WNBA Attendance and Ratings Drop

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by Angeline Seames

With it being the 20th Anniversary of the WNBA, the program is targeting a new branding effort. A drop in viewership and the lowest attendance rate since the beginning of the WNBA.

The WNBA had an average 7,318 fans a game, which is down 3.4 percent from last season and the lowest in the leagues history. Not only did attendance watching the game live fall, but viewership also fell by 14 percent (an average of 202,000 viewers). ESPN and ESPN 2 aired 11 games during the regular season, while NBA TV televised over 40 games and the rest covered by ABC.  Over the past the years the WNBA attendance has had its ups and downs starting off in 1997 with 9,662 average of attendance and then a 12.4 percent increase of 10,864 average attendance, which was the highest ever in the WNBA in 1998.

Compared to the NBA, TV this season increased 8 percent to a an average of 56,000 viewers from the 52,000 last season. Media wise, WNBA.com grew by 26 percent, Instagram followers were up 51 percent and 9 million likes and followers across all social media.

The biggest drop in the WNBA was made by the San Antonio Stars, with an 8-26 record in the WNBA and a 37 percent drop in attendance compared to last year. With this the Stars were forced to relocate because of the team’s home court being renovated. While the Phoenix Mercury led attendance for the WNBA with an average of 9,946 despite not having the biggest increase in attendance compared to the L.A. Sparks.

As the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team has come off multiple championship seasons, the WNBA and the head of business operations for the Mercury hope to build momentum and make fans want to attend all the games that the WNBA host. The WNBA hopes after the postseason in October to study whether they can eventually grow the league to bring in an expansion committee.

In the end, the WNBA will have to figure out how they are going to save the league from the drop of attendance and viewership all together. If not, the WNBA may have fewer teams playing, increased ticket prices, and the threat of doing away with the WNBA all together. Hopefully the WNBA will figure out a smart way to increase the WNBA brand all together and save the league.

 

Welcome to the 2015 Maxwell Media Watch

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by Dr. Nancy Spencer

Welcome to the Richard A. Maxwell Sport Media Project as we enter the 2015-2016 academic year at BGSU. This year marks the fifth year of providing opportunities to undergraduate students who write blog entries critiquing practices of sport media. As faculty adviser for this project, I am very excited about prospects for the coming year. A number of Sport Management students have already expressed interest in writing blog entries and we hope to sustain the high level of writing that has characterized this Project in the past. I would like to introduce the students who will be spear heading our efforts this year. Kaleb Page is a senior and the most recent recipient of the Collins Scholarship for Journalism. He was a regular writer last year and was named “Most Valuable Blogger” as a result of his consistent efforts in providing excellent critiques. This year, he will continue to write blog entries but will also be in charge of managing the schedule for posting students’ blog entries. Jasmine Redman is the graduate student who will be assisting with these efforts by editing and providing feedback as needed.

In the coming year, we hope to have at least two blog entries posted per day. In addition, we will be inviting faculty members as well as professional journalists to submit guest entries about specific topics. As in the past year, you will be able to post comments in response to blog entries that appear on the Maxwell Sport Media Project. If you are new to our Project, we invite you to peruse the site and check out the Welcome page that includes information about the Mission of our Project as well as biographical information about Dick Maxwell whose inspiration fuels our efforts. We are indebted to Dick Maxwell for establishing and supporting this project

We look forward to an exciting year ahead and hope that you will carefully read and reflect upon the topics that our students and guest writers post in the year ahead. Thanks for your interest.

 

Sincerely,

Nancy E. Spencer, PhD, Associate Professor in Sport Management Program

Protecting It’s Players or “Protecting the Shield”

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by Nicholas Muhl

“We’ll take a quick break while the trainers tend to the player down.” I have never heard this statement made by football broadcasters more than this National Football League season. As of last week, according to official NFL statistics, 15 percent of NFL players had suffered some type of injury through the first two weeks of the season.

15 percent. That’s 234 players.

If you want to take a look at it another way, NFL teams can have an active roster of 53 players. That means that over four full active NFL rosters had suffered an injury out of 32 total NFL teams. Worse than you thought, right?

This past weekend was highlighted by even more injuries, specifically Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who suffered an MCL sprain and bone bruise to his left knee. He joins starting quarterbacks Drew Brees (Saints), Tony Romo (Cowboys) and Jay Cutler (Bears) on a growing list of high profile NFL players who have suffered serious injuries this season.

