For the better part of a year, I have been making the same half-joke: “In previous years, it was impossible to find WNBA products because nobody wanted to carry them. This year, it will be impossible because everybody wants them.” I know I am not alone in this sentiment. With the surge of interest in recent years due to numerous circumstances (most prominently, the Caitlin Clark Effect), the supply and demand of WNBA and women’s basketball collectible products has had a drastic 180 degree turn. For fans both new and old, the landscape is constantly changing.
The 90s were an explosive decade for basketball: The Dream Team, Space Jam, Lil Penny, Shaqnosis…the 90s pushed basketball and the NBA to be the modern breakout sport for the new millennium. Alongside that cultural push was third-wave feminism, a movement that was, even if imperfectly, striving for intersectional feminism. A culmination of these two cultural markers yielded the rise of women’s basketball in America*, and in April of 1996 the NBA Board of Governors announced the opening tip-off for June 1997 of the WNBA. The 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta shined a spotlight on the stacked home-grown talent the US had, and seeing them dominate every four years would no longer be the main option for the masses.
The WNBA started strongly with eight teams and expanded by two teams every year the first few years of play. Some teams, however, did not last long. For Floridians, the two teams, Orlando Miracle and Miami Sol, lasted four or less seasons with the Miracle being bought and moved to become the Connecticut Sun, and Miami Sol folding. While the WNBA quickly grew and gained traction, it just as quickly shrank and simmered. The current league has 12 teams, with three expansion teams on the move in San Francisco, Toronto, and Portland.
On top of the rapid introduction and removal of teams, the WNBA was also difficult to view on cable in the pre-internet era. Broadcasting has gone through its own evolution over the last thirty years, and the WNBA has been broadcast on traditional stations CBS, ABC, and ESPN, but also Lifetime, Facebook Watch, and Twitter Spaces. Even WNBA players could not keep up with where to watch their own sport. For many fans, a desert formed in the mid-2000s where accessing the WNBA became an arduous task. Many spectators were not able to consistently invest their attention or dollars, and both the league and fans suffered for that.
Fans that were also card collectors had additional burdens. The WNBA license had been passed around between Rittenhouse, Fleer, and most recently landed with Panini, where it remains today. Collectors were also treated to Team USA cards from Topps and Upper Deck (ideally) every four years, with Sports Illustrated for Kids being possibly the most consistent brand for women’s basketball collectors over the years**. To reiterate my sentiment from the start of this article, Annemarie Farrell of @women.on.topps so eloquently pointed out:
While the growth this year has been unprecedented, the WNBA has been growing regularly over the last decade in areas including attendance, viewership, wagers, and social media engagement. Another boost was provided when NCAA Women’s Basketball was finally granted March Madness branding in 2022. The trend was upwards, but with the push from the rookie class of 2024, including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson, and Cameron Brink, the exponential growth has been undeniable, especially for card collectors.
Set to release on October 16th, Panini WNBA Origins returns for a second year with Caitlin Clark and her idol, Maya Moore, on the box art. While a box from 2023’s run costs approximately $180 and a case $1,750, this year’s price tag is more than double with boxes listed for pre-order on Blowout Cards at approximately $375 per box and $3,700 per case. This week, Panini also released First Off the Line WNBA Select for the first time, implementing the “Dutch auction” process which I previously wrote about regarding another new WNBA product from earlier this month, Caitlin Clark 2024 Panini Instant WNBA #CCROY. In case you thought two products in one week was not enough, Panini released WNBA Instant The Logo. There is no word yet on 2024 WNBA Prizm (which debuted in 2020), but as a devout Prizm disciple, I know it will be hard to come by and far outside a comfortable price range if found. Once again, the desert is flooded, but the accessibility is questionable and the consistency is yet to be proven.
It is great to see a wider audience giving the sport and its players their well deserved, long overdue flowers, though there could be further refinement. It is also understandable that long-time fans of the WNBA are dismayed by the change due to the fickle history of the league and the accompanying card products.The WNBA is built by women, its players fight for human rights, and they own their skill by saying “We knew all along, and thank you for joining us.” With the rapid change came new issues and little time to adjust; as new and old fans/collectors, we are going through the growing pains at warp speed together, so while there is excitement, it is also understood that there is a level of exploitation that is difficult to grapple with. To fans, it is more than just basketball and cardboard.
*Women’s basketball has a rich, extended history that includes FIBA, NCAA, ABL, and beyond, but for this article we are focusing on a league affiliated with/equivalent to the NBA and its branding.
**I am NOT even close to an expert in women’s sports collectibles, but please check out just a couple of my favorites, @giantlegends (Cindy Dick) and @women.on.topps (Annemarie Farrell).
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