@vivify saidThey are putting it up with little viewership to force their viewers to watch it. They are extremely stupid since you are correct, people just won't watch.
No one is "forced" to watch a WNBA game. Or any sport for that matter.
Which is exactly what is happening. They are trying to force people to buy espn to watch real sports, but the result is that people are simply not interested like they used to be.
As the years pass, fewer and fewer people will be watching sporting events. The sports fans are simply dying off.
https://www.espn.com/jayski/cup/2017/story/_/id/19570505/sports-tv-viewers-getting-older