A lot of sports media coverage has been highlighting these individual NFL injuries, specifically the quarterbacks ones, but coverage of the overall issue seems to be lacking. A simple google search of “15 percent of NFL players hurt” will provide you with very limited results. Outside thinkprogress.org and one Bleacher Report article, the only coverage of this issue seems to be on the many low profile sports blogs. ESPN and other major sports media outlets continue to shy away from serious dialogue about the growing injury problem in the NFL. They rather spend most of their time discussing how long players will be out and how it effects our fantasy football lineups.

The NFL continues to damage control as it faces more and more questions about the safety of it’s players and medical care after their careers have ended. According to a report released by Frontline earlier this month,  87 of 91 deceased former NFL players that were included in their study tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The leading cause for CTE is repetitive trauma to the head. This report comes just a few weeks after the trailer of the new movie Concussion, which stars Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu. A doctor who challenged the NFL’s policy’s and medical treatment of players, specifically after retirement, when he discovered CTE in the brains of several NFL players.

Despite new medical research being done everyday and legal action being taken against the NFL, it seems that the major media still is shying away from the issue. Whether its because the NFL is working to repairs its image in cooperation with the media or because major media decides fantasy football and other coverage brings in better ratings, something needs to change. The media needs to begin asking the question, is the NFL and commisioner Roger Goodell truly doing everything in their power to protect it’s players? Or are they more concerned with “protecting the shield.”

A Year in Review: The Last Post

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By Kaleb Page

May 8, 2015

As finals week approaches, so too does the end of posting for the Maxwell Media Watch.

This experience started back in the fall and it was one that allowed me to do what I’ve always loved to do: talk sports.

I wanted to use this final post to not only look back on what I did this year, but to also reflect on all the important people who made things possible.

My first post of the year was on the media overreacting to the Patriots collapse early in the season to the Kansas City Chiefs. That will always be a special post to me since it was my first one and I think I really critiqued the situation well (doesn’t hurt that I was right too).

There have been countless posts over the year and each one had its elements I enjoyed a lot. I tried to mix up my approach as much as I could, and spread my sports thoughts across everything from football and basketball to soccer and mixed martial arts. I enjoy a wide range of sports and hopefully for those who read you enjoyed what I had to say from sport to sport.

While it was nice to have this platform to post every Tuesday and Thursday, it would not have been possible without the many important people around me and the people who put this all together.

First, I would like to thank Mr. Maxwell, Kaitlin Rohrs, Steven Kubitza and Dr. Spencer for doing what they did this year. Mr. Maxwell gave us such a great platform to use and fine tune our writing ability. Rohr, Kubitza and Spencer each had a hand in making this whole year a smooth one along with given good advice on how to make us better (me included).

It was a great experience and I truly do have to thank those mentioned above for providing this opportunity.

Aside from the architects of this, I also want to give a shout out to all of the other bloggers as well. I enjoyed reading other works from fellow sports minds and getting perspectives that I necessarily never thought of before. I wish you all the best moving forward in whatever you happen to do and hopefully we all can look back at this as the starting point to something special.

Now it’s time to thank the most important people, my family and friends. I have the best support around and I am so thankful to have the mom, dad and brothers that I have. It means a lot to also have an extended family that has supported this as well and continues to read posts. I work hard for all of you and I hope I set a good example to be proud of.

For my friends. Thank you for reading my posts during the year when you had the chance to do so. I know we are all busy and don’t get the chance to talk as much but thank you for the support and I enjoy seeing your successes as well. (Oh and Joda Green, great comments this year. Just some classic comments this year.)

In the end, thank you all for reading, commenting or even giving my post just a quick glance. It means a lot as I chase a dream that is on a high level of attainment. It has been a great ride this year and I hope to have more material in the future for you all to look at.

Thank you all very much.

Kyrie Irving Faces Biggest Challenge in Basketball Career

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By Matt Stevenson

May 1, 2015

Last Sunday the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Boston Celtics and knocked them out of the playoffs in Game 4 of the series. A great first playoff series win for this young Cavaliers squad, but it came with a major repercussion.

Kevin Love left the game in the first quarter and it was scary. Not knowing what specifically happened at first glimpse, the live broadcast shows Cavaliers Forward Kevin Love getting tangled up with Celtics Kelly Olynyk while scrambling for the ball. Immediately after, Love sprinted right to the locker room without stopping to talk to anyone. After several replays, it was clear his shoulder was indeed dislocated.

A debate on whether it was intentional or not has taken the social media world by storm. The game itself was incredibly physical with technicals and ejections being issued.

Cavaliers Center, Kendrick Perkins, set a hard screen on Celtics Forward, Jae Crowder, that sparked some shoving and much trash talking. However, later in the game Crowder and Cavs Guard J.R. Smith got into it while positioning themselves for a rebound.

