BREAKING NEWS Caitlin Clark and WNBA stars make stunning protest against their pay before All-Star game
Negotiations have been ongoing between the WNBA and Women's National Basketball Players Association during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis but they have failed to reach a deal and erase the friction between the two sides.
In fact, many WNBA players were disappointed in the lack of progress of an in- person session conducted Thursday. The negotiations certainly didn't narrow the gap between the two sides.
'I think (Thursday's) meeting was good for the fact that we could be in the same room as the league and the Board of Governors,' said Liberty star Breanna Stewart, a union vice president. 'But, I think, to be frank, it was a wasted opportunity.'
The dispute began when the players union announced after the 2024 season that they would opt out of the CBA on Oct. 31, 2025. With television revenues on the rise - largely due to the presence of Clark - the players want a larger piece of the financial pie.
'Rev sharing is truly transformational,' Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum told reporters. 'We want a piece of the entire pie. Not a piece of part of the pie. We're a resilient group. We know the unity it takes to be able to get the outcome desired.'
Chicago Sky second-year forward Angel Reese termed the negotiations as 'disrespectful.'
'Obviously, women's basketball is skyrocketing,' Reese told reporters. 'And it's important for us to get what we want now, not just now, but for the future as well. ...
'It was an eye-opener for me ... hearing the language of things, not things that I was happy to hear. It was disrespectful -- the proposal that we were sent back.'
The deadline to reach a new agreement is just three-and-a-half months away.
'We're on a time crunch. No one wants a lockout,' said Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, another vice president of the WNBPA.
'But at the end of the day, we have to stand firm, and we're not going to be moved on certain topics. So hopefully the league comes back quickly so that we can get have more dialog, more conversations and can get the ball rolling.'
Collier and Stewart were co-founders of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league that debuted last offseason.
The fact that both players are part of the WNBPA negotiating party while having significant financial investments in a rival league would appear to be a conflict of interest, though Collier has fought back against that narrative.
That also is part of the discussions as the WNBA wants its league to be prioritized among the players, some of whom play overseas. Players point out that Unrivaled's pay scale was better for most players than what they receive in WNBA salary.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert described the negotiations as 'very constructive dialog.' Engelbert said she remains optimistic that a deal with get done.
More to follow.
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BBC News
7 minutes ago
- BBC News
How 'Tiger-like' Scheffler is conquering golf
As Scottie Scheffler steamrolled his way to the Claret Jug, there was another name which kept being mentioned in the discourse surrounding his impending Open Woods. Remember him?Scheffler's peers regularly referred to Woods when they came off the Royal Portrush course last Sunday. So too did the television and radio commentators analysing the comparisons between the current world number one and 15-time major champion Woods - the pre-eminent superstar who elevated golf to a new stratosphere in the late 1990s and early 2000s - continued in the aftermath of Scheffler's fourth major eye-catching statistic further fuelled the frenzy. Exactly 1,197 days had passed between each player's first major win to their response to the parallels being drawn? "I still think they're a bit silly," he said."I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf."One thing is undebatable. Scheffler is conquering the men's game like nobody since Woods in his pomp. Here, BBC Sport analyses how the 29-year-old American is doing it. Creating a 'Tiger-like' dominance The first sign of Scheffler's special qualities came at the 2021 Ryder had been raised about the young American being picked as a Whistling Straits wildcard, but the manner in which he bossed European talisman Jon Rahm in the Sunday singles - putting the hosts on the path to a rare routine win - was a sign of things to the four seasons since, Scheffler has won four of the 15 majors - the 2022 and 2023 Masters, plus this year's US PGA Championship and Open - and earned a further eight top-10 finishes. Throw in 12 PGA Tour victories, along with the Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024, and it is clear why he is the undisputed world number one."Scottie is the bar that we're all trying to get to," said world number two Rory McIlroy."You could argue there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run like the one that Scottie's been for the past 24 to 36 months." One of those players is - obviously - securing victory at Portrush, Scheffler became only the second player to win The Open while world number one. The first was Woods, who did it three times in 2000, 2005 and machine-like ability, which is apparent even when he does not seem to be playing at his peak, is similar to his fellow is little wonder several of his peers have described Scheffler this week as being "Tiger-like"."I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon and here's Scottie taking that throne," said 2024 Open champion Xander Schauffele."He's a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us."For some, the parallels between Scheffler and Woods - who has claimed a joint record 82 PGA Tour victories - might feel has a long way to go to match the longevity of his compatriot, whose major triumphs stretched from 1997 to the comparisons continue to persist because of the way Scheffler imperiously tears through fields like Woods did in his pomp. At Portrush, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome once Scheffler