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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
WNBA CBA negotiations: What's at stake, what players want and what's next amid historic labor fight
The lasting photograph of the 2025 WNBA All-Star game isn't a screenshot of the "Stud Budz" stream or a snapshot of Sabrina Ionescu and Caitlin Clark wildly waving for a replay review. It's the collective statement issued when players zipped off their warm-ups to display a stark black 'Pay Us What You Owe Us' T-shirt, delivering a rallying cry to the growing number of fans they've collected in recent years. The moment placed the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations between the league and its players at center stage. Players utilized their opt-out the day after the 2024 WNBA Finals, and submitted a proposal and follow-up to league representatives earlier this year. Ahead of last week's All-Star festivities in Indianapolis, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, the league's CBA committee and WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) met in person for the first time in this process and didn't find much common ground. Already in the works, the players involved in the All-Star Game opted to wear the shirts and broadcast their stance. With the second half of the season already underway and time ticking to the CBA deadline in three months, here are the biggest questions (and answers) around the negotiating table. What do players want? The players are tunnel-vision on a salary and revenue-sharing system. Sparks veteran guard Kelsey Plum, WNBPA first vice president, described it as wanting a piece of the entire pie, not just a piece of part of the pie. That includes pieces of media rights fees, team ticket sales and jersey revenue. Since people are tuning in to see the players, many said, it's only fair the players take part in the financial windfalls happening league-wide in the future. They want a revenue-sharing model that allows their salaries to grow as the league grows. 'I want people to understand that basically we get a very tiny percentage of all the money that's made through the WNBA, which obviously is through our entertainment, the entertainment we provide,' veteran Lynx forward Napheesa Collier said after winning All-Star MVP. 'And so we want a fair and reasonable percentage of that.' The league maximum salary is around $250,000. It went up a fixed amount annually, as stipulated in the CBA, and is a large increase from the $119,000 max of the last CBA. The salary cap also increases, but at a lower rate than player salaries. What's the issue in negotiations? Players said the league is set on a fixed revenue sharing proposal. The league and its owners also see the growth, but know the efforts and money it took to help get it there. There is revenue sharing in the current CBA, though it's based on revenue metrics that can then spur payouts. 'We were at a very different place in 2020 than we are in 2025,' Engelbert said on Saturday. 'So, 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, quite frankly.' While WNBA team owners are not allowed to speak publicly on the talks, it stands to reason they also want a piece of the pie they haven't always enjoyed. 'That's why I'm so optimistic that we're going to do something transformational here because we want the same things as the players want,' Engelbert said. '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.' Is there common ground? The sides appear to be far apart on how they go about revenue sharing, even if everyone believes the players should receive a larger salary and better team benefits moving forward. 'Based on what we saw and based on what we're proposing, it's two fundamentally different systems,' WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike said after the All-Star Game. 'And one that leans more toward a fixed percentage is what the league is responding to us with and we want to have a better share where our salaries grow with the business and not just a fixed percentage over time.' Players expressed frustration at a lack of movement the day after the meeting. Breanna Stewart, one of the union's vice presidents, said progress was made on only two bullet points related to family planning and retirement benefits. What else is on the table? The players Yahoo Sports spoke to over the last few weeks all unequivocally declared revenue sharing and salaries as the top priority in negotiations. But there are other issues that will likely be discussed as talks continue. Coaches and players have been more vocal this season about the lack of consistency in officiating and aspects of the league's referee model that put it at a disadvantage (no external review center, low pay for referees). Engelbert did not address a direct question on whether she believes it's an issue, saying, 'we take that input.' 'I think some people observe our game versus other basketball formats; there aren't a ton of fouls called,' she said. The schedule will also play into negotiations. The league expanded to the max 44 games granted under the old CBA, but in the same May-to-October footprint. It will be more complicated in Olympic and World Cup years. Engelbert said they would still try to stay in roughly the same calendar footprint. The league will expand to 18 teams by 2030, but players have long been vocal in their desires for roster expansion over team expansion to open up spots. The charter flights the league installed a year ago will need to be codified in the new CBA after the old one did not allow for them. And players are seeking proper investment by team owners, including practice facilities, health and wellness care and top-of-the-line personnel. 