Reimagining the WNBA App

The situation

When the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) started its first season in 1997, fan engagement looked generally different than it does today. Technology has created unique and powerful ways for sports fans to engage with their favorite players, teams, and leagues in real time. And, increasingly, fans are looking to consume content digitally and at their fingertips. As the WNBA is in more than the basketball game, the league turned to Deloitte to help reimagine and elevate its digital game, ultimately to meet the needs and interests of its growing and diverse fanbase.

The solve

As a trusted advisor to the WNBA, Deloitte helps the league advance and grow through many initiatives, including long-term vision planning, fan segmentation, and digital strategy. To take the WNBA App to the next level, the league brought in Deloitte, given our blend of strategic approach, product management and design experience, understanding of the league, and vast technology capabilities.

To start, Deloitte and the WNBA collaborated to define product priorities based on fan needs, utilizing proprietary research, fan insights, and competitive analysis. More than 30 user journeys and leading mobile principles informed the overarching app strategy and approach, which resulted in three mobile design imperatives:

1. Create personalized features and serve customized content, based on user data and preferences, to curate an experience specific to each fan’s interests.
2. Provide varied content experiences around both on-court action and exclusive off-court highlights.
3. Prioritize easy engagement for both avid and casual fans, while integrating key features such as schedules, game highlights, trends, and the ability to stream games live in-app with WNBA League Pass.

With the requirement framework clearly defined, Deloitte professionals, including UX/UI designers and product managers, began mapping the app architecture and experience flowcharts to optimize the experience across multiple operating systems. A team of in-house developers and engineers supported development—building, designing, and implementing design components that could be leveraged based on content served to each unique fan and based on their personalized interests. And, to ensure that the app would operate at peak performance, quality assurance professionals validated process flows and designs in more than 15 user testing sessions ahead of app launch.

Throughout the process, Deloitte brought an insight-driven, tailored approach to help create a next-generation digital experience designed to allow fans to get closer to what they love about the teams, the players, and the league as a whole. Keeping the fans at the center of the experience, the app brings in features many surveyed fans specifically asked for, including must-see moments and team spotlights, as well as prioritized short-form content delivery. Since fan preferences and trends are always evolving, the app was also built to accomodate new features over time.

Changing the game

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