San Antonio Turns Out to Be a Good Bet

Connecticut is supposed to be a state that has state-of-the-art fan support for women’s basketball.

For example, the four-time national champion University of Connecticut has had 74 consecutive home sellouts.

And there may come a day when the Connecticut Sun is just as popular.

But right now, San Antonio is doing a Texas two-step all over Connecticut as each tries to draw fans to the WNBA’s two newest franchises.

Through their first eight home games, the Silver Stars, who moved to San Antonio from Utah, are attracting 10,606 a game. That is the league’s third-highest average behind Washington and New York, and a 71% increase above last year’s average attendance in Salt Lake City. San Antonio has had only one game that drew fewer than 8,000 fans, and two games that drew more than 14,000 to the SBC Center.

By contrast, the Sun -- which relocated from Orlando, Fla. -- has attracted an average of 5,165 fans for its first seven home dates.

That attendance figure ranks last in the league and represents a 28% dip from last season. The team’s largest crowd -- 9,341 -- was for the season opener against the Sparks. Since then, it has not posted an attendance total higher than 5,311.

A cynic would suggest the Sun could turn a profit if only 100 people came to the games since, with the home arena inside a hotel and casino, folks are bound to stop at a slot machine or two and leave some of their money there on the way

out.

But instead of trying to figure what Connecticut is doing wrong, it would be more beneficial to learn what San Antonio is doing right.

Long-term planning is probably the difference.

The Mohegan Indian tribe, which owns the Sun, purchased the Orlando franchise in January and had about three months to develop its basketball staff and build a fan base.

San Antonio had been working on getting a WNBA franchise for three years before the Utah franchise became available. And the Spurs Sports and Entertainment group, which owns the NBA Spurs and the Silver Stars, had a dream long before

that.

“When the WNBA first came out [in 1997] we were interested in it,” said Russ Bookbinder, an executive vice president who oversees the daily operations of both basketball teams. “But we were in the Alamodome, and it did not make sense for the WNBA or us at that time to bring a franchise here.

“We believe the SBC Center is more complementary for what we do. From a business and marketing standpoint, there is a WNBA fan base here. But we laid the groundwork for several years, and three years ago we hired Clarissa before we knew we could get a franchise or even start a campaign to develop a market for women’s pro basketball.”

That would be Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil, a former WNBA and ABL player who is the Silver Stars’ chief operating officer and one of the highest-ranking African-American executives in the league. She was a central figure in determining the Silver Stars’ strategy to create a fan base.

Ties were made with the state’s colleges, including the University of Texas, an hour northeast of San Antonio, where Davis-Wrightsil played in college. Longhorn Coach Jody Conradt is a season-ticket holder.

Davis-Wrightsil helped bring the U.S. and Canadian Olympic women’s basketball teams to San Antonio for an exhibition before the 2000 Games at Sydney, Australia. There were local basketball clinics for girls and boys from elementary to high school. And when San Antonio was host of the NCAA Women’s 2001-02 Final Four, the Spurs Sports and Entertainment group had a national media audience to announce its WNBA intentions.

Davis-Wrightsil said she wanted a WNBA team in San Antonio for personal reasons as well as professional ones.

“It gives this city the opportunity to bring in ladies who have achieved at a high level,” Davis-Wrightsil said. “Professional women who can be role models for the young girls here. I like all the things the WNBA stands for, like [improving] literacy. There is such a great need for that here. The illiteracy and functional literacy rate in this city is very high.

“[Spur players] David Robinson and Avery Johnson are great men and have done a great job here. Still, while [a little girl] can admire them, she’s not seeing ‘her’ in their place. The WNBA provides that opportunity, whether it’s Lisa Leslie, Tamika Catchings or Marie Ferdinand. I just think the more exposure young girls and women can get to what’s outside the city, the vision’s a little bit brighter.”

Although the fans are watching the Silver Stars despite the team’s 6-10 start, Davis-Wrightsil said she and other WNBA executives must continue selling the women’s game to the basketball public.

“It’s like the difference between living in an apartment and living in a house. If it’s your house, you’re gonna take care of it. With that, you’ll put in the resources and things you need, be it the manpower or dollars,” Davis-Wrightsil said.

“Women’s basketball is a lot further than it was. But, still, it’s a growing process.... “