An edited collection on the WNBA
Abstracts are sought for an edited collection on the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
As the longest running professional women’s sporting league in the United States, the WNBA has endured and survived in an American sporting landscape largely hostile to women. Though its popularity has fluctuated over the years, and since its inception it was stuck in a stop-start dynamic, it is currently experiencing a period of significant growth, with record ratings, a new, highly profitable television deal, and an upcoming collective bargaining negotiation that looks to promise significantly higher salaries to the athletes. In addition, its players have emerged as a politically important force, playing a crucial role in the fight for racial justice and the push for gender equality in sports. Players have worked hard to ensure that the WNBA is a league that is worthy of them, pushing for higher pay and better conditions, challenging the focus on heterosexual, respectable femininity in marketing, and demanding the opportunity to confront cultural, racial and social issues, often against the league’s wishes.
Yet with the WNBA’s significant growth, and the newfound attention it has received, come new challenges, while the legacy of the gendered and racialised construction of the league remains intact. Despite the growth, the gendered wage gap still persists and ongoing attempts to ensure greater professionalism are still inconsistent (e.g. the officiating, the lack of training facilities for some teams). An influx of new fans has led to debates over appropriate levels of physicality, often with explicit or implicit racial undertones, resulting in some players being harassed or threatened. At the same time, the WNBA is expanding, with new teams in the Bay Area, Toronto, and Portland, offering new opportunities to grow the fanbase and create new cultures. At a time of great change in the WNBA, this collected edition offers a timely intervention in these ongoing debates.
We would like to invite humanities, social sciences and sports scholars to submit chapter abstracts on topics might include but are not limited to:
- The 1996 United States Olympic team and the impulse to create the league
- Early attempts at marketing the league and how they changed through the years (We Got Next, Watch Me Work, etc.)
- The league’s relationship with the NBA
- League expansion, team relocations and their consequences for the local communities
- Transformative players and their impact on the league and its perception (Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, Ticha Penicheiro, Tamika Catchings, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Caitlin Clark, etc.)
- The wage gap and everything surrounding the struggle for pay equality (playing overseas, Unrivaled, etc.)
- WNBA at the forefront of racial justice activism
- Battling sexualization and gender stereotypes
- WNBA players as LGBTQ+ icons
We especially encourage submissions from scholars of various backgrounds, cultures and nationalities, to provide a unique perspective on this open, diversified and progressive organization.
Chapter proposals (roughly 300-500 word abstracts) and a short bio are due to August 15, 2025.
The potential authors will be notified about acceptance by August 20, 2025.
The book is planned to be divided into three-four sections, 15-20 chapters in total, around 5,000-6,000 words per chapter.
A leading academic publisher has expressed interest in the collection and if things go as planned, the project could be contracted by the end of 2025.
Please send abstracts and questions to both editors at