The league had started on decent financial footing in 1996, when then–NBA commissioner David Stern founded it to great fanfare. Attendance hit a high of 2.3 million in 2002. Seattle Storm star Sue Bird was drafted No. 1 that year with a $57,500 salary, she recalls, and her team stayed at Ritz-Carltons.

With its players the targets of hate on social media and in arenas, the league has struggled to handle a problem that continues to worsen.

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Karen Lynch's CVS considers a break up, women boomers are flooding into the stock market, and the job of WNBA commissioner is complicated as the league soars in popularity.

Cathy Engelbert recently declared that the rise in the WNBA's popularity was not just down to Caitlin Clark - and the league's commissioner was brutally hit back at