Latest news with #NnekaOgwumike
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
How Nneka Ogwumike, WNBA players union president and Seattle Storm star, remains 'a steady, constant force' in her dual roles
CHICAGO — Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike is a little busy right now. She's one of the stars of her team, leading Seattle as it fights for a top seed in the second half of this season. She's also president of the WNBA players union amid a historic fight to negotiate a CBA that capitalizes on the game's growth. Each job is demanding in its own way, but Ogwumike, a 10-time All-Star and 2016 league MVP, is finding balance on the two battlefields. 'I think everything's connected. Yeah, I really do. I can't really necessarily give you, you know, a cause and effect, but I try my best to stay locked in and all the roles that I possess,' Ogwumike told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. 'And so being in CBA negotiations and also being on the court at the same time, it definitely motivates me to prove that the product on the court deserves more value." Storm head coach Noelle Quinn said that Ogwumike is handling the balance beautifully, which she saw up close in Indianapolis during All-Star Weekend. 'She represents so much for the players, you know what that means in her presidential role, but also in this time frame, it's something that's going to happen that's monumental that she's kind of helping architect, which is, in my opinion, super dope,' Quinn said before Thursday's win over the Sky. 'But also, the other day, she comes off of All-Star [scoring 22] points and trying to will us to win. She puts her mind and her body in a place to perform. And so, in my opinion, both worlds are existing, but each are its own entity, and she handles it with grace.' The Storm are in fourth place in the league, a half-game in front of the Atlanta Dream. They lost their first game out of the All-Star break, 87-63, to the Dallas Wings on Tuesday, but they dominated the Sky in Chicago on Thursday night, 95-57. Ogwumike scored 10 points in 20 minutes on the court as bench players had the chance to shine. Rookie Dominique Malonga earned her first double-double in the win over the Sky, and she spoke about how she has learned from Ogwumike. 'From my point of view, Nneka is just the best," Malonga said. "I mean, I couldn't hope to have a better [vet] than her, I just need to watch her, not even talk to her, just watching her and how she just practice every day, her routine, how she is just so disciplined." Filling these different roles isn't easy. Ogwumike has been union president since 2016, but said she learned how to stay more balanced in 2020, when the last CBA was signed. That year, the WNBA went into the 'Wubble' to stay healthy during the first year of the pandemic, and they were there during the "Black Lives Matter" protests. Players across the league looked to Ogwumike for leadership, but that also took its toll, teaching her lessons that steeled her for this year's fight. 'After kind of diving head first in the deep end with that, I realized that there was a balance that I needed to achieve to be able to continue to compete at the same level that I want to so now it's, I wouldn't really say that the pressure is as much, especially because we've we've grown to a point where we have a robust executive committee and PA staff, and we even have advisors,' she said. 'And the way that we come out of [previous collective bargaining agreements in] 2016 and 2020 is allowing us to operate more fully, and for everyone to lead in their own way. So that support that I get from all of these amazing women really does help.' Ogwumike and the union are advocating for a transformative CBA that will allow the players to share in the growth the league has experienced. The WNBA will add five more teams over the next five years, with the three newest franchises paying an expansion fee of $250 million. The league also recently signed expanded media rights deals with ESPN that will bring in $200 million per year. While players with max contracts can earn nearly $250,000, rookies earn $78,000 in their first year, and the veteran minimum is $78,831. As teammates in Seattle, Skylar Diggins has been close to Ogwumike for years. Diggins said that players put their trust in Ogwumike because they know the work she is doing. 'I'm never surprised," Diggins said. "I'm always impressed, with just how much she shoulders, how much she carries, on a day to day basis, what she's dealing with, remembering when we went through the bubble we were talking about that, not knowing if we'd even have a W, you know, and Nneka was a huge, essential part in that, and we've just thrived under her leadership. 'I always talk about her being a steady, constant force, and she came in the league, and it's not just on the court, off the court. What she brings to the table has the respect of all the players in the league, knowing that she's fighting for our best interest." Young stars of the league like Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers were in the room for negotiations at the All-Star Game, and after players left that meeting unhappy, they banded together to wear shirts during pregame warmups that read, "Pay Us What You Owe Us." That engagement inspires Ogwumike, who hopes she can pass on the presidential hat one day. 'I'm not playing forever, and I'm not going to be president forever," she said. "One of my biggest goals was to develop an engagement in our player union to where you didn't have to constantly remind people, 'Hey, check this. Check that.' Rather, we are taking in a lot of the feedback that the players are getting because they're so locked in. I feel like that's where we are right now and then through that engagement now comes perhaps people being motivated and inspired to be real active members of the union, whether it's on the player reps in the CBA committee, on the executive committee, and to see younger players do that, I feel like we're in the best spot, because this is their future.'
