Founded in 2019, She Got Game League has grown into a nationwide semi-pro women’s basketball league with over 500 players across six cities—learn how Celia built a sustainable, high-level competition that’s shaping the future of the sport.
.svg){kind=icon}
Welcome to another episode of the Sold Out podcast, where we interview league organizers across the country to share insights on running successful, sold out leagues.
In this episode, we sit down with Celia, founder of She Got Game League, a semi-pro women's basketball league that started in 2019 in Memphis, Tennessee, and has since expanded to six cities with more on the way. Celia's passion for women's basketball drove her to create a league that provides a high-level competitive experience—one step below the WNBA, similar to a minor league system. She shares her journey of building trust with players, the challenges of expansion, and how she structured her league to ensure sustainability and profitability. She Got Game isn't just about competition; it's about community, exposure, and opportunity. Celia discusses how she’s built game day experiences, increased fan engagement, and created pathways for players to advance in their careers. With a long-term vision of integrating with the WNBA, her league is positioning itself as a key stepping stone for women’s basketball talent.
Celia’s story is one of perseverance, passion, and strategic growth. From starting with six teams in Memphis to now running leagues in Nashville, Little Rock, Houston, Dallas, and Denver, She Got Game is redefining women’s semi-pro basketball.
Below is the full transcript from this episode. The Sold Out Podcast is available on Spotify and Apple, or you can watch the entire interview on our YouTube Channel!
Tune in every other week to hear AREENA interview the country's best league organizers about their success in selling out leagues consistently.
--
Lance McDonald (00:01.454)
Alright, today we have Celia from She Got Game League. Thanks for being here. So yeah, let's start with some of the basics of what you're doing and where you're located and all that.
Celia Newman (00:12.908)
Okay, hello everyone. am Cece is what I'm known by. With She Got Game as Lance said. She Got Game started in 2019 in Memphis, Tennessee. It has now spread to six cities, Memphis, Nashville, Little Rock, Houston, Dallas, and Denver. And Chicago is coming in the next couple of months.
you
Lance McDonald (00:38.602)
So it's it's basketball, but it's not normal rec basketball. It's something a little bit better, right? So what's the what is what is the I guess the format what's different about it? Then just a normal league
Celia Newman (00:45.867)
Yes.
Celia Newman (00:54.572)
Pick up. So yes, it is competitive. We're kind of in the semi-pro space and we're kind of moving to going to be mainly minor league, far as like we want to be at a competitive level right up under the WNBA. Almost like a G-League is the direction we are going moving forward. So we're excited about the rebrand and restructuring that we're putting in place right now as we're going to be
Lance McDonald (00:56.428)
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (01:07.299)
Hmm.
Celia Newman (01:24.658)
even more competitive in the future. So we're excited about that.
Lance McDonald (01:27.96)
Okay, yeah, don't know too much about this. And just in general, the semi-pro landscape is like interesting. It's not that youth has semi-pro, but there's just all these structures of levels of different kinds of associations and competitive levels and how they interact with each other. So you're kind of getting into the thick of it and like relating to a pro sort of structure. But before we get into that, maybe just the founding story, like how did you get into this thing and like, why are you into it, I guess?
Celia Newman (01:42.54)
Mm-hmm.
Celia Newman (01:53.356)
you
So I played ball, of course, in high school and college. I was playing in rec leagues around the city. We were kind of blowing everybody out per se because the talent level wasn't up to the part that we were still playing at. A lot of my teammates still could play at a high level. So it kind of started just because I didn't see anything around where I was at that was competitive, almost like
just finishing college, still playing at a high level. I was going around, there was like open pickup, you know, around the city. And I was just going around like introducing myself and kind of watching the players that I saw. And I was like, there are a lot of women here that can still play. And playing rec is not fun to them because it's not as competitive. Yeah, so they were kind of just blowing everyone out in the little leagues they were playing in, the little church league, so.
Lance McDonald (02:46.178)
Dominate. Yeah.
Celia Newman (02:54.912)
That's kind of where the idea started. I didn't think it was spread like this as fast as it did. But people kept reaching out from other cities like 2019. Yeah, we just celebrated our six years this week, past week. But yeah, I didn't think it was spread as fast as it did. But I'm excited about where we're going, of course, and just being able to be
Lance McDonald (03:02.574)
What was that when you?