The video shows Crowder shoving Smith pretty hard (definitely foul-worthy). J.R. Smith retaliated though by flailing his arm, with a closed fist, and connected with Jae Crowder… right in his face.

Accidental? Maybe. Suspension? Definitely. How long? Nobody knows.

So Kevin Love is reportedly out for the rest of the playoffs. J.R. Smith is for sure getting suspended and it could potentially be a few games. After sweeping the Celtics on Sunday, we wait for the Bulls as they look to close out their series with the Bucks.

This means the Cleveland Cavaliers are without two of their starters and the two other members on the team, besides LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, that can be consistently relied upon to create their own shot. This takes away a huge element of the Cavs game as they rely heavily on Love and Smith to hit 3’s and space the floor.

This may be one of LeBron’s biggest challenges in his career, without a doubt. But I think this focus’ more on Kyrie Irving.

Kyrie Irving will be expected to score a lot, as LeBron will be busy defending the variety of players Chicago has such as Jimmy Butler, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson, and Mike Dunleavy.

Two other key players for this series that must step up to win are Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert. Defensively they need to show up, but offensively Shumpert needs to hit perimeter shots and Thompson needs to continue his offensive rebounding giving Cleveland second chance points.

Is Kyrie Irving ready to accept the challenge and put the stamp on the “Superstar” label? This series will indeed determine that as he faces a Bulls team which is finally healthy and has been labeled as the Cavaliers only threat all year in the Eastern Conference, WITH Kevin Love and J.R. Smith.

This Round 2 series of the NBA Playoffs between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls will be the first big test of Kyrie Irving’s young career. Is he ready? We’ll find out this weekend. GO CAVS!

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Kevin Love Rocks Cleveland Indians Hat in Hospital

Kevin Love

By Matt Stevenson

April 30, 2015

Game 4 of the Cavaliers-Celtics series ended in a sweep, but Cavaliers fans lost more than they won. 3 time All-Star Kevin Love dislocated his shoulder after getting tangled up with Celtics Kelly Olynyk and will miss 4-6 months after a successful surgery and, more importantly, the rest of the playoffs.

Much debate has been brought up amid the injury if Love, who has a player option with the Cavaliers, can opt-out of his current contract and become a free agent. 3 years of trade rumors when Love was on the Minnesota Timberwolves were consistently held up due to the lack of commitment teams were getting on Love resigning with any team he could be traded to.

The price to trade for Kevin Love was simply too high with no guarantee he would stick around for the long haul.

The Cavaliers ended up trading the 2014-2015 first overall pick, Andrew Wiggins, in a package with other first rounders and even the 2013-2014 first overall pick, Anthony Bennet, for Love. The Cavaliers executed the trade with a firm belief that Kevin Love would opt-out of his contract upon the end of this season, only to resign with Cleveland for a 5 year maximum contract worth about $120 million dollars.

The regular season had its ups and downs, but nobody received more criticism than Love. It was a daily topic on any media outlet whether it was ESPN, Bleacher Report, or even the local Cleveland news stations (and Minnesota’s as well I’m sure).

Kevin Love was left out of LeBron James’ Instagram photos, he was called out publicly by LeBron on Twitter claiming he needs to “Fit-In” and him clearly not having the same chemistry as the rest of the team on or off the court.

Kevin Love had the roughest season out of ANY player in the NBA this season in regards to the criticism from the media.

The reports of him leaving Cleveland because he doesn’t want to retain the lesser role, in which he currently does with the Cavaliers, is a legitimate argument. In the next round if the Cavaliers don’t do well, will Kevin Love be motivated to burn the Cavaliers? As the fans and organization would learn his worth through a devastating playoff exit, he might feel even more offended and motivated to leave Cleveland.

But then the morning after his surgery, Kevin Love posted a simple picture on Instagram, the same app that has been used to exclude him from the Cavaliers. It’s a picture of him giving a thumbs up with an enormous smile on his face. The reason the photo is important is because he is wearing a Cleveland Indians hat.

This is not just a hat. It’s a symbol. Kevin Love is thanking the Cleveland fans for the love and support we’ve given him through the awful injury he endured. I believe this is a message to the fans of Cleveland that he is, indeed, staying put in Cleveland for years to come.

UFC: Trouble at the Top

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By Kaleb Page

April 30, 2015

Athletes finding themselves in compromising situation and then getting in trouble for their actions.

Let the yawn out now.