Newsweek
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Newsweek
How to Watch Seattle Storm vs Chicago Sky: Live Stream WNBA, Start Time, TV Channel
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Storm (14-10) looks to improve its playoff seeding while the Sky (7-16) tries to close the gap on the last postseason spot as they meet on Thursday night. Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky hits Nneka Ogwumike #3 of the Seattle Storm in the faceat Climate Pledge Arena on July 05, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky hits Nneka Ogwumike #3 of the Seattle Storm in the faceat Climate Pledge Arena on July 05, 2024 in Seattle, to Watch Strom vs Sky When: Thursday, July 24, 2025 Time: 8:30 PM ET TV Channel: WCIU (Local) Live Stream: Fubo (WATCH NOW) While the Storm had to be pleased with a 14-9 record at the All-Star break, they were certainly disappointed with a brutal performance in their last game, an 87-63 loss at home to the struggling Dallas Wings. Seattle took care of the ball well, turning it over only nine times, but struggled to make shots. Nneka Ogwuimike scored 22 points on 10-for-19 from the field, but the rest of the team went just 13-for-56 (23.2%). Chicago finds itself in a similar situation, having won two games in a row and playing much better basketball. Since then, they've dropped three straight, the most recent being a 91-68 thrashing at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx. The Sky shot just 39.3% from the field for the game and turned the ball over 21 times, including nine from Angel Reese. The Storm and Sky will face each other two more times, both in the back half of August. This is not a nationally televised game, but it can still be streamed locally via Fubo. Live stream Storm vs Sky on Fubo: Start your subscription now! Regional restrictions may apply. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
What to know about WNBA CBA negotiations: Revenue sharing, salary increases and scheduling
On Saturday night, as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was in the middle of her annual midseason news conference, players made a statement of their own by taking off their All-Star Game warmups to reveal T-shirts with the tagline, 'Pay Us What You Owe Us.' 'We see the growth in the league and as it stands, the current salary system is not really paying us what we're owed,' union president and Seattle Storm star forward Nneka Ogwumike said. 'We want to be able to have that fair share moving forward, especially as we see all of the investment going in, and we want to be able to have our salaries be reflected in a structure that makes sense for us.' Advertisement Engelbert, in one room, was discussing how the two sides in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations had recently had 'constructive' talks. On the court, players were issuing a call to action. WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson has said that union leaders and league executives have talked 'often' throughout the months-long negotiations, but Indianapolis was the site of their most important meeting yet. Central to the talks is the future of the league's business and how revenue is distributed. According to sources with knowledge of the discussions who are not authorized to speak about the matter publicly, the league and teams combined have not been profitable since the WNBA's inception in 1996. (Play began in 1997.) In other words, the aggregate sum of the league and team revenues minus the sum of their expenses has always been a negative number. Yet the business around the WNBA and its teams is growing as the sport has reached a transformative moment. 'Pay them!' WNBA All-Star fans drowned out commissioner Cathy Engelbert during her presentation of the game's MVP award. With several CBA conversations in Indy this weekend, players warmed up in shirts that read 'Pay Us What You Owe Us.' — The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 20, 2025 Here are answers to important questions about where the negotiations stand as the second half of the season gets underway. Last week's meeting in Indy was the first in-person bargaining session that players have attended since December. More than 40 players were present, a union record in its CBA discussions. The meeting was held weeks after the WNBPA received a counterproposal from the league. Players said that in the first week of February, they submitted an initial version of a proposal to the league. It focused on salary and revenue-sharing systems, the sources said. The union sent supplemental information, then in April submitted a more comprehensive proposal with more than 20 additional pages focused on a variety of topics. The league issued its counterproposal in June. Advertisement Multiple players expressed frustration with the league's response, heightening tension leading into last week's meeting. The league's revenue-sharing system was a key topic of conversation, they said. Los Angeles Sparks forward Kelsey Plum said that at one point in the meeting, she appealed to the commissioner's legacy. 'Cathy has an opportunity to make a transformational decision, not just for our league but for women in the workforce,' Plum said. 