Last month, it wrapped up a historic season that notched all-time viewership and attendance records while racking up brand deals and corporate sponsorships for its players along the way. Players of different backgrounds landed a variety of other endorsement deals with companies like CarMax and State Farm. The WNBA recently partnered with Kim Kardashian’s underwear brand SKIMS, which featured women of color as well as LGBTQ+ players in its ads. Risa Isard, assistant professor of sport management at the University of Connecticut, analyzed online articles from ESPN, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated from the 2020 WNBA season and her peer-reviewed study found that Black WNBA athletes received less media attention than white WNBA athletes. “I am having quite a bit of success now that I didn’t have then," she said, which makes her hopeful that sponsorship opportunities for Black LGBTQ+ female athletes also will continue to grow.
