Record sale of WNBA's Sun adds fuel to the league's smoldering contract dispute

San Francisco Chronicle​

3 days ago

The latest big money flex for the WNBA came over the weekend with the news that a minority owner of the Boston Celtics plans to buy the Connecticut Sun for $325 million, move the team from its strange casino location in Uncasville, Conn., to Boston, and sink another $100 million into a practice facility.
The last time a WNBA team was sold, in 2021, the price tag was estimated at $10 million for the Atlanta Dream.
It's yet another log tossed onto the blaze building beneath the contract negotiations between the league and the WNBA Player's Association over a new collective bargaining agreement.
The money is rolling into the WNBA.
The Golden State Valkyries — which Joe Lacob bought in 2023 for a $50 million expansion fee — were recently valued at $500 million and Lacob thinks it could have been higher. Three new expansion teams — Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — recently went for $250 million apiece. Last year, the league signed a monster media rights deal for $2.2 billion. The league set a record in attendance last season and is up even more this year. Viewership is also up 21%, even though megastar Caitlin Clark has missed several games with injury.
All of this is the backdrop to the CBA negotiations that have been looming over the entire season. Last October, the players opted out of the remaining year of their contract — which was signed in 2020, when things were much different, a move everyone could see coming for a couple of years. The current contract expires Oct. 31.
But despite all the forewarning, the rapid growth of the league and the increased value, negotiations aren't going smoothly. That became clear at last month's All-Star Game, when more than 40 players showed up to an in-person bargaining session in Indianapolis, a turnout that WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike called 'historic.'
But no progress was made.
'I think, to be frank, it was a wasted opportunity,' Liberty star Breanna Stweart said afterwards. 'It was pretty shocking to see. Not many things we agreed on.'
The players want a number of things including roster expansion and improved conditions around things such as travel and schedule. But the main thing they want is a significant piece of the pie that they have been baking for years.
'We feel we are owed a piece of the pie we helped create,' WNBPA vice president Napheesa Collier said.
The players know it is their play and their connection with fans that has made their league so successful and so attractive to new investors.
'We should be paid more and hopefully that's the case moving forward,' said Clark, the catalyst for much of the growth.
The players, like most professional athletes, want revenue sharing. While most men's CBAs call for a 50-50 split in revenues, the WNBA is woefully under 10%.
'We players know what we're worth,' Ogwumike said. 'The fans know what we're worth. Now we need the league to know what we're worth.'
The All-Star players took the court for the game in Indianapolis in black warmup shirts that read 'PAY US WHAT YOU OWE US.' Signs saying 'Pay the players' were waved in the crowd. After the game, when commissioner Cathy Englebert took the court, she was booed by the crowd and drowned out by chants of 'Pay them! Pay them!'
The event was reminiscent of other times female athletes have used the power of clothing and when they have understood the significance of getting the public on their side. In 2019, the U.S. women's national soccer team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay prior to the World Cup, which they went on to win. Their achievement was celebrated by roars of 'Equal pay! Equal pay!' The soccer players took the field for a game wearing inside-out shirts to protest their situation — facsimiles of which were later marketed. The lawsuit was finally settled in the players' favor in 2022.
WNBA players know the power of a persuasive T-shirt. They were at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, years before it swept the country after George Floyd's murder. They used their platform in the 'Wubble' during the pandemic, wearing shirts saying 'Vote Warnock,' in protest of Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler. That boost in recognition helped the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who subsequently won a Georgia senate seat and flipped the U.S. Senate.
The WNBA players have long known how to use their platform. And their fans will support them.
Smart business people like Lacob see the value in the league. He believes the Valkyries, with their spectacular game day experience and state-of-the-art facilities, are raising the bar for the entire league.
'The whole league is doing much better,' Lacob told me in June. 'Some aren't. Some are weak sisters, so to speak. We need to make it a better league. I think that's going to happen. It just takes time.'
One of those weak sisters has been the Sun. Connecticut plays in a casino, doesn't have its own facilities and is considered one of the worst-run franchises in the league. But the Sun is now headed for a brighter future, with the pending sale to a group led by private equity investor Steve Pagliuca.
The evidence keeps mounting: the WNBA — and the league players — are valuable entities worthy of investment. But will a deal get done? Or will the soaring popularity of the league come to a screeching halt with a work stoppage?
'We're on a time crunch,' Collier said. 'No one wants a lock out.'
With every positive development for the WNBA, the fire burning under contract negotiations keeps getting bigger and bigger. Does management feel the heat?