'It's a symbol that matters. You start a whole tsunami wave.' She added: 'Never have we had this much leverage. Never have we had over 40 players talking to the other side. It's unbelievable.' The meeting lasted a couple of hours, and Jackson said that some players sacrificed opportunities for paid appearances to attend. It's premature to say agreements were reached in the bargaining session. But multiple players, including Liberty star Breanna Stewart, the union vice president, said progress was made on a policy related to family planning and on another related to retirement benefits. Engelbert and other executives from the league office, as well as the league's lawyers, were at last week's meeting. The WNBA also has a committee of team representatives, who are a mix of owners and senior team leadership. The league's labor committee is composed of seven representatives from various backgrounds, with different experience levels in the WNBA and from teams in various market sizes. Multiple sources with knowledge of the meetings confirmed to The Athletic that the following team representatives and members of the league's labor committee attended last Thursday's meeting: • Atlanta Dream — Suzanne Abair, co-owner and CEO • Chicago Sky — Nadia Rawlinson, co-owner and operating chairperson • Connecticut Sun — Jennifer Rizzotti, team president Advertisement • Indiana Fever — Kelly Krauskopf, president of basketball and business operations • Dallas Wings — Greg Bibb, managing partner and CEO • Seattle Storm — Ginny Gilder, co-owner Phoenix Mercury owner Mat Ishbia is also a representative on the league's labor committee, though the Mercury are the lone team with committee representation not at last Thursday's meeting and the December meeting, the sources said. The Mercury declined The Athletic's request to comment regarding their representative's absence. Players have been outspoken about their desire for increased salaries — the league's current maximum for a player is around $250,000 — and a revenue-sharing system that does not have a fixed component. The topic appears to be at the crux of the negotiation. 'If anything is fixed, especially at a small percentage, naturally we're not actually going to grow with the business,' Ogwumike said. 'We're at a point now where we're growing, so we want to make sure that as the business grows, the only thing that isn't capped is the player revenue share.' Neither side has disclosed the specific terms of their recent proposals. Engelbert said on Saturday: 'I think you'll see the revenue sharing be a much more lucrative one as we go forward because we're in a better place.' She added: 'We want to significantly increase their salary and benefits while balancing with our owners, their ability to have a path to profitability, as well as continued investment. You see tens of millions of dollars being invested in practice facilities and other player experience by teams. We want to strike the right balance between those two so that can continue.' While the league and teams combined have not been profitable at any point since inception, the league is closer than ever to making a profit (on a combined league and team basis) as a result of continued growth, sources with knowledge of negotiations said. Advertisement Engelbert said Saturday that national TV viewership is up 23 percent year-over-year, attendance is up 26 percent, and merchandise sales are up 40 percent. A new media rights deal with ESPN/Disney, Amazon and NBC, worth $200 million per season for 11 years, will go into effect next year. And the total new rights fees could have as much as six times the league's current media rights fees, because the new deals leave room for the WNBA to bring in additional partners. (In June, the WNBA announced a new multi-year deal with Scripps/Ion, for example.) It stands to reason that with the record media rights deal slated to go into effect and an increase in corporate partnerships and other positive developments, the league has a realistic opportunity to be profitable for the first time in 2026. Of course, any financial projection is difficult to predict without knowing the league's CBA. The health of the WNBA business can also be observed in the increase in franchise valuations. The New York Liberty recently raised capital from a group of investors at a record valuation for a professional women's sports franchise of $450 million, with ownership having purchased the franchise as a distressed asset in 2019. League expansion fees have also significantly increased; the three teams recently granted to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia were awarded for a record $250 million fee, up from the $50 million the Golden State Valkyries' ownership group paid in September 2023. 'We're fighting for what we're due, what we're worth, our value,' Liberty guard Natasha Cloud said. 'They're going to be fighting for what they think protects the business. Our job is to find the common ground. But that doesn't mean we keep taking the crumbs of the pie.' The NBA and WNBA generate significantly different amounts of revenue, and each league's revenue is allocated differently. For instance, the WNBA's full charter flight program and other team travel expenses (hotels and ground transportation) cost nine percent of combined league and team revenues, sources said. That percentage is smaller in the NBA. The two leagues also have different revenue-sharing systems. In the NBA, players take home roughly half of basketball-related income (BRI), while the other half goes to owners. BRI then determines the league's annual salary cap. In the WNBA, the league's current CBA does not explicitly use BRI to determine its salary cap. The CBA sets the salary cap for each year of the agreement; increases between seasons are fixed at a rate of three percent. The league has an additional mechanism for revenue sharing if certain targets are reached. However, that agreement was created in 2020, when the WNBA played a pandemic-impacted bubble season and essentially made no money. Because revenue targets are cumulative, the WNBA hasn't caught up despite recent rapid growth, preventing all players from benefiting from financial gains. 