DATE: Sunday, August 3, 1997                TAG: 9708030199

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

WHOEVER'S ``GOT NEXT'' HAD BETTER BE LOADED

Halfway through the inaugural season of the WNBA, we still don't know whether women's basketball can support itself.

For sure, the WNBA is being sold and sold well, if not relentlessly. That, in itself, is a minor phenomenon. But what exactly is being sold?

Three WNBA games a week are showcased on NBC, ESPN and Lifetime. Those ``We Got Next'' spots have been seen on TV more often than Larry King's suspenders.

The most hyped player is New York Liberty center Rebecca Lobo, who is so lacking in mobility, she should be known as ``the Statue of Liberty.'' From the amount of publicity she gets, no one would ever guess she is a role player.

But then, savvy marketing is what lifts the WNBA.

In Phoenix, the team is drawing a league-high 13,000 a game. The Liberty averages more than 11,000. Even the rockiest franchise, the Cleveland Rockers, attracts 7,000 a game.

The same media that have been busy promoting the WNBA have declared the league a summer sensation.

Because of the quality of the basketball? Get real.

Aesthetically, the games have been a disappointment: Lower-scoring than expected, with an alarmingly high rate of turnovers. What's more, to a national audience, the identities of the players mean next to nothing.

Remarkably, none of this has damaged the reputation of the WNBA. Shows what an able, well-funded marketing department can do.

It's generally understood that the rival American Basketball League, with its younger, quicker players, serves up a more exciting brand of ball. But in its first year, the ABL averaged only 3,536 per game leaguewide.

The ABL is ill-equipped for the role of pioneer. The WNBA works better. And why not? It has a Sugar Daddy.

For all the excitement it generates among feminists and women's hoops boosters, it can't be denied that the WNBA's success is less a tribute to women's basketball than a confirmation of the power of the NBA to influence TV and corporate sponsors.

Within the subculture of women's basketball, some WNBA players are beginning to emerge as stars. In Houston, there's Cynthia Cooper. In Phoenix, Jennifer Gillom. And New York offers a backcourt of ``T-Spoon'' (Teresa Weatherspoon) and ``Serving Spoon'' (Sophia Witherspoon).

Household names? Hardly. The players are at least as obscure as members of Major League Soccer teams or the beach bums who populate the sand volleyball tour.

Even so, the WNBA likely will embolden other women's endeavors. A pro women's soccer league is expected to materialize next spring or after the 1999 Women's World Cup. A women's pro softball league, with a franchise in Hampton, began operation this spring. And beginning at the 1998 Winter Olympics, women's ice hockey becomes a medal sport. Can we expect a women's pro hockey loop to follow?

That would seem absurd, but who knows? Nobody recalls America clamoring for a women's basketball league, and now we've got two.

The growth of women's team sports is tied to the marketplace, we're told. Women are spending more on athletic equipment, shoes mostly.

That sounds plausible. Less credible is the notion that the popularity of the WNBA will help other women's leagues ``get next.''

Without the kind of financial mega-support the WNBA is receiving, what they'll get is a big letdown. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rebecca Lobo, a glorified role player, is the WNBA's most hyped

athlete.

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