Celia Newman (03:24.658)
a change agent for these women like to be able to still play and play the game they love. So that's kind of been my passion and fuel to keep it going.
Lance McDonald (03:34.786)
Yeah. So you were playing, that kind of how you started it, I guess, was you knew other players that were at the level you were talking about. And so you were like, let's just do this ourselves. I mean, how many were you able, well, did you start with like two teams or four, just enough to kind of get like, what did the beginning look like? How did you get it off the ground?
Celia Newman (03:43.336)
Yeah.
Celia Newman (03:52.277)
Wow.
Celia Newman (03:56.126)
That first season we had six teams. And I mainly, just kept going around to like the open runs per se. And I was introducing myself to women, just making sure they knew who I was. Cause I'm not from Memphis. So, and they had a really bad experience. What I heard, there was a guy that tried to start a women's league here and he took their money. So they were really apprehensive in the beginning. So yeah, I had to.
Lance McDonald (04:05.614)
Mm.
Lance McDonald (04:22.766)
Sure.
Celia Newman (04:24.768)
I went around for months, just popping in, introducing myself, like kind of getting their feedback, like would y'all be open to a women's league? Like, you know, asking them type of questions. And I'll say, like, I always say this in my interviews, Ashley Shields was probably the first woman I ran into at an open gym and she's like the first Juco player drafted to the WNBA. So she was kind of a big deal here. So once I made that introduction to her,
She loved the idea and I think she sent out a message because I wasn't getting any signups at first. And she kind of sent out a message and everyone signed up. I had 50 people sign
Lance McDonald (05:00.712)
really?
Celia Newman (05:07.404)
So yeah, she was kind of instrumental in that beginning stage of getting the league out and up and running because she was well known here and I wasn't.
Lance McDonald (05:08.344)
Wow.
Lance McDonald (05:19.0)
Yeah. How long had you been working on it? Was that like, you'd been kind of going for a while? Six months?
Celia Newman (05:22.806)
At least six months, six months of just being the pavement, going around trying to make sure I was introducing myself and kind of changing their perception because they were very apprehensive. Because like I said, a couple of years prior, a guy came into town and took their money. So they were not really open in the beginning to the league.
Lance McDonald (05:43.33)
That first six months, were you playing or you were just trying to get enough people and then... Okay,
Celia Newman (05:47.924)
I was just trying to get enough people. And so like, I was playing in a church league, of course, at that time too. And I was, you know, making sure I was introducing myself during that league. But it was really once I got out and went to the outside open runs that I ran into all the people that were still playing at a high level.
Lance McDonald (05:58.191)
Hmm.
Lance McDonald (06:05.486)
Yeah, okay. That seems like a good lesson there, I mean, because you spent six months, like you said, the pavement before you kind of had a breakthrough of just this one person who just unlocked a lot of stuff. so, I mean, not that six months is like a super long time, but I mean, if you're trying to do something new, can, you you can imagine spending three months getting nowhere and being like, ugh, I give up.
Celia Newman (06:17.45)
Yep, lot of stuff. Yep.
Celia Newman (06:27.112)
Right, should I really do this? Should I just give up?
Lance McDonald (06:29.774)
Yeah, like six months is legit. mean, and that, yeah. But you had a job the whole time, right? So you didn't just like jump ship. You were like, hey, I'm going to try to get this going on the side. I'm committed. I'm going to do it until it works. Yeah. Okay. And then you are unique in the way that, from a lot of people we see anyway, the way that you are operating at such a high level and across multiple cities versus like going deep into sort of one city. Did you ever have a thought about that?
Celia Newman (06:39.18)
Now.
Definitely.
Lance McDonald (06:58.158)
I've got this super high level, don't I create, like if that's level A, why don't I create level B, C, D, like just some lower level play for people to kind of feed into it and just because now I have a brand and I have a word of mouth. Like it seems like you instead, which I think it probably was the right decision, but you're like, this is who we are. We are like this high level and you went to other cities, but like, was there a decision to be made there that you spent some time thinking about or did you think about that now?
Celia Newman (07:19.872)
Yeah.