It’s essentially a different day but the same story in the world of sports. No matter what the sport may be, there are athletes getting in trouble for breaking the law, PEDs, etc. almost every day.

On Sunday UFC Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones was involved in a car accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The accident broke a woman’s arm in the vehicle that was struck.

The accident became a bigger issue when Jones left the scene of the accident and from reports he came back to grab to grab a handful of cash and then flee again. When cops searched the car, once they arrived, they found marijuana and a rental car slip linking the car to Jones.

The Albuquerque police placed a warrant out for Jones thereafter. On Monday, Jones turned himself in and faces a felony hit and run charge.

There were some reporters that said Jones should have his title stripped and a suspension placed on the fighter. Especially after a recent positive drug test that showed the fighter had cocaine metabolites in his system and now this incident.

On Tuesday, that exact punishment was dealt out by UFC President Dana White.

This is the first time a fighter in UFC has had their title stripped for conduct outside the octagon. Even though this is unprecedented, I think it is important for them to take the stance they did.

Right now Jones is not in the right place and needs to focus getting himself right before he even thinks of fighting again. I know he is possibly the best fighter right now and has a legacy that grew into what it is.

However, right now he is hurting his legacy with his actions and if he truly wants to be the greatest ever then he needs to become a better person.

A better person in the sense of knowing who he is and bringing himself back to earth a bit. He came on the scene as the freak athlete that learned his way to stardom through watching YouTube videos on the sport. He needs to get back to being the hungry and humble newcomer that rose to the occasion.

While it is tough to keep that mindset when you are anointed the most untouchable guy in the division and are having that type of rise; I think it is important for him to look himself in the mirror and change.

As for now there is trouble at the top and UFC 187 will have a new headliner.

Stepping into Jones’s place is Daniel Cormier. A fighter Jones beat in at UFC 182 and will be an interesting match-up with the powerful striker Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

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Thursday’s All Right for Fighting: Royals and White Sox

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By Ellen Chlumecky

April 28, 2015

When you think about fighting in sports, what’s the first sport you think of when you think fights? One would probably think boxing first and foremost. Maybe one might think of hockey, football, lacrosse, or maybe even basketball. Baseball is probably low on the list of sports that people might think of as violent. One would most likely not think of baseball as a sport that involves brawling of any kind. However, this week baseball defied all stereotypes this week with a huge brawl that grabbed an enormous amount of media attention.

On, Thursday, April 23rd, the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox had a brawl at U.S. Cellular Field. Six players were suspended in the process and a seventh player is now being fined for their roles. The Royals’ pitcher Yordano Ventura received a seven game suspension. Another Royals’ pitcher Edinson Volquez received a five game suspension. Royals’ outfielder Lorenzo Cain received a two game suspension. Lastly from the Royals, pitcher Kelvin Herrera also received a two game suspension. White Sox pitchers Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija received five game suspensions. White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers was not suspended but was fined with an undisclosed amount. In addition to their suspensions, they were also fined as well.

Tensions had been high for quite some time, since the opening series of the season to be exact. The fight took place in the seventh inning Thursday. It started near the first-base foul line then started to range out toward second base and resuming again near the first-base bag. It ended with the ejection of five players which included both of the starting pitchers: Ventura and Sale.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12752895

You can view the whole brawl in the video above. It was a mess of arms, hands, and baseball hats. In addition to those seven players, players from both the dugouts and bullpens ran onto the field. Other players threw punches in the fight that lasted several minutes.

The Royals are starting to earn a fighting reputation after several incidents. The White Sox are just one of two teams they got into a fight with; the other one was with the Oakland A’s. Also, Yordano Ventura got into a heated argument with the Angels’ Mike Trout during a series. Yet Yost insisted that his club has rarely been the instigator in any of these situations. However, he hopes that it’s all behind them and they can move forward.

The MLB did the right thing. A massive amount of younger children look up to these baseball players. The MLB doesn’t want to condone this brawling among its fans. The MLB believes this punishment is fair and I agree fully. While some of the players are trying to appeal, I believe the MLB will do what they think is the right option.

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Bruce Jenner Breaks Down America’s Myths about Gender

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By Ellen Chlumecky

April 27, 2015

In this day and age, the world is harsher than ever. Especially with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, there is more of a chance for people to berate and insult each other. When people want to stand up and stick up for themselves, the world can’t help but stop and stare. These people shouldn’t be mocked, teased, or felt degraded or insulted. These people should be celebrated and felt important for their differences. When former Olympian, Bruce Jenner, revealed to the world on April 24th that he is a transgender woman, there is was a surprising amount of support not only from his family but also many people working hard for acceptance for the transgender community.