moved four shots ahead after Saturday's third unerring consistency and ruthless ability to close out victories is what sets him apart from the was the 10th tournament in a row Scheffler had converted an outright 54-hole lead, although he still has a long way to go before matching the 37 consecutive times which Woods did it. "Back in the day that's what separated Tiger," said English former world number one Justin Rose."You get a lot of guys leading tournaments and typically it is hard to close out, but Scottie and Tiger are able to put these tournaments away better than most. "That's how you are judged at the end of the day." Staying emotionless in the heat of battle Scheffler's emotionless expression as he patiently and precisely carved up the Dunluce Links was a far cry from the energy often shown by a final Sunday lacking any sort of jeopardy, one of the most colourful moments came on the sixth green. There was a rare flicker of emotion from Scheffler.A vigorous pump of the fist signalled his pleasure at dropping one of several par-saving putts on his way to who demand high-octane energy from their sporting stars were disappointed. But Scheffler's calm demeanour is exactly why he is so successful."He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did," said Jordan Spieth, who a decade ago was being compared to Woods after winning three majors and finishing runner-up in two others between 2015-17."I think it's more so the difference in personality from any other superstar that you've seen in the modern era and maybe in any sport. "I don't think anybody is like him."While Scheffler's mind is mechanical, his technique is not. His unorthodox footwork looks clumsy at times and is another reason - according to Ireland's Shane Lowry - why many do not consider him in the same breath as Woods. "If Scottie's feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott's, we'd be talking about him in the same words as Tiger," said Lowry, who won his solitary major at Royal Portrush in 2019. "I think because it doesn't look so perfect, we don't talk about him like that. "I think he's just incredible to watch, and his bad shots are really good. That's when you know he's really good." Having the inner fire to be the best As soon as Scheffler's long-time coach Randy Smith spotted the youngster at their practice range in Dallas, he knew there was something which set the kid was working with PGA Tour professional Joel Edwards and saw 10-year-old Scheffler, sat crosslegged nearby, absorbing everything he witnessed."He's not comparing himself to other eight-year-olds or other 10-year-olds," Smith, who also coached Justin Leonard to the 1997 Open, wrote for Golf Digest last year., external"He's comparing himself to a player on the Korn Ferry Tour, a PGA Tour winner or to the guy who just won the Open Championship."Scheffler successfully put what he had learned into practice on the US junior circuit, then started cleaning up in the collegiate game as he juggled his golf with a finance degree at the University of inevitable move into the professional ranks came in 2018. But it was not a straightforward had to scrap for his qualifying card to the Korn Ferry Tour, only clinching his playing status in 2019 with a dramatic up-and-down par save - which he later described as the most important scramble of his that point, his career accelerated. In 2020, Scheffler earned the first major top-10 finish of his career at the PGA Championship and his development led to being named the PGA Tour's 'Rookie of the Year'.A year later came the Ryder Cup breakthrough which marked his arrival as an elite force. "What separates Scottie is his fire," Smith added."It's not just competitiveness - though he has more of that than anyone I've ever coached."It's the pure love of practicing and experimenting and learning things on your own. It's determination."At the start of this Open week, many wondered if the fire continued to raised eyebrows by admitting he regularly questions why he is still playing golf and lamented how he has little opportunity to digest his the manner in which he celebrated winning the iconic Claret Jug - roaring towards his loved ones before sobbing on the shoulder of his wife Meredith and hoisting son Bennett into the air - demonstrated his burning desire to win majors had not fanned."When I wake up in the morning, I try and put max effort in each day I get to go out and practise," he said."When I'm working out, when I'm doing the cold tub, doing recovery, I feel like I'm just called to do it to the best of my ability. "It's just mostly about putting in the proper work and coming out here and competing." Improving weaknesses in his game Even after he had climbed to the top of the world rankings, there were some doubts about Scheffler's statistics proved he was the best from tee to green. They also proved he was among the worst with the putter.A call was made to English putting guru Phil Kenyon - whose client list is a who's who of major champions - in a bid to improve with the was particularly paid to Scheffler's reading of the greens and increasing the stability of his to a claw grip - where the right hand acts as a pincer lower down the shaft - has transformed Scheffler into one of the most reliable putters in the tweak helped him become the first player to defend the PGA Tour's Players Championship, win a second Masters, Olympic gold and five other titles in a stellar 2024 that also had echoed the putting statistics after three rounds at Portrush, having holed 97% of his putts inside five feet and 90% of those within 10 feet, put him in command. He holed putts of 14, 15 and 16 feet on Sunday."[The grip] was something we tested out last year and felt comfortable from the start," Scheffler said."I use it as we get closer to the hole, lag putting. Outside of 15 to 20 feet, I'm still putting conventional."It was something we felt could help us improve, and so far it has."While improved putting has taken Scheffler to Woods-esque heights, will it help him move closer to replicating Woods' achievements over the longer term? That remains to be seen.