Celia Newman (07:27.562)
That was the first, like you just saying that I've never thought of that actually, making like multiple divisions and I guess in the league. But then like you said, I think the brand I was building was high energy, high competitive semi-pro. So I guess it never crossed my mind. And then there are so many rec leagues here, like in that space where they can go to play if they don't want to play, you know, like semi-pro level.
Lance McDonald (07:32.11)
Ha
Lance McDonald (07:49.998)
Mmm.
Lance McDonald (07:57.263)
Well, the semi-pro level, are your teams, like how does somebody get in to play there? Because if I think about like feeder leagues, know, in our leagues, as for instance, we have ABC, no one is semi-pro. We have good people, but not like that. But you get promoted and relegated, you know, and that's kind of fun like element to it is like, hey, I could get promoted and play in this high level one. So, mean, a lot of people.
Celia Newman (08:10.803)
Hahaha
Celia Newman (08:17.452)
and
never thought of that. That's actually not a bad idea. So most of the time, the women like, they have their circle, I guess. Like they play together already. So it's usually, they form their own teams. Of course, at pick up, some players will get picked up there. We always have a free agent team. Like if you're new to the city, you don't know anyone. We always have that space for them. I think...
Lance McDonald (08:30.125)
Hmm.
Lance McDonald (08:43.927)
Mm.
Celia Newman (08:49.004)
As as talent wise, I think the ladies there are kind of unsure. They'll sit back and watch for a while and they'll make the decision like, this is way too competitive for me. Like I'm not going to sign up or okay, I can compete at this level. I'll sign up. So yeah, I mean, we've had people that have signed up and they'll play the first week and they don't come back. They kind of realize this is not what I signed up for. This is.
Lance McDonald (09:09.998)
They're like, is too much.
Lance McDonald (09:15.053)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Celia Newman (09:15.724)
a little too competitive. And I hate that, like you said, that probably would be good in the instance for those type of players that are not at that level, but they still want to play recreational, like for fun. I haven't thought of
Lance McDonald (09:29.102)
Sure. Yeah, OK. Well, that would be really cool if that light turned into something there. OK, so.
Celia Newman (09:33.6)
You didn't put that on my brain now. So then I can't turn anyone away. I'll have a division for anybody.
Lance McDonald (09:39.672)
you have a way for them to... Right, yeah. So people don't have to try out. No one has to try out.
Celia Newman (09:47.38)
Now we are going to that point in 2026. I haven't, we haven't reached that yet, but we are working towards that. Try out and possibly invite.
Lance McDonald (09:56.985)
Wow, plan. Okay.
Nice. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, so then you haven't gone into the lower level stuff. So you've kept it at this high level and then you decided to go into other cities. And I know enough that you would travel to these places and really make it work. And that was a lot of effort, I'm sure, and time. Because you have had this other job this whole time as well. So I guess, you walk through that? How on earth do you get... Because I can imagine doing lower levels in your own city because you've got...
courts, you know people, people know people, you can make it work, but just to go in fresh to a new city is really hard. I've seen people fail at it. So how did you make it work?
Celia Newman (10:30.732)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Celia Newman (10:38.7)
Honestly, I got lucky with the first expansion cities because I knew the people, the commissioners, as they are the commissioners in those cities. I knew the commissioners in those cities. Like Chicago was the first one, then Nashville, then Little Rock. And so there was already a trust level there and they were already playing in the league and they were traveling to Memphis to play in
Lance McDonald (11:00.131)
Hmm.
Celia Newman (11:06.027)
So they had already knew the brand anyway. So it was kind of easy in those first few cities transitioning wise. And then of course I would travel, you know, a few weeks before opening day, making sure they had everything, implement a manual. So it was trial and error, of course. Like as years have went on, now we have a full manual and a way that...
Lance McDonald (11:28.109)
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (11:32.814)
Mm.
Celia Newman (11:34.188)
Each city should run. So if you went to Dallas or you went to Nashville, it looks the same way. You're not getting a different product. But it took almost probably my fifth year to get to that point where each city is unique, but looks exactly the same as the main city, Memphis.
Lance McDonald (11:40.909)
Right.
Lance McDonald (11:49.356)
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (11:54.265)
Yeah, that seems to be a kind of common thing I see among a lot of leagues that go to a new city is that they that you have to almost have somebody there already that and it's like that's maybe even why you go to you don't like pick the city because it's a good city you just pick it because it's a good city but also you have this person and then that can unlock so much else which is kind of interesting because yeah I if you if you live in one city and you maybe don't have a bunch of connections that's like a lot harder to get out.