Bruce Jenner won two Amateur Athletic Union decathlons, the Pan-American Games decathlon, a gold medal in Montreal Olympic decathlon, a Sullivan Award, an Associated Press Athlete of the Year. He was also inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and into the Olympic Hall of Fame. He was a talented athlete and an idol to the United States of America in the 70s and the 80s. Young athletes looked up to him and looked at him as a model of someone who was strong and confident. However, even after several years of no longer being an athlete you can see his confidence and his strength in his interview with Diane Sawyer.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/24/media/bruce-jenner-interview-diane-sawyer/

The reason I felt this was so important to write about is the same reason that I believe people who feel they need to be who they are need to be comfortable to do so. Bruce Jenner is one of several athletes who waited till they were done with sports to feel comfortable becoming transgender. Some of these athletes were out of the public eye which is why they felt it was finally acceptable to change genders. Bruce Jenner has a unique situation because of who his family is, the Kardashians.

His marriage to Kris Kardashian brought his whole situation to a larger media scale than it would’ve if he had stayed out of the spotlight. However, I don’t think that he would’ve wanted to change it at all. Bruce Jenner was quoted saying, “We’re going to make a difference in the world with what we’re doing.” Jenner had contemplated suicide because he felt like he was living a lie. As he is coming out to the world, he is showing people how important it is to be who you are because being happy is most important.

He is not only standing up for himself but for all trans, gender-nonconforming, and intersex people. These people want to be happy by being themselves, and I believe that what he’s doing is amazing. He deserves more than just settling. I fully support anyone going through this situation and I believe the sports world should stand behind these people as well.

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OKC Pulls the String on Scott Brooks

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By Kaleb Page

April 24, 2015

Being a professional coach these days comes with more scrutiny than ever before. With 24-hour news cycles, social media and podcasts, there is no shortage of debate on how well a coach is actually coaching.

For much of professional coaching, especially in the past, the leash on a coach was at least three to four years. However, given the right circumstances that leash can be shortened or it can get the extension.

Scott Brooks was fired Wednesday by the Oklahoma City Thunder. After seven seasons as the head coach, the team decided to fire Brooks and look to go in a different direction. It’s surprising given what Brooks did in his time as a coach. He had a career record of 338-207 (.620) and was the NBA Coach of the Year in 2010.

When Brooks started his career with the Thunder back in 2008 the team was an awful 22-47, for the next six seasons Brooks coached a team that hit at least 50 wins four times. That doesn’t include the 47-19 season (2011-12) that had the team in the NBA finals facing off with the ‘Big Three’ in Miami (the Thunder would lose).

This season for the Thunder, in the much tougher Western Conference, was a roller coaster ride. Every time your looked to see what the team was doing, there seemed to be a debilitating injury. For a good 90% of the season the team was without their superstar Kevin Durant (last year’s MVP). Russell Westbrook battled many injuries (missed 15 games) to still battle night in night out, make a push for the MVP and becoming a nightly triple-double machine. It also didn’t help that versatile big man, Serge Ibaka, fell to injury keeping him out for the big stretch run toward the playoffs.

Despite the setbacks, the team was in contention all the way up to the final game of the season for the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Even though Brooks took this team from nothing to something. It still wasn’t good enough to stay off the chopping block.

Now, there’s the argument that Brooks had long enough with a lot of talent to get more Finals appearances and even an NBA title. However, I’m not picking up what they’re putting down.

If anything Brooks deserved at least another year. He was the original guy that was the voice leading this group of young talent, and it was in the hardest conference in the association.

To be honest I think the real look into scrutiny should be at GM. Yes, GM Sam Presti is a bright mind at that position but there are some questionable moves that have put this team down this so-called path.

Let’s look at this team when they got to the NBA Finals. When they were in the Finals this team had Westbrook, Durant and James Harden (Yeah…you read that right). Now imagine, that team still together as a dynamic big three and even a big four if you factor in Ibaka. However, the GM took part in a three team trade that sent Harden to Houston and got Kevin Martin in return.

Yeah, let’s just say that didn’t pan out with Martin being an afterthought and leaving after just one year.

You could even look at the trade that let Jeff Green go and gave the team Kendrick Perkins. A deal that wrapped up so much money in Perkins, that it could have been used elsewhere (i.e. James Harden).

I know the coach is the figure-head of the team, and he will take the fall 9 times out of 10. In all honesty, it looks like there needs to be some changing elsewhere as well.

…But I guess that’s none of my business. (Enjoy Shaq and Charles Barkley’s take)

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