WNBA tries to leave paper trail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The WNBA tried something different this spring to attract media coverage — it turned its fans into lobbyists. The league armed its fans in May with form letters and newspaper links so all they needed to do was fill in "your name here" and "your team here." The dream of the league, entering its second decade, was massive national coverage.

That's nothing new in the nation's capital, where the league's eighth All-Star Game will be played today. Here, organizations from animal-rights groups to gun supporters use the method to get Congress' attention. Even organizers of Save Our Sonics and Storm in Seattle utilized the tool in hopes of prompting local government to provide funding for a new arena to retain their teams.

But a professional sports league publicly pleading for more coverage? Unheard of.

And not even thought of, according to representatives of Major League Soccer and Arena Football, to name a few.

Instead of generating more coverage, the only bump the WNBA appeared to receive was fiery stories from established beat reporters. And like a political party changing its verbiage on international affairs, the league altered, tweaked and ultimately dropped its campaign, stating it had "run its course" by June.

"If the league wants more coverage, it has to earn it on the court and in arenas," wrote San Antonio Silver Stars reporter Natalie England in her "Insider" column for The San Antonio Express-News. "Make the product good and put people in the seats. Daily sports sections exist to cover sports, not promote sports — that's why teams have public relations staffs."

Click and roll

In the early days of the league, older players past their prime were the stars, because of their name recognition. Now, young players like second-year All-Stars Candice Dupree and Seimone Augustus are winning over new fans with their play.

You'll also want to know more, the league says. WNBA president Donna Orender said fans inquiring about how to get more coverage, in conjunction with an April commissioner's meeting at which sports editors said content decisions are made on reader response, led the league to launch its campaign.

"It's no longer a one-way street, it's two," Orender said during her visit to Seattle in June. "We have editors and publishers telling us that they want to be responsive to their readers. We're saying great, we believe that you should be. We know that their readers would like more WNBA coverage, but our fans may not know how to make that connection. So, we put two parties together to facilitate what we thought would make them both happier."

On its Web site, Orender addressed a letter to "WNBA Teammate" and provided the info for the major dailies, excluding smaller papers in markets like Los Angeles and Connecticut. Across the country, sports departments received the following letter (with different team names):

"As a passionate fan of the Seattle Storm, I am writing to urge you to include more coverage of my favorite WNBA team in your paper. The WNBA is an important sport and I would love to read more about the team, players and entire league this season."

The San Antonio Express-News and The Hartford (Conn.) Courant received about 12 each, The Seattle Times received 15 and The Sacramento Bee counted 25.

It was not the approach sports editors would have suggested.

"The WNBA initially did a great job of promoting personalities," said Oscar Dixon, pro basketball editor for USA Today. "But in doing that, the game itself took a backseat. What they have done the last year is to try to convince the sports editors that the game is a viable product. What they had to learn — and I use this a lot — is sports editors care about Serena Williams' catsuit second to Serena Williams' 140 mph serve. If Serena didn't have a 140 mph serve and wasn't one of the top players in the world, we wouldn't really care what she wore.

"The WNBA went the other way, they went with the catsuit before they gave us the game. Now they're trying to make up that ground and say, 'Hey, they can play!' "

If the WNBA could have just been patient, it would have seen some signs of increased coverage this summer.

The Washington Post has had cover stories in its sports section leading up to today's festivities. Sports Illustrated is featuring Storm All-Star Lauren Jackson and includes WNBA players in its pop culture grid. The San Antonio paper had the Western Conference-leading Silver Stars on the cover of its sports section during the NBA playoffs, using a special wraparound section for the NBA champion Spurs.

The Los Angeles Times increased its space given to the Sparks despite a club-record six-game losing streak. The Seattle Times continued a second season with its Storm/WNBA blog. And USA Today had a photo of All-Star Becky Hammon on its front page, referring to full-page All-Star coverage inside its Friday edition.

The WNBA had better television ratings than the NHL playoffs this season, although since 2003 the women have had a reported 0.2 television rating.

"When I was in college and doing all that stuff, there was just one media person around," said Chicago coach Bo Overton, who was the coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. "With you guys, every time I sit down there's five or six. We love it because it's getting people to look at our team. You guys help us by getting it out there and people coming to watch us."

But the league should understand that the media isn't on its campaign trail. A journalist's duty is to provide comprehensive and critical coverage, so negative stories about declining attendance, coaches' health problems and team infighting are fair game, too.

"I don't work for you," said Dixon in relation to Orender and coaches bickering because of what's perceived to be negative coverage this season. "Not everything is going to be flowery. In fact, when you get negative coverage it means you're growing up — be happy."

Evergreen

It happens every time a team travels to Seattle.

Players marvel at the enthusiasm of Storm fans. They comment on the regular, visible media coverage. And they wonder how it happened.

"We were like, these are Western Conference teams that are substantially smaller markets and they're outdrawing Los Angeles. Why?" said new Sparks owner Kathy Goodman, a season-ticket holder since the team's inception in 1997. "I look at what's happening in Seattle and there's a core of fans there that, I don't know anything, but I feel like something special happened there because there's just too many dedicated fans."

Since its inception in 2000, the Seattle market didn't wait for anything to be proven. Both daily Seattle newspapers assigned full-time, traveling beat reporters who produced the standard coverage of a professional team — preview sections, game advances, trend stories, etc. The News Tribune of Tacoma also has a beat reporter, although the paper normally travels only during the postseason.

The Post-Intelligencer started using a correspondent rather than a staff reporter after a newspaper strike that ended in 2001. The Times continues its coverage because the paper is always looking to increase female readership in the sports section and understands that the WNBA is worthy of coverage as a professional league. The Storm's 2004 championship only made the team more popular and provided justification for the coverage.

Across the country, regular WNBA reporters pop up as quickly as they disappear. Houston and Phoenix used to have traveling reporters, but now have new reporters who cover the home games and issues. The Sacramento Bee sent its beat reporter to early road games. The New York Times dropped its beat-reporting spot.

"We recognize that there's a passionate following for these sports," said New York Times sports editor Tom Jolly, who attended the April meeting and received one form letter. "But we have to make our judgment and sort of pick our spots to cover them."

And the WNBA doesn't always help itself. For the first time, the league enters the All-Star break with some teams just finishing their media guides.

Plus, The Sporting News stopped publishing WNBA registers because of finances. So, there's no league media guide.

But it all could be washed away with today's showcase.

The league has talent outside of household names Sue Bird, Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie. If fans agree, they'll write their own letter about it.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com