Controversy Won’t Stop Brands From Doubling Down on the WNBA

Jewellery rarely shows up in sports — especially not basketball. The WNBA’s official handbook, in fact, explicitly states that players are not permitted to wear jewellery of any kind on the court. Most would see that as an impediment to any partnership with a sports league.

Not Catbird. The WNBA named the Brooklyn-based demi-fine jewellery brand its first official jeweller on Monday, the WNBA’s latest fashion and beauty partner in a line of tie-ups announced over the last few years that also includes Glossier, Coach and Skims.

The two-year partnership will begin with the release of its first collection on Sept. 1, in honour of the league’s 30th anniversary. It features charms for eight teams across the WNBA, including pieces paying homage to several teams in the league, including the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty. It also includes an engravable basketball charm made to be personalised for the wearer. There will also be another charm included that the WNBA itself will reveal at a later date. The pieces, crafted in 10-karat solid gold and sterling silver, will start at $74.

The brand is also running a campaign pegged to the collection’s release, starring two of the New York Liberty’s first players, Teresa Weatherspoon and Sue Wicks. It features the two legends wearing bracelets, earrings and necklaces adorned with Catbird’s collaborative charms.

Catbird’s partnership with the WNBA comes at a time when the league has been faced with controversy — most of which is none of its own doing.

The league has found itself in the middle of a contentious political debate within the US thanks to comments made in July by Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, in which she spoke out against trans athletes competing in women’s sports in an interview with ESPN. That conversation recently came to a head when former NBA player turned political pundit Enes Freedom (formerly Enes Kanter) appeared at an Indiana Fever game and chirped back and forth with Chicago Sky star Natasha Cloud during the game. Freedom has mocked the WNBA’s stance on trans athletes by declaring himself eligible to enter the league next season. Cloud, who is an activist and one of the league’s more vocal players, confronted the former NBA player when the Sky played the Fever.

As the WNBA has grown in popularity — this year, the league’s newest team in the Toronto Tempo set a single-game attendance record with nearly 21,000 people attending a game against the Dallas Wings — it has frequently found itself at the center of cultural and political conversations in the last few years as the league has grown in popularity. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke out against Freedom and others like him, saying that people are “trying to use the league to sow divisiveness.”

“We’re being the centre of political football for people who have never watched the WNBA, never have written about the WNBA or reported on the WNBA,” she said.

Despite the controversy that sometimes swirls around the league for reasons beyond its control, the WNBA is achieving record numbers and securing more brand partnerships than ever before. There’s an “incredible legacy” that comes with the WNBA that makes any partnership with the league valuable, said Leigh Batnick Plessner, Catbird’s chief creative officer.

“The WNBA is one of the most dynamic communities in sports today with a growing and passionate fanbase,” she said. “The opportunity to design pieces that speak to the spirit of both the fans and the league guided our decision.”

Controversy Can’t Stop The Momentum

With its collaborations, Catbird is focused on partnering with key figures in culture to tell stories from a “slightly different point of view,” said Batnick Plessner, the brand’s chief creative officer. Past partners include the Metropolitan Museum of Art and artists like Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers.

Catbird views the WNBA as another of the “cultural institutions” through which it can share its story. It sees value in the game and an opportunity to grow with a league that, not only has an extremely loyal fanbase, but also a growing one. That’s why the brand coveted a long-term partnership with the league.

“We’re thinking of future, present, past and legacy building,” she said.

It played the long game with its setup. Last June, Catbird dipped into sports for the first time by naming WNBA forward Nyara Sabally, who played then for the New York Liberty, its newest global ambassador. Now, this larger partnership is focusing more explicitly on the league’s longevity and how the brand can grow alongside it.

That bet on the league’s future is a sound one, said Matt Powell, a senior advisor for BCE Consulting, adding that the controversy drummed up around the league by outside agitators is not enough to dissuade brands from entering the burgeoning market. There’s too much value in partnering with the league given how quickly it’s growing.

The proof is in the numbers. WNBA sponsor valuations have experienced a 71 percent increase in value, according to a recent report from Nielsen. Viewership is booming, according to the report. Viewers watched 3.8 billion minutes of the league before its July All-Star break. That number has only increased since.

“The WNBA has been a place of joy and excitement,” he said. “I see this as a distraction that can’t take away from the success that the league has had so far.”