Celia Newman (12:08.159)
Yes.
Celia Newman (12:12.98)
have someone there.
Celia Newman (12:22.356)
It's a lot harder. For example, Houston is probably my hardest city because I don't have those connections. My friend is there, she does run it, but she's new to Houston. So it's harder in a city when you don't have connections, you don't know the players. It's really hard to get it up and running and keep it running. You have to kind of be connected in those cities, knowing the gyms, the referees, the players.
Lance McDonald (12:23.96)
We have to.
Lance McDonald (12:28.204)
Mmm.
Lance McDonald (12:38.722)
and
Lance McDonald (12:48.098)
Hmm.
Celia Newman (12:51.788)
Yeah, it's kind of hard.
Lance McDonald (12:54.83)
So that's the key to this. I guess if you were gonna try, we've done it before, a long time ago when we were running leagues across Texas, and you were, what are the criteria? They have to be connected first and foremost to the players, because that's your channel to get all this other stuff, and then trustworthy and all that other stuff. Is there anything else to think about with that role? So you have them,
Celia Newman (13:09.916)
Exactly.
Lance McDonald (13:22.242)
Commissioner is what you call the role and they run that that city Which generally because this is like more elite level play that there's like what eight teams maybe in a whole city It's like super high quality stuff. So they run that league Is there any? Besides besides, know finding the right kind of person How do you sort of keep them motivated and going you created a manual so they they kind of know how to handle stuff but How do you how did you design that role?
Celia Newman (13:24.416)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Celia Newman (13:32.382)
I know. Yeah.
Celia Newman (13:48.544)
Mm-hmm.
Lance McDonald (13:51.705)
to be effective? mean, how do you pay? How do you talk about the future? What benefits do they get from the job versus how hard it is? Did you think about that stuff a lot?
Celia Newman (14:04.204)
Yes, and in the beginning I didn't have any kind of format and I've had some failures with that I'll say that so if someone else is out there running a league and trying to expand I've had failures with that because the person has to be trustworthy there has to be some type of Plan in place for them to follow and then of course the stipend now there's tears to it. So like
Lance McDonald (14:08.014)
you
Celia Newman (14:33.576)
If you accomplish this much in this role in this season, of course you'll move up to the next tier of your pay. Because like they're have responsible for getting sponsors in their city because I don't know who's in that city. You do, cause you live there, you know? And so there's incentives now that I've built in for those roles to keep them motivated, to keep them wanting to grow their city to be bigger and bigger.
Lance McDonald (14:49.806)
Mmm.
Celia Newman (15:03.584)
because I can't be in every city, it's impossible. Of course, I help assist wherever I'm needed in those cities. They can always get guidance or help, but I really depend on them to run their city. And I'm just an assistant, like I assist them with how they do it. So, yeah.
Lance McDonald (15:06.849)
Yeah, yeah.
Lance McDonald (15:25.954)
Yeah, well how did the you said stipend? So is that like a per month or per season or per year or?
Celia Newman (15:32.62)
Just during their season, they get a weekly stipend.
Lance McDonald (15:36.655)
weekly stipend during the season gada and then you know a lot of people will talk about you know in the adult space like margins are not always super great like you're not making a ton of money some people will make most of their money in sponsorships or they'll find other ways or or if you can get great you know space and I know you have two referees on every so yeah that's kind of it's I'm curious like how much
Celia Newman (15:48.332)
Mm-hmm.
Celia Newman (15:59.286)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lance McDonald (16:03.822)
without you having to say their numbers, but I was like, it a pretty good amount and does it grow pretty good? And then like, how do you afford it? Because when we were doing basketball, which we've stopped doing, it felt hard to be profitable because it was two referees on the court. it was like for soccer, we have one referee for a whole field and that seems to be okay. So you gotta pay twice as much there, just about. And we had to have somebody doing stat tracking. And I think you have somebody that does stat tracking and somebody else that does scorekeeping. So.
Celia Newman (16:30.732)
Mm-hmm.
