\n<\/p>\n
Just 15 days after the SLB season tips off, SLBW will do the same. <\/p>\n
Cardiff Met Archers host B Braun Sheffield Hatters, the defending championship and play-off winners, in the opening match on Saturday, 3 October.<\/p>\n
At Cardiff, four players are salaried while also studying masters degrees at the university. <\/p>\n
The rest of the team are made up of players on scholarships, postgraduate and undergraduate students and others that are balancing a career in basketball with full-time work.<\/p>\n
“I think there’s an opportunity to build something that people genuinely want to watch and follow,” Archers head coach Stef Collins, a member of Great Britain’s 2012 Olympic squad, told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
“Women’s basketball has shown what is possible internationally, particularly with the growth we’re seeing in leagues like the WNBA, NCAA College Basketball.”<\/p>\n
Collins wants SLBW to build on the recent Women’s World Cup in Berlin, at which the United States earned a fifth successive title, beating France in the final.<\/p>\n
“It was the most-attended World Cup in the modern era with over 230,000 fans in attendance,” she said.<\/p>\n
“For me, it’s also about telling the stories of the players. They’re not just basketball players – they’re students, they’re professionals, they’re international athletes, they’re role models. If we can showcase that properly, I think there’s an exciting future for the Super league.”<\/p>\n
The WNBA, the independent women’s equivalent of North America’s NBA, has been among the pioneers in women’s sports leagues across the globe.<\/p>\n
In 2025, WNBA clips gained more than one billion views on Instagram, making it the most-followed women’s sports league on that platform, which Collins feels can help SLBW on its path for development.<\/p>\n
“The WNBA is a really good example of what happens when you give women’s basketball a platform and make the players and their stories visible,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But I think there’s also a lesson beyond the basketball itself. Women’s sport has shown that fans want to connect with the athletes, their personalities and their stories. <\/p>\n
“We shouldn’t be afraid to market women’s basketball differently and allow our players to be themselves.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n