2021 WNBA champion Chicago Sky. Photo: Courtesy of the Chicago Sky
CAA Icon’s Brain Slater laid out his final report on the viability, interest and success that a women’s professional sports team would have in Nashville at the Metro Sports Authority Board Meeting on Feb. 17.
As outlined in the first report, CAA Icon found that either a professional basketball team (WNBA) or soccer team (NWSL) will be the best options for the city if they were to add a professional women’s team.
This final report answered many questions in regards to league interest, market analysis, focus group data, and economic impact analysis.
The findings from the web-surveys were overwhelmingly positive with 53% of residents supporting the initiative and 26% saying they may support it. About 52% of the survey participants were male, while only 43.4% were female. According to this survey, out of 5, the interest for a NWSL team was 3.4, while NWBA was 3.09.
Nashville’s market demographics for the NWSL compare well with Portland and Kansas City, both of which have teams. For WNBA, Music City compared well with Las Vegas and Indianapolis, who also sport WNBA teams.
“The [NWSL] said they could be expanding over the next four years,” Slater explained. “There have been numerous ownership groups around the country that have expressed interest in a potential franchise, so that does create some sense of urgency.”
One of the pros of the NWSL coming to Music City is that Nashville has become a booming soccer town with the impressive growth of Nashville SC. With a new soccer-specific stadium opening on May 1, adding another team to the brand new facility would make a lot of sense. Not to mention that much of the support for NSC could bleed over to a NWSL team.
The league also saw a 216% increase in viewership last year from 2019, and the 2019 Women’s World Cup was viewed by a record 1 million people globally.
Some of the cons of an NWSL team, though, could be an over-saturation of soccer in the market, according to the CAA Icon study. The soon-to-open Nashville SC Stadium will be the largest soccer-specific stadium in North America, which may be difficult to fill for a NWSL match. The study also mentioned the recent treatment of its players being a potential issue.
WNBA makes sense in a lot of ways too, but isn’t clear of cons.
Viewership for the WNBA jumped 51% in 2021 from 2020, and the WNBA’s presence in media and live game coverage has dramatically increased as well. On Feb. 4, the WNBA announced the closing of a $75 million capital raise, with a reported implied value of $1 billion. It is not a reach to say that the WNBA is in the early stages of peaking as a league and only looking to grow.
The study looked to the popularity of both the Lady Volunteers basketball team as well as MTSU’s women’s basketball teams as examples of the sport’s viability. Another important thing to mention is the growth of Belmont’s women’s basketball team as it becomes one of the best programs in the nation.
The 2019 Belmont women’s basketball team. Photo: Courtesy of Belmont Vision/Colby Crosby.
Also, because there is no other professional basketball team in the city, WNBA would own the market. The league’s season takes place in the summer so, if played at Bridgestone Arena, it wouldn’t interfere with the Predators schedule or any college tournaments.
Some of the cons included in Slater’s report were that the league hasn’t defined any plans to expand. Bridgestone Arena was voted the most preferred event space for a possible WNBA team, but Bridgestone may be too big for the average WNBA attendance and could affect the game day experience.
Another huge factor to consider is the economic impact on the city. The CAA Icon study looked at the 20-year net present value (NPV) of both leagues and found the NWSL’s output was at $140 million and the labor income was at $71.6 million. Meanwhile, the WNBA’s output was $235.6 million and labor income was $119.5 million.
On the surface, the WNBA could be more profitable for the city and the jobs created. However, this study did not include fan spending before and after the games (hotels, bars, restaurants, etc.), nor did it include the potential revenue made in sports betting.
The support from the top executives of Nashville’s three professional sports teams–the Titans, Predators, and Nashville Soccer Club–was overwhelming and made clear at the board meeting.
Titans CEO Burke Nihill, Ingram Industries (Nashville SC) CFO Mary Cavarra and Predators President and CEO Sean Henry all showed huge amounts of support in the Sports Authority’s effort to bring a professional women’s team to the city.
“Our organization is owned by, I believe, one of the best owners in professional sports who also happens to be a female, so we’re in,” Nihill shared at the Sports Authority board meeting. “From your report, our venue seems to be the least helpful to attract a women’s sports league, but whatever we can do to help–by using my network, by using our influence–we are absolutely happy to help.”
“We are certainly 100% behind this. We support women’s sports, whatever they are,” added Cavarra. “Clearly right now we have our hands full with our new stadium… but we are still behind this 110% so please let us know what else we can do.”
“Like my partners, we’re in this. Period. I think we’ve shown that time and time again with the women’s SEC [basketball] tournament, the All-Star game for the NWHL–the first time it was ever produced and in a big venue–so we’re in,” said Henry.
With all this information, the next clear step would be for the city to start pursuing an ownership group. Information gathered from focus groups indicated fans would want an inclusive ownership that would consist of women, as well as minorities.
At the time of reporting, there are no prospective owners or ownership groups.