Lance McDonald (16:31.118)
That means you're paying for people to be on the court and you've got the court rental, of course, which sometimes in certain places is if you want a good one. So there were times where we just weren't making money on some of these leagues that we were doing. So how do you think about that, about profitability and still having enough to have somebody really good to run it all and then having some leftover for the business?
Celia Newman (16:58.444)
So yes, probably first three years were not profitable. What we have learned now is the reaching out to the colleges in those cities and there's usually a sports marketing or sports management major. And what we've done now is those colleges will send interns and those people do the clock and the stats. So that eliminates the cost. And then with the GEMS,
Lance McDonald (17:15.0)
Mmm.
Celia Newman (17:28.202)
We're building relationship with those gyms, whether it's a high school or college. And for example, we'll like let the school get the concession stand. So that goes to their athletic budget. So then we'll get a lower gym rental because we're building the partnership with that school. We're not trying to just come in and rent the space. I'm really big on building partnerships in those cities so that we have a consistent gym that we're at every year. I hate.
Lance McDonald (17:41.774)
Mmm.
Celia Newman (17:57.376)
moving gyms every season. So that's just a lesson I've learned probably in the past two years. It's just when I'm in those cities, making sure I'm building a relationship with that principal or the AD. And some of the times the high school kids will do the clock because they need intern hours. And they want to learn how to run a league or how to, what all it takes and...
Lance McDonald (18:17.71)
Hmm.
Celia Newman (18:26.528)
game day operations. So we've been building out almost like a internship program with She Got Game where you can learn about game day operations and all the logistics that it takes to run the league. So we've been building that behind the scenes. Not fully done with it yet, but in about three cities, we have interns that do the game day stuff. Set up the clock and then...
Lance McDonald (18:40.632)
Wow, okay, cool. So, yeah.
Celia Newman (18:55.616)
that school they were at does concessions. And so they're getting money for their athletic budget and then they lower the price for us, for the gym.
Lance McDonald (19:04.59)
So you had that vision, I guess? mean, because you said three years you weren't profitable. So you must have been like, I'll get there. I'll figure out the profitability at some point. But for now, I just want to build it. And then you were able to make that work.
Celia Newman (19:17.054)
Yes, it was tough. A lot of my money in the beginning.
Lance McDonald (19:23.254)
Yeah, no, it sounds tough. Yeah. And then how many seasons is there a year? The one? Okay.
Celia Newman (19:29.772)
We were doing two a year and then as as profitability, like I had to, okay, let's step back. Let's do one longer season a year and know that in the off season we could really focus on sponsorships and building up the brand in that city so that when we do have the season, we have more fans, we have more sponsors.
Lance McDonald (19:39.886)
Mmm.
Lance McDonald (19:52.195)
Yeah, that's very interesting and very different is the fans. So, I mean, what does that look like? Are you, and it has that evolved, I guess, over time? mean, who is coming? this like friends and family at the beginning? And has it grown sort of beyond that where there's some people who just love it and come and show up and they pay tickets or do they just pay the consent?
Celia Newman (20:14.62)
Yeah, yeah, we have a mission to the games. Yeah, in the beginning just the players, friends and family would come and kind of now we've built a community in those cities where people that just love women's sports now are coming to the games. For example, in Nashville, there's a guy, Mr. Jimmy. He maps out every women's game in Nashville. He makes sure he goes to every single game.
He's that fan that loves women's sports. And so he buys season tickets to the league. yeah, we have season tickets now. Yeah, so we're building a fan base and now offering like a loyalty program. Like every time you come to the game, you get points. So, and then, you you might get a shirt for free on the website. So kind of, have to build incentives for them to come to the game and want to continue.
Lance McDonald (20:48.124)
building.
Lance McDonald (21:07.362)
Hmm. Yeah, and then So maybe it started out friends and family, but it started to expand So I mean what is the what is the trajectory or the the growth of that look like I mean is there are there games where? Like it's 50 people a hundred people to it like what does it sort of look like in the beginning? And then how how does it look like now?
Celia Newman (21:27.852)
Yeah, in the beginning it was pretty bare. It's grown now to probably about 100 people per city. Of course Memphis is our bigger city so we average about 225, in Memphis just because this is our 10th season in Memphis. So of course we've had a lot longer to build that fan base here. But yeah, the other cities are definitely...
Lance McDonald (21:44.418)
Wow.
Celia Newman (21:56.5)
making progress as far as the fan base is growing.