'We want a piece of the entire pie, not a piece of part of the pie,' Plum said. The future WNBA schedule seems to be another important topic in negotiations. Players have said that the league has discussed the possibility of adding more games. This season, teams are playing a record 44 games, the maximum under the current CBA. Historically, the WNBA plays from mid-May until either mid-September or mid-October. The college season ending in early April, impacting incoming rookies, doesn't allow for much flexibility in the league's start date. However, Engelbert said there is slightly more flexibility on seasons' back ends. In the 'near-term,' especially because of the 2026 FIBA World Cup running in early September, she said the WNBA season could run into November. Advertisement 'We want to make sure we're trying to fit our footprint in so that we can support those international competitions, but also have a season worthy of where we are today as a hyper-growth league. We're trying to strike that right balance from that perspective,' Engelbert said. 'Again, the scheduling is always a Rubik's cube when you're dealing with arena, broadcast windows, international competition, things like that.' Both sides sound like they want a new agreement signed by the Oct. 31 deadline. Englebert said she had 'confidence' in reaching a deal. However, it's possible that they will not reach an agreement by that date. Stewart called Thursday's meeting a 'wasted opportunity' with 'a lot of fluff that we couldn't get past.' Ogwumike said players haven't discussed a work stoppage, 'at least not recently.' Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, a WNBPA vice president, said: 'If a lockout is what it comes to, then I think we're prepared for that.' Depending on the progress, the sides could agree to an extension before the deadline. That was the case in the 2019-20 talks, as two extensions were agreed to before the current deal was struck on Jan. 14, 2020. The timing of an agreement will also dictate several key offseason events, including an expansion draft for two incoming franchises, the start of free agency and the college draft. Stewart said she wants 'more of a sense of urgency' in the talks. Jackson told reporters on Thursday that another meeting is scheduled, although she did not provide specifics on time or place. With the second half of the season underway, the meetings will mostly have to occur virtually.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Storm vs. Sky odds, tips and betting trends - 7/24/2025
The Chicago Sky (7-16) will be trying to end a three-game losing streak when hosting the Seattle Storm (14-10) on Thursday, July 24, 2025 at Wintrust Arena. It airs at 8:30 p.m. ET on The U, KOMO 4, and CW Seattle. In its most recent game, Seattle fell at home to Dallas, 87-63. Its top performers were Nneka Ogwumike (22 PTS, 52.6 FG%, 2-4 from 3PT) and Gabby Williams (14 PTS, 8 AST, 4 STL, 35.7 FG%). Chicago lost to Minnesota 91-68 on the road last time out, and were led by Kia Nurse (16 PTS, 8 REB, 50.0 FG%, 3-5 from 3PT) and Angel Reese (11 PTS, 11 REB, 50.0 FG%). Before watching this matchup, here's everything you need to know about Thursday's action on the court. Watch the WNBA on Fubo! Seattle Storm vs. Chicago Sky odds and betting lines WNBA odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub. Storm moneyline insights Sky moneyline insights Storm vs. Sky: Game time and info Watch the WNBA on Fubo!
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chicago faces Seattle, looks to break 3-game slide
Seattle Storm (14-10, 9-6 Western Conference) at Chicago Sky (7-16, 1-9 Eastern Conference) Chicago; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EDT BOTTOM LINE: Chicago Sky enters the matchup with Seattle Storm as losers of three straight games. The Sky have gone 4-6 at home. Chicago is second in the Eastern Conference in rebounding averaging 36.6 rebounds. Angel Reese paces the Sky with 12.5 boards. The Storm are 6-5 on the road. Seattle is seventh in the Western Conference with 7.0 offensive rebounds per game led by Ezi Magbegor averaging 2.3. Chicago scores 77.6 points per game, 0.9 fewer points than the 78.5 Seattle allows. Seattle averages 80.2 points per game, 6.3 fewer points than the 86.5 Chicago allows. The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams. TOP PERFORMERS: Reese is scoring 13.8 points per game and averaging 12.5 rebounds for the Sky. Rachel Banham is averaging 11.7 points and 1.6 rebounds over the last 10 games. Nneka Ogwumike is scoring 17.3 points per game and averaging 7.5 rebounds for the Storm. Erica Wheeler is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Sky: 4-6, averaging 79.0 points, 38.3 rebounds, 18.4 assists, 5.7 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 41.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 84.0 points per game. Storm: 5-5, averaging 76.0 points, 30.7 rebounds, 18.3 assists, 8.3 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 40.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.5 points. INJURIES: Sky: Courtney Vandersloot: out for season (acl). Storm: Katie Lou Samuelson: out for season (knee). ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
