That all changed when Williams-Jeter moved to the WNBA. The best female basketball players in the world didn’t have the luxuries afforded to their male counterparts in the NBA, or even to many of the top college teams. Until the addition of college stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese this year, which raised the league’s profile, WNBA teams couldn’t fly privately to games.
It’s just one example of the changes happening in women’s basketball, which has been thrust into the spotlight this summer after the U.S. won its eighth consecutive gold medal at the Paris Olympics. New 11-year media rights deals with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC will bring in roughly $200 million a year for the WNBA and should lead to higher salaries for players across the league.
Williams-Jeter retired from the WNBA in 2008 after a seven-year career, and she’s especially excited about the league’s progress in recent years.
“Nothing’s irreversible,” said Williams-Jeter, who is in her third season as head coach at Dayton. “Coming from a small town like Dayton and going pro has been a great experience, but I’m so happy for these young women who are getting a much bigger pay raise. We’re not as good as the NBA, but we’ve only been around for 25 years. I’m excited about the charter flights, the benefits, the things we take for granted. I’m so happy about the attention, good and bad. Just like the male NBA coaches, it’s all a given. The money they’re making, the exposure, the amount of young girls thinking they can get there, it’s what it’s all about. I’m happy I was able to help them get there in some small way. It makes me smile when I see it.”
Clarke and Reese’s participation in the WNBA, which begins its playoffs today, has led to a number of records and astonishing statistics.
• On August 30, the game between Clark’s Indiana Fever and Reese’s Chicago Sky drew 1.6 million viewers on the ION network, setting a record for the channel and surpassing the ratings of all college football games televised that night. Overall, the network’s ratings increased 123%.
• The Fever recorded a league-best average attendance of 16,979 in early September, just two years after averaging 1,776 per game.
• Leaguewide, attendance is averaging 3,000 more fans per game than last season, bringing average attendance to just under 10,000, the highest since the WNBA’s first two seasons in 1998 and 1999.
The rise of the WNBA isn’t the only sign of the growth of women’s sports in the country.
• According to the National Association of State High School Associations, high school volleyball participation will reach 470,488 in 2022-23.
• Nebraska drew 92,003 fans to its football stadium for a volleyball game in 2023, the largest attendance ever for a women’s sporting event.
• Nationally, the University of Dayton volleyball team drew a record crowd of 4,196 to Frerichs Center for a game against Ohio State earlier this season, but the team was forced to stop the game after condensation on the court caused the game to be declared a no contest.
Ricky Harris, a sixth-year guard on the UD basketball team who spent the past four seasons at Ohio State, has seen the growing interest in women’s sports firsthand.
“It’s been amazing,” Harris said. “I remember my first couple of years in college we only had airtime during the big games, but my last couple of years we went from maybe every other seat being there to pretty much full houses every night. It’s great to see the support for women across the board. We had great crowds in almost every gym we played in.”
Williams-Jater is a big fan of basketball and has seen Clark play, as well as fellow rookie Dallas Wings guard Jaycee Sheldon, who Williams-Jater coached early in his college career at Ohio State.
“The basketball world is a very small world,” Williams-Jeter said, “so it’s so fun to watch these kids grow up, and they’re under a lot more pressure than you can imagine, just like when Caitlin Clark walks into the gym and realizes the reason it’s packed is because she walked in.”
Clark’s presence may be the reason for the increased attendance, but manager Williams Jeter is hopeful the overall quality of play will keep fans coming back.
“The best thing is the style of basketball right now is so explosive and dynamic,” she says. “You have players who are athletic, who play above the basket and who can shoot the ball.”
Fans will come for Clark, but will stay for other reasons, Williams-Jeter said.
“I just love the energy and the sold-out crowds and sold-out season tickets,” she said. “I never thought this day would come.”
Williams-Jeter spent one season at Wittenberg before taking the Dayton job in 2022. Wittenberg athletic director Brian Agler, who hired her, also has extensive experience in the WNBA and recognizes how far the league has come.
Agler, a 1980 graduate of Wittenberg University, returned to her alma mater after 17 seasons in the WNBA, where she compiled a 287-258 record with four teams, winning her first championship with the Seattle Storm in 2010 and again with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016.
“I think we’ve seen some incredible progress just this year,” Agler said. “A lot of it has to do with the college game and the talent that comes to college and the attention that players get at the college level. The fan support at the college level attracts the media, and the media follows the talented players to the league. It’s all about from there. If players do really well, interest seems to skyrocket.”
Wright State and UD athletic directors Joylynn Brown and Neil Sullivan hope that increased interest in the college game and the WNBA will also boost interest in their women’s sports programs.
Brown was removed from the interim tag in the AD role in July. She took over the role in April when Bob Grant retired after 16 years as Wright State’s AD. She is the first woman to hold the position at Wright State.
Brown believes the rivalry between Clark and Rees has brought attention to the sport.
“Any sport, men’s or women’s, people love intense rivalries, so I think that’s one of the reasons,” she said. “Women’s college basketball has really exploded in viewership over the last few years. Taking the players that everyone already knows in the WNBA and surrounding them with professional players just really elevates the level of play. I think it’s a lot of fun. I don’t think it matters if it’s men’s or women’s. People love competition. They love watching them compete at a high level.”
Wright State averaged 1,543 fans for its 16 home games at the Nutter Center last season, a significant increase from the 948 fans it averaged for its 12 games in the 2022-23 season.
Wright State ranked third out of 11 programs in the Horizon League. Green Bay led the league with a 1,964 average.
Brown also said season ticket sales will increase going into the 2024-25 season.
“Once we get people into the arena, they see our product and the student-athletes that represent us and they keep coming back,” Brown said. “A lot of times, people bring their youth teams. If you have girls who are interested in sports, there’s nothing better than seeing young women they can look up to.”
Dayton has led the Atlantic 10 Conference women’s basketball attendance for 12 consecutive seasons, excluding the 2020-21 season when attendance was limited due to the pandemic. The Flyers averaged 2,762 fans for 14 home games last season, after drawing an average of 2,574 fans for 13 home games the season before that.
“We’ve led the league in attendance for many years,” Sullivan said. “We’re on track to do it again. We’re continuing to work to increase attendance. … I think number one is the talent of these young women in sports. They’re incredibly talented. Unbelievable talent. The more people that come out to the games and support us, the better.”