'This new CBA that's coming in by us is going to weed out the owners that don't want to invest, or invest just enough to get by and that's not good enough anymore,' Liberty veteran Natasha Cloud said before winning the All-Star skills competition. 'If you're not going to be here to invest, then it's OK. We'll see you at the door,' she said. 'Because someone, somewhere is going to want to invest into this league that continues to boom, that continues to show its worth, its value, and what you (owners) could get out of it as well.' Team owners will likely want to double down on the prioritization clause that keeps players stateside for marketing, health and on-time arrivals to their WNBA teams. 'It's very clear that the league wants to push away all other leagues,' Storm forward Gabby Williams said, specifically citing Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited. Is the WNBA losing money? Quite possibly, yes. Also, maybe not. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in 2018 that the WNBA loses roughly $10 million a year. Two days before the New York Liberty won their first WNBA championship last fall and three days ahead of the players' opt-out announcement, the New York Post reported the league was set to lose $40 million that season. However, there is no hard data publicly available to prove this claim, and accounting schemes can impact the macro figures of any business. The financials around the league have always been unclear since it is under the umbrella of the NBA, with several teams owned by NBA team owners. The $75 million capital raise in 2022 muddles it further as it involved some NBA/WNBA team owners. The 'losing money' line isn't specific to the WNBA. When NBA players negotiated their CBA in 2011, the league said it lost $300 million per season and that 22 of its 30 teams were losing money. Silver said in July 2015 that 'a significant number of teams are continuing to lose money.' And in 2017, obtained confidential records illustrating losses by 14 teams. According to CNBC's NBA team valuations released in February, two teams (the Clippers and Bucks) were in the red. How does the media rights deal fit in? Engelbert made clear for most of her tenure that a new media rights deal would be a vehicle to 'transform the league,' such as implementing charter flights and better salaries, the way rising media rights deals for men's leagues do the same. She often described it as a 'broken valuation model.' Beginning next year, the WNBA will receive $200 million per season as part of the 11-year, $2.2 billion deal the NBA signed with Disney, Amazon and NBC Universal. Some, including legend Cheryl Miller, feel the price is too low, while others believe the WNBA should have been able to negotiate separately from the NBA to receive its full worth in the marketplace. The league also separately extended its deal with ION. This is the money the players are staking their claim to in CBA negotiations. What league is a fair comparison? For obvious reasons, the WNBA is most commonly compared to the NBA. But it's apples to oranges — the NBA was born 77 years ago; the WNBA turns 30 next year. MLS, founded in 1993 and launched a year before the WNBA, is a better comparison. Even its fight for charter flights is similar. It signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement with Apple in November 2022 after averaging 281,000 viewers in 2021. In its final season on ESPN in 2022, the league averaged 343,000 viewers. MLS said this week it is averaging 120,000 unique viewers on its Apple TV+ Season Pass, though it's unclear what exactly that number charts. The WNBA averaged 372,000 viewers in 2021. In 2024, it averaged 1.19 million on ESPN platforms, 1.1 million on CBS Sports, 670,000 on ION and 678,000 on NBA TV. How are teams valued? Surging valuations show the WNBA is big business. The average WNBA team is valued at $269 million, a 180% increase that's the largest year-over-year uptick ever recorded among major professional sports leagues, according to Sportico's second annual WNBA valuation report released last month. The average team valuation was $96 million a year ago. The Golden State Valkyries lead the pack at $500 million, edging the reigning champion New York Liberty ($420 million, 222% gain). The Valkyries are set to make more than $70 million in revenue, double what any other team made in 2024, per Sportico. The Fever grew 273% to a $335 million valuation with an estimated $34 million in revenue last season (300% increase). WNBA teams are no longer viewed as incorporated add-ons to the NBA business when it comes to standalone sales of franchises, Sportico's Kurt Badenhausen said on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast. They are now a vital part of the accounting, unlike recent sales of the Lynx within the Timberwolves sale, and the Mercury within the Suns. 'Both of those transactions, the WNBA team was inconsequential,' Badenhausen said. 