Lance McDonald (22:00.846)
That's kind of wild because in a normal rec league, if you have three people who clap when something good happens, nice. 200 people, that changes the whole feel for the players entirely.
Celia Newman (22:06.668)
Right.
Celia Newman (22:14.642)
Yeah, they feel like they're still in college because I have an announcer that does the starting lineups and we have a DJ. Yeah, so it's kind of, I realize I have to make it fun. Like I have food trucks outside where the fans can go grab something to eat and come back in. we have sometimes vendors in the lobby. You have to make it an experience so that this is their Sunday family event. They're going to come to Shigga Game and
Lance McDonald (22:21.837)
Really?
Lance McDonald (22:32.984)
So cool.
Celia Newman (22:43.85)
watch three games, they're gonna eat, they're gonna buy something and they're gonna have a good time. So that's kind of evolved, of course, in the beginning there was no DJ and it was very quiet at times. But as I've grown, I've had to realize it has to be an experience.
Lance McDonald (22:47.298)
Yeah. Okay.
Lance McDonald (22:53.173)
Sure, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (22:59.383)
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (23:06.24)
Yeah. Yeah, that's great.
Celia Newman (23:07.156)
Yeah, we have to do a contest to have time, ladies. It's a whole thing.
Lance McDonald (23:12.142)
Well, Jared, Is it, and it's the all three games are just back to back to back.
Celia Newman (23:17.238)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Celia Newman (23:22.4)
Maybe eight, yeah. Memphis has four games, because they have eight teams.
Lance McDonald (23:27.148)
Yeah, okay. All right, so now all that makes sense and it sounds just like amazing progress and a lot of grit and vision to spend so much time whenever you weren't getting any reward, right? Like those first few years, there's just not much in it for you. I know what that's like. So, yeah, I'd love to know more about the landscape of semi-pro and what does this mean for these players like you're saying they were playing in?
Celia Newman (23:40.492)
Boom!
Lance McDonald (23:56.719)
college at a high level, they wanna keep playing. You have this thing you mentioned about the G League, we used to rent from a G League court around here, so I'm a little bit familiar with that. How does all that connect? Like these players, like who are they, has that changed at all, and then are they trying to play in the WNBA, is there a legitimate path from here to there? Like are there scouts? Is this something where somebody could skip?
Maybe someday somebody could skip college and just do this. Because isn't that kind of how the G League works? You could do that instead of, or I don't know all the rules. maybe you could just talk about how all that kind of stuff.
Celia Newman (24:32.084)
Yeah, so.
Right. So the WNBA does not have a G-League currently, but kind of the same concept as the NBA, like players are wanting exposure. And so the first progress that we made this year, of course, was the app, thanks to Arena. That was one of the key things I needed with the stats so that the players could have access to their stats because scouts want to see the stats.
Lance McDonald (24:52.27)
You
Celia Newman (25:03.148)
And then adding in the live stream and the visibility for them to go back and watch a game or share the game with scouts. So that was really big on my list for this year. To really go to the next level, these players need exposure because some of them are trying to get overseas contracts. The big dream, of course, to play in the WNBA or play in a Unrivaled or AU.
I'm at the level now where I want them to get that platform to be able to get the exposure. So just putting a lot of new things in place for them to be able to build that resume so that they can get a contract overseas. So yeah, that was kind of the premise for this year of making all the changes is a lot of them need film. A lot of them need the game film to be able to send to Scouts.
Lance McDonald (25:39.042)
Mm.
Lance McDonald (25:57.506)
Mmm.
Celia Newman (26:02.22)
I've made a lot of connections with scouts. Ladies first is probably our premier partner for our players. So usually when I have a good player in a league, I will send them to her. So over the five years, she's gotten 20 of our players overseas contracts. So we want to double that number, of course, but we need the stats in the film to make that happen.
Lance McDonald (26:28.29)
Yeah, that's amazing because talk about a way to advertise to new people who want to... I mean, this is like a legit path to something better. 20 people is nothing to sneeze at. That's super legit. And so where does this go? I guess, again, I don't know everything about the G League or the way it interacts with the NBA, but is there... Does this progress further in your mind?
Is there a vision to be more integrated and to be an official partner of the WNBA? Like is that possible? Are there competing leagues in other cities? Like how does that look?
