Today in history: First ever women's professional basketball game in USA

I can't find if this was the first professional women's basketball league globally or not but since basketball is likely most popular or at least lucrative in the United States it is considered the most meaningful event in the progression of women's professional basketball.

I was barely alive when it happened and it only lasted for 3 seasons so I think that much like the WNBA, not very many people cared or bothered to watch it (sorry ladies, but this is just a fact.)

The year was 1978

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I'm not trying to be a jerk here or be misogynistic but I have endured watching a modern day WNBA game or two thanks to having a family member who is female and was at one point considered one of the best high-school basketball players in the USA and I have to say that the game in my mind was exceptionally boring. Sorry, but that is just my opinion. When I would attend my sister's games when she played in both high school and college, it was extremely exciting but that has a lot to do with the fact that she was related to me and that the teams that she played for went to the State championship two years in a row and won it, convincingly and commandingly the 2nd time. During one of their home games in the year that they won the state championship, the 3rd digit on the scoreboard (the one that indicates more than 100 points) was used for the very first time since the school purchased the scoreboard.

Unfortunately for women's basketball, I never watched a game again after my sister was no longer playing the sport anymore. It just isn't exciting to me and I think this is an opinion that was and is held by most people.

The WBL was still a pretty momentous period of time because I do admire what they were trying to do here.

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There were 8 teams in the league and they had the draft in 1978 and many of the world's best women's players didn't want to be involved because the salaries were extremely low. While records are a bit dodgy it is estimated that the salaries averaged as low as 3,000 to 5,000 dollars per year. I realize that the late 70's were a very different time economically speaking, but this was an extremely low salary.

There aren't very many photos out there of the games themselves and as you might expect, attendance was less than stellar and this frustrated new owners from joining the league and at its peak it had only 14 teams. Very few of the teams stayed in the same city or bothered remaining in the league at all during the mere 3 seasons that the WBL was in existence.

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The very first game took place between the Milwaukee Does and the Chicago Hustle. Apparently it was a pretty decent game and nearly 8,000 people were in attendance. It was a close game, with the Hustle winning 92–87, which is a pretty respectable score if you ask me.

Since attendance was lucky to be around a thousand people per game and very few of the games were televised, it is easy to understand that the team owners experienced financial difficulties. This became evident in 1981, the mere 3rd season of the league, when players of the Minnesota Fillies walked off the court at the beginning of a game refusing to play due to unpaid salaries - which if you ask me is a perfectly acceptable reason to protest.

The league disbanded after the 1981 season, claiming $14 million in losses over 3 years. Another attempt at reviving women's basketball wouldn't happen for another 12 years. It was called the WBA and they closed up shop after similar disinterest and financial losses. Of course today we have the WNBA and they have been around since 1996 and I have still not watched a single game other than the ones I was forced to watch with my sister being in control of the remote sometime around then. For the record, I wanted to watch WWE and there was only one television in the house at the time - this created quite the argument between me and my sister :) Don't worry, we got over it.

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Women's sports have come a long way since the failure of this league and even though I don't find it interesting there is something I always say about things in general: "Life isn't about me." I think that there are probably some people out there that are very excited about the WNBA and it also encourages younger girls to get involved in sports and that is definitely a good thing. However, the WNBA, which is seen as a "fading light" of sorts in the world of women's pro sports, has experienced financial difficulties as of late and of course there is Covid to thank for a lot of that. I think that a majority of the owners would likely take the hit rather than face the potential social justice outcry that would emerge if the league were to be shut down because of bankruptcy.

Regardless of all the financial doom and gloom that comes with women's professional sports, the establishment of what is considered the first women's professional basketball league is an important date in history and it all happened today 42 years ago.