'It wasn't even part of the conversations in terms of what the price was going to be paid. It was, what are you paying for the NBA team? That conversation would not happen in 2025. That conversation would come up.' What are the players 'owed?' While the situation is similar to the U.S. women's national soccer team's fight for equal pay, it's also drastically different. The USWNT was fighting for the same amount of pay as the U.S. men's national soccer team received for their work from the same employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation. The USWNT argued The WNBA players also aren't fighting for back pay. They're looking toward the money the league is set to bring in — or has already pocketed in some cases — and want what they feel is their rightful piece of the revenue. The three expansion teams announced last month all paid a reported $250 million expansion fee, and key metrics around the league are all up. Engelbert said national TV viewership in its totality is up 23% year over year. The average attendance (11,102) is on pace to break the 1998 record of 10,868, per Across the Timeline. Who is in the room bargaining? The WNBPA executive board attends on behalf of the players, who voted for their representatives. It consists of Ogwumike (president), Plum (first vice president), Elizabeth Williams (secretary), Brianna Turner (treasurer), Alysha Clark (VP), Collier (VP) and Stewart (VP). Each team can have up to two player representatives who relay information to their teams and collect feedback to report up to the execs. More than 40 players, some of whom are not in leadership, attended the meeting in Indianapolis. 'A lot of times negotiations start heating up right when playoffs start,' Ogwumike said before the All-Star Game. 'So I don't anticipate us having another meeting with that many players, and I wish we would have capitalized more in the conversation that we had with the league [on Thursday].' The league has its own CBA committee that includes members of the Board of Governors. Legal counsel also attends. Are there conflicts of interest? Yes, though this has been a reality of the league dating back to its inception. The majority of players held second jobs on clubs overseas until recently, and even now, many play in domestic leagues Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited during the long WNBA offseason. Those are extra considerations for players as they think of what they want included or excluded from the CBA. The prioritization clause that owners insisted upon in the last CBA negotiations is an example. There may be concerns with pushing the schedule out deeper into November, as it would cut into overseas leagues. Collier and Stewart are in a unique position. The duo launched Unrivaled, a 3x3 league featuring much of the WNBA's top talent, this past offseason. The company is based in Miami, announced 14 future players through NIL and operated an activation at All-Star that drew long lines throughout the weekend. Collier drafted her WNBA All-Star team on ESPN while wearing an Unrivaled T-shirt and mentioned her Owls teammates within her selection choices. Their commitments to national teams are also a consideration since major international tournaments overlap with the WNBA season. Engelbert said last weekend that players born outside the United States who play for their country make up more than 20% of the league. Is a work stoppage coming? Ogwumike said the union 'hasn't discussed about work stoppages,' but has addressed it. 'We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't let players know, hey, the league is in a different place,' Ogwumike said. 'We're in a different place. Just be prepared for anything that can happen.' Multiple players, including Angel Reese and DiJonai Carrington in March, indicated ahead of CBA talks that the players are ready to sit out games if the league doesn't meet their major priorities. Alyssa Thomas said at All-Star that when they broached the topic of a work stoppage in the past, it was tough because of the impact on rookies. There were also vet minimum players to consider. When a salary is in the $50,000 range, it's tough to lose that. The situation is different now. Top players come in making money off NIL deals that in some cases rival the sponsorship deals of the league's biggest names. Players are making more money from sponsorships, brands and salaries than ever before, making it more feasible financially to sit out. How would a work stoppage impact long-term? Historically, there's been ill will toward players who strike for more money and benefits, as plenty of Americans view them as having too much already. But the WNBA is in a different state. The salaries are drastically lower than the multi-millions male professionals earn. Already, it's clear they have a strong contingent on their side. 'Pay them' chants broke out at All-Star, and many loud voices lent their opinion to the players' side of the argument early this week. A work stoppage could stagnate the 'hyper-growth' Engelbert described last weekend. Each side will need to consider how tender the situation is and how a work stoppage could halt the progress of the league's growth. Is there a deadline? Yes and no. The deadline right now is Oct. 31, but it's more of a soft target. 'I have confidence we can get something done by October,' Engelbert said at her All-Star address. 'But I'm not going to put an exact date on it because if we're in a good place, [if] we're going back and forth [and] there's a few remaining issues, we can extend dates here and there.' The season ends no later than Oct. 19, an already tight turnaround for players to finalize a deal while juggling the postseason that begins on Sept. 14. When players opted out the last time, the sides extended the deadline in 2019 and announced an agreement on Jan. 14, 2020. Any extension this time around is less than ideal given how much needs to be completed in the offseason. The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are scheduled to begin play next year and will need an expansion draft, which was held in December last year for the Valkyries. There is also a monster free agency period awaiting. Everyone except those on rookie contracts is an unrestricted free agent, a move players made to maximize their earnings and benefits under a new CBA. There's also the collegiate draft, typically scheduled eight days after the NCAA national championship game. 'Would we like to get it done? Yes,' Engelbert said. 'Does it have to be done exactly on that date? We've got some