WNBA aims for profits in 12th season, with new star

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Eager fans should be jumping from their seats next week to watch a young basketball player already billed as one of the game's best soar through the air and throw down a thunderous dunk.

It will not be Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett of the National Basketball Association plowing through the playoffs.

Instead, the 12th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) kicks off on May 17 with a new TV deal, optimism about profitability and hopes that a rookie will carry a Michael Jordan-like mantle.

When 22-year-old Candace Parker laces up her sneakers next week for the first time, the WNBA is anticipating that a mega-star will be born and will lead the league to profitability and long-term legitimacy.

She seems off to a good start. Her jersey has become a hot seller even before she suits up for her first professional game after a storied career at the University of Tennessee that included championships the last two years.

Launched by the National Basketball Association in 1997 following the gold-medal performance of the U.S. women's team in the Olympics the year before, the stars may be aligning for the WNBA, with a strong female fan base and rising ticket sales.

"The progress this league has made in this short window is nothing short of miraculous," WNBA President Donna Orender said in a telephone interview.

Others do not share the same view.

"It's sort of now consigned to being a minor league, which is fine," said Robert Boland, a professor of sports management at New York University. "I don't think it was ever going to be anything else."

ROUGH SLEDDING

Some women's sports leagues, like soccer, have folded, and others have failed to garner a huge following, like softball. After the initial excitement of its first two years, the WNBA has managed to survive both a decline in attendance and television ratings, feeding off its parent.

"They had the rocket booster known as the NBA," said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute. "Their biggest success is that they're still around, and from what we've seen that is by no means a small feat."

The NBA has used its muscle to send sponsors and ticket buyers the WNBA's way.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said his league's commitment will not end, even as the WNBA brings in more private owners to replace the NBA teams that sponsored them from the start.

"We're very committed to it. We gave it our name," he said in an interview.