Celia Newman (27:09.964)
That is the ultimate goal or vision for Shigga Game. I hope to the WNBA starts to build maybe a G League in the cities that they have WNBA teams and that their scouts will come to the Shigga Game League in those cities. To almost like, I wouldn't say, almost like a two-way contract. Like they would pull them up to play in the WNBA just off of their performance in Shigga Game.
Lance McDonald (27:12.824)
Hmm.
Celia Newman (27:40.47)
So that's kind of the ultimate goal.
What else?
trying to think. So for example, like Nashville, they're putting their bid to be a WNBA expansion city. And so that is big for us. If that happens is because that WNBA team will be playing in the city that Shigga game is in. So they'll have access to see those players that are playing Shigga game and offer them a contract. So I'm really rooting for Nashville to be the next city because
Lance McDonald (27:56.12)
Mm.
Lance McDonald (28:12.995)
Yeah.
yeah.
Celia Newman (28:18.548)
I mean, that's just a major stepping stone for us to get players that platform to be seen.
Lance McDonald (28:21.422)
Sure.
Yeah. Is that, I mean, so that's if a team came to Nashville, but have you, so you're not in the city right now that has a WNBA team, but like, what have you?
Celia Newman (28:33.056)
This, well, Nashville, I mean Dallas, Dallas is going to their second season. So still trying to build those type of relationships, you know, with the Dallas wings.
Lance McDonald (28:44.918)
Okay, was gonna ask if it's harder to go into a city that already has a team because maybe there's already more of an ecosystem. Do you have competition for other semi-pro women's leagues or is, I mean, what are some of the other ones?
Celia Newman (28:57.26)
Yes, there is a lot of competition, especially now that, you know, women's sports is kind of big right now. In those other cities, like, of course, I do my research before I expand to a city. If there is something already going on, I make sure I reach out to that league and introduce myself. I don't try to come in and take over. For example, like if the city has a
Lance McDonald (29:01.409)
Okay.
Lance McDonald (29:20.846)
Mmm.
Celia Newman (29:26.708)
a league in the summertime, we go in the spring, so it wouldn't compete. And then I'll make sure I show my support and go to their summer league or whatever, just to build that relationship to know like, I'm here to support you, you support us, and we're not gonna conflict because there are every, almost all the cities have some other league, but we just, we found our niche in that little spring season, like there's usually not.
Lance McDonald (29:31.726)
Mm.
Lance McDonald (29:37.133)
cool. Yeah.
Celia Newman (29:57.14)
other leaks going on during that time.
Lance McDonald (29:58.287)
Hmm Okay, that's usually one of my favorite questions to ask is like for the competition that you do have however You're doing things. How do you differentiate yourself and make it so that yours really stands out and works? So it sounds like You know in part going in the spring it's like just not not competing directly at the same time Which of course at lower levels that that can't be the thing you do that's different because everybody's playing all the time But for your level that makes sense What else do you think about?
Celia Newman (30:22.828)
right for it. But we have a lot of better things I feel like makes us stand out. And of course the app is just, you not many leagues that have an app. So that kind of put us way up there as far as being able to offer that to our players. I think it helps us stand out compared to other leagues. And then all the things we offer, the player of the week, the media, like all those things play a part into
Lance McDonald (30:29.442)
Yeah. Yeah.
Lance McDonald (30:37.186)
Elevate.
Lance McDonald (30:43.608)
Mm.
Lance McDonald (30:51.214)
Yeah.
Celia Newman (30:52.78)
a player choosing which league they want to play in.
Lance McDonald (30:55.468)
Yeah, yeah. And then all the things that you mentioned, mean, is that common in something like the way you do food trucks and the way you do season passes and loyalty, like all that kind of seems different. Like, do you get better attendance in some of your leagues than some of these other ones because you're, you've got that focus. Yeah. And that's gotta be, I I imagine if I'm a player at a high level, like 200 people in the stands is pretty cool versus.
Celia Newman (31:03.028)
Now there's no stomach.
Celia Newman (31:13.192)
offering so much.
Celia Newman (31:22.38)
Yeah, I'm going to go play over there. Yeah, they make me feel important and big in a sense. Like, you know, we're still living our glory days. So there's just an inkling to make me feel important again, like starting lineups like this. I do an All-Star game. Like I bring out the smoke machine and everything. Like I give them a full experience because they're going to remember that and they're going to sign up and come back next year.
