rookie cards will continue to increase in value.
