eams were fielded by the WNBA, all located in NBA cities and operated by teams in those markets. The TV networks agreed to cross-promote games to encourage viewership, and each network staked out a claim to specific days of the week and game times. It was believed that the league needed to sign at least seven regular-season advertisers, though NBA Commissioner David Stern said early on that more than twice that number of potential advertisers had expressed interest.
Berg and Huntington (1996) predicted in 1997 that economics - and not talent or motivation on the part of players - would be the key to successful womenÆs professional sports and also asserted that as the WNMA was formed, there were strong indicators that such sports could be profitable. Critical to the success and maintenance of the WNBA were such variables as attracting fans (people willing to pay to attend games, but branded merchandise, and ultimately respond positively to TV advertising messages), winning media exposure beyond sim
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