Lance McDonald (31:24.234)
Yeah, you want to play there, right? That's interview.
Lance McDonald (31:29.932)
different.
Lance McDonald (31:49.26)
Yeah, yeah, totally.
Celia Newman (31:50.57)
Like Cece went all out, like just to make us feel special. And I think that's kind of what makes us stand out. It's just that personable aspect to it. Like they feel special. They feel like they're still in college. Their jersey has their name on the back. Like just those little things. They feel like they're still.
Lance McDonald (32:09.763)
Yeah.
And you're doing the jerseys as well. You've got a partner and you handle all that stuff of getting the jersey for them. Do they, I mean, the jerseys, is it all sort of branded, like she got game, or does each team pick their own colors and all that other stuff and you just handle the logistics, or how do the jerseys work?
Celia Newman (32:31.532)
Right now they're just branded She Got Game. Of course they'll send me like their colors that they prefer and you know I'll get with my uniform guy to make sure I have the colors that they choose. like logistics of ordering and that's what I was doing right before we got on is um, spreadsheet and getting all the uniform ordered together so I can get it sent off today.
Lance McDonald (32:43.885)
Mmm.
Lance McDonald (32:49.816)
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (32:55.186)
Mmm Got it. Okay cool. I think that was a lot of my questions and I'm yeah, just super impressed with what you've been able to do. Glad that we get to be a part of it Do you have any? like Advice for people who you know, maybe not advice for a competitor but advice or you know somebody who's wants to start some sort of league or some sort of thing in another city like do you have any any pieces of like
Celia Newman (33:01.941)
Alright.
Lance McDonald (33:24.544)
you know, just looking back, you know, these are the three things that I would do different or these are the three most important, like, what would you say to somebody who wants to do something similar in another city that's maybe not this level, it's not whatever, but yeah.
Celia Newman (33:40.872)
Don't let anyone stop your dream. If you believe in it, you have to just keep pressing on. There are gonna be so many failures and trials that you'll go through. But yeah, I would say make the plan, create your vision and just keep pursuing it.
Celia Newman (34:04.844)
things every year, like just to improve. So it never, it never gets to a point where you're satisfied. You just have to always want to evolve and want to get better, I would say. Cause I've had to have a lot of humbling experiences. I don't know everything. So be open to advice and yeah, I would say be open to advice. Cause there's someone out there that might.
Lance McDonald (34:23.478)
Yeah.
Celia Newman (34:34.304)
do it better and could give you some pointers.
Lance McDonald (34:37.442)
Sure. What kept you going though? mean, that advice makes sense, but how did you just keep going year after year whenever things were challenging?
Celia Newman (34:48.064)
Most of the players, like, I know in their shoes, like, I used to be a player. So I know how important it is to be able to have something for them. Like, most of my players are mothers, wives, they have families, and they all say, like, that Sunday three-hour window, that's their time that they make for theirself. And giving them that space to play and enjoy themselves, have their families at the game, like, that's important to them. So...
Lance McDonald (35:06.894)
Hmm.
Celia Newman (35:17.758)
important to me. it's like I almost can't let them down. So that's kind of the days I get tired and I was like, why do I do this?
Lance McDonald (35:21.925)
Yeah
Lance McDonald (35:27.168)
Yeah, but you like truly love your people and that.
Celia Newman (35:30.676)
Yes, yeah, because I don't make any money. Like this is not a multi-million. Some people think I'm making tons of money. This is truly passion. Like I just love what I do and I love helping women and giving them this space.
Lance McDonald (35:35.736)
Hahaha
Lance McDonald (35:42.744)
Yeah.
Lance McDonald (35:49.9)
Awesome. Well, I'm glad you're out there doing it. Okay, well I think that's all I got. Thanks again for your time. I know you have very little of it to spare,
Celia Newman (35:58.316)
Thank you for having me.
Lance McDonald (36:01.23)
Yeah. All right. Thank you.
The AREENA app and leagues offer an immersive rec sports experience for adults, with stat tracking, skill matching, leaderboards and team messaging. Subscribe and play soccer or basketball year round, or pay by game or match with zero commitments.
