NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) – If women’s basketball has felt ignored and shoved in a dark corner in past decades, the move towards live games on social media is an incredible opportunity to shine the spotlight on the female game.

For some people reading this, such a statement will seem both obvious and indeed for those at the cutting edge, almost out of date already. Such is the pace of change.

It is true that many women’s basketball leagues are only playing catch up and recognizing that the old battle of trying to persuade traditional broadcasters to pay for [or even just take] coverage is now over – at least for the grind of Regular Season games.

A lot of leagues are doing the smart thing. They are flipping the traditional scenario on its head and putting the product out there themselves, in order to attract new fans and hopefully some commercial investment.

Perhaps in something of a quirk to the way women’s basketball has been largely ignored and was a negative, it is now the case that women’s basketball has never been so accessible to so many people. That could be priceless for the sport moving forward.

Women’s basketball is not being hidden away on subscription channels, or sat in the bottom of a decision-making tray of a Television Executive who has not yet been persuaded whether to put it on the big screen.

Every Wednesday and Thursday, EuroLeague Women games are available to view live and for free on the FIBA Youtube channel, while we look forward to more international action in next month’s FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2019 Qualifiers.

These are just a handful of examples of course and this is being replicated across the globe.

Importantly, it paves the way for a ‘mixed economy’ in terms of free provision and then hopefully getting a combination of subscriptions and national broadcasters involved at the business end of competitions when silverware is on the line.

The biggest tournaments and biggest games of those competitions, should still provide a chance for fans [many of whom have enjoyed free access previously] to realize that they do think women’s basketball is something worth paying for.

Or, for Television Executives to look at the engagement numbers on various social media channels and realize there is a market out there – even if it is modest. One that can also possibly be grown. Ditto for commercial investors and advertisers. Or in time, do league and clubs just benefit from direct advertising revenue on channels?

For me though, the central issues is that women’s leagues, clubs and those involved in the promotion of the women’s game don’t think that showing games on social media free-to-air is a panacea.

Without passion for women’s basketball, even the power of social media won’t be enough. So, let’s all capitalize on the opportunity we have in front of us.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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