Five years ago, the only professional women’s basketball players in the United States were made to wear tight pink uniforms. Then the court was shortened, the baskets were lowered and the players were not consulted.

Dr. Elaine Blinde, SIUC physical education professor, still winces at the memory of the now defunct Liberty Basketball Association. She shows videotape of a game in her Gender and Sport class to demonstrate how women’s basketball has been mismanaged.

But if the National Basketball Association acts on its plan to introduce a professional league for women in 1997, Blinde said it might succeed where other associations have failed.

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It’s the perfect time to at least give women a shot, she said. I’m anxious to see how it develops.

Women’s professional leagues have long been successful in Asia and Europe. In fact, former SIUC player Anita Scott is now on a team in Greece and ex-Saluki Amy Rakers once played on a Japanese team.

However, plans by the Women’s Basketball Association and the American Basketball League to begin leagues in the United States have been delayed for years. Other leagues have failed outright.

With an eye on the sport’s growing market, the NBA is ready to step in.

Over the last 10 years, ticket sales at women’s NCAA basketball games have almost tripled. The television ratings for the 1995 Women’s NCAA Championship game were higher than professional hockey and men’s basketball games aired on other networks. The corporate contracts given to the 1996 women’s Olympic basketball team also makes the NBA’s idea more credible.

Sheryl Swoopes, a star player on the 96 Olympic team, just signed a contract with Nike.

Spalding, another sporting goods manufacturer, is marketing a basketball autographed by Rebecca Lobo, former member of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball squad and teammate of Swoopes on the Olympic squad.

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Though amateur women’s basketball is growing, it will take more than a concentrated effort to ensure the success of a professional league, SIUC women’s basketball coach Cindy Scott said.

There have been so many upstart leagues that have failed. I think the most important thing to make one succeed is corporate sponsorship, she said. If the money isn’t there, it’ll fail.

NBA involvement and product tie-ins will help draw attention to the women’s league, but sports fans will need to be able to find games on television networks or cable channels like ESPN in order for the new league to draw the fans necessary to keep it going.

Blinde said television would be the biggest determining factor holding the fate of the proposed league.

The problem with any new sport league is getting a media contact, she said. From a financial and marketing perspective, it may be a hard thing to sell.

Lisa McClung, a graduate student in physical education from Sacramento, Calif., who sis studying gender issues in sports, said the other women’s leagues failed because they did not consult women about marketing, rule changes and those horrible pink uniforms.

Input needs to be taken from women’s coaches and professional players in Europe, she said. A critical component is female input.

This story was written as an assignment for an SIUC journalism class.