Reuters
35 minutes ago
- Reuters
Eugenio Suarez goez deep twice again as D-backs sweep Cardinals
July 20 - Eugenio Suarez had his second consecutive two-homer game, Merrill Kelly pitched six strong innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-3 victory in Phoenix on Sunday afternoon. Suarez hit a three-run homer as part of a four-run first inning and added a solo home run in the third to increase his NL-leading total to 35, one more than the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani. Suarez, who leads the majors with 85 RBIs, has three two-homer outings over the last six games and six this season. He became the 19th player in major league history with a four-homer game against Atlanta on April 26. Since June 1, Suarez's 20 homers are the most in the majors. Kelly (9-5) gave up three hits and two runs in six innings, striking out five and walking four in the Diamondbacks' fourth straight win. Anthony DeSclafani gave up a ninth-inning run in a three-inning save. Corbin Carroll had two hits including his MLB-leading 13th triple in a four-run first for the Diamondbacks, who outscored the Cardinals 16-1 in the first three innings of the three games. Ivan Herrera had an RBI single and Jordan Walker added an RBI-double with two outs in the ninth for the Cardinals, who have lost 11 of 15. Miles Mikolas (5-7) gave up five runs on four hits, including both Suarez homers, in four innings with three strikeouts and two walks. He has given up eight homers in his last three starts. The Diamondbacks started early for the third time in the series. Carroll tripled to open the first and scored on Geraldo Perdomo's one-out fielder's choice grounder, when second baseman Brendan Donovan threw late to the plate. After Josh Naylor walked, Suarez hit a 425-foot homer to left. Scott doubled and scored on Herrera's single in the third to make it 4-1 before Suarez homered off the top of the left-field fence with two outs in the home half of the inning. Kelly walked the first three in the fifth, but he got out of the inning with two groundouts and a strikeout as the Cardinals managed only one run to cut the deficit to 5-2. --Field Level Media
The Herald Scotland
36 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Randall backing England to blossom further after summer tour triumph
Fellow Bear Gabriel Oghre also capped a memorable international debut when he dotted down for England's final try after coming on in the second half. The match in the American capital kicked off an hour later than planned due to a lightning strike in the area, with the game then halted by a further half an hour on 29 minutes when another struck within 10 miles of the ground when England were 14-0 up. But Borthwick's side, missing several key players on the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia, kept their composure to extend their resurgent run that has now seen them rack up seven wins on the spin – their longest streak since back in 2020. Randall has loved life in the camp over the last few weeks and is relishing the prospect of returning ahead of crunch autumn internationals against the likes of Australia and New Zealand. 'It's really satisfying – I think we're building something really special here over last few campaigns,' he said. 'There are a few boys away with the Lions – that strength in depth comes through really nicely. 'I think we've showed that over the last few weeks. 'It's one of the tightest groups I've been a part of – generally everyone gets on with everyone and ultimately that's what makes a great team at the end of the day. 'Having that camaraderie – we're definitely building that really nicely.' Randall, Oghre, Curtis Langdon, Luke Northmore, Cadan Murley and Jack van Poortvliet all scored in a commanding albeit imperfect display at DC's Audi Field. USA grabbed a late consolation through Shilo Klein to give the home fans who remained something to cheer about but England's work was done as they ended their triumphant tour in style. Replacement Randall admits he has never experienced anything like the delays that led to the game finishing 90 minutes later than planned but hailed the group for dealing with it in the best way possible. 'It was a bit of a disruptive game but you've got to adapt to these things, which I think we did pretty well,' he said. 'It was tough conditions – the ball got greasy and slippery but we got what we wanted in the end. 'It's the first time in that situation – it's a weird one. 'It was just a case of when that delay came, switching off, relaxing and keep sipping away fluids as it's so hot. 'When the time comes to get back out there again, it's about getting switched, warming back up and ready to come on when needed.'
