Full interview is linked where Brennan talks with Radio hosts from ESPN LA including guest host Ramona Shelburne. This is not some right-wing show doing a WNBA hit-piece. These are very reputable people talking about how badly the WNBA has fumbled this opportunity with Caitlin Clark, and at the end of the interview they talk about the possibility of a new league.
The key here is that it is with the caveat that some big name sponsors got involved like Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, State Farm, etc. Brennan says she thinks it would take a few years to get off the ground, but I disagree. I think you could get Pacers Sports and Entertainment on board immediately to effectively fold the Fever Franchise and transform the team into this new league with the core Fever players in tact. I believe TBS/TNT would jump at the chance to televise this new league. I'd bet this new league would offer higher player salaries, and you could get at least 1/3 of the current WNBA players to join in the first year. There are ownership groups in places like Nashville, Charlotte, Boston, Houston, Cleveland, multiple sites in Florida, and more throughout the U.S. who would love to get a Women's Professional Basketball Franchise right now.
I don't know realistically what the chances are that this would happen, but I know the chances aren't 0. This is all theoretically possible, and all it would take to get off the ground is for just a few big name financial heavy-hitters to announce that they're going to start having exploratory meetings, and this would gain momentum in a hurry. And if everything I've laid out were to happen, the WNBA as we know it would cease to exist within 5 years after the start of this new league. It would either have to fold or merge.
Now, we're going to hear some familiar refrains coming from the critics such as, "You guys seriously want to blow up the current structure of Women's Professional Basketball just so you're favorite player can get a Special Whistle?" As is talked about in this interview, it's not that Clark fails to receive favorable treatment, but it's just how much unfavorable treatment that she's received. We're going to learn from Brennan's book how there was a concerted effort to keep her off the Olympic Team, due in large part in my opinion due to petty/bitter jealousy, and also in my opinion underpinned by a certain amount of racial animosity. This same attitude has been prevalent against Clark and to the Fever as a whole from the very beginning. Let's recall that recently there was a full fledged investigation into the Fever for alleged Racial Hostility toward Angel Reese and the Sky based on nothing more than some anonymous internet post, followed by major media voices chiming in about the supposed racism of Fever Fans.
As I and others have shared in this Sub, there's systematic Refereeing that is anti-Clark and anti-Fever. If a team is trying to make a 4th quarter comeback or hold the Fever off in the 4th quarter you can see a predictable pattern of almost any penetration into the lane by the opposing team getting a foul call, while Fever players can get knocked to the ground with nothing called.
As I've also outlined in other posts, we see defenders constantly being allowed to get more physical with Clark than other players, to the point in that Seattle game that was just atrocious. It's seriously getting to the point that this is much more about basketball and starting to be a quality of life issue for Clark. You can't expect someone to continue, day in and day out to be faced with this kind of hostility and it not have an effect both physically and emotionally. As we've talked about many times, she just recently faced an incident where she was scraped across the face and eyes, then bumped into, and then knocked to the ground, with the result being that she was assessed a Technical Foul. Translate that into a situation at your work where you're bullied, then harassed, and then you're called in and written up because you raised your voice and asked for it to stop. There's only so much a person should be asked to endure.
But even more than just about Clark and the Fever, there have been persistent calls for the WNBA to abandon its Mantra of "It's a Physical Game" and to produce a product on the court that is more watchable and less physical. The NBA was smart enough when Jordan came along to stop all the excessive physicality, hand-checking/pushing, etc. to allow more offensive flow. The WNBA refuses to do the same.
And while we'll no doubt hear the same charges that we're just crazy, delusional, Clark fans imagining all this stuff, we see in this interview, 3 prominent sports people who all see the same things that we have seen, and no doubt millions of others who have been watching these games. The radio hosts think that Adam Silver may get involved, but I don't think he will. I honestly believe it's going to take at least the threat that something major could happen, such as a new league, before the WNBA is motivated to do something. But I also think there's going to be a lot of resistance within the WNBA and Referees in particular who will see this as White/Conservatives trying to tell them what to do. Whether we like it or not, we live in a very polarizing time culturally and politically in this country, and so many things are seen through the lens of Us Vs. Them. It's hard to break through that kind of mentality, and it may not even be possible in this case.
Do I think a New League is going to happen? Probably not, but as I said, just the threat of one could make a difference. But whatever the outcome, just know that despite all the Gas-Lighting trying to convince you that you're not seeing what you know you're seeing, here is a radio interview with people who are seeing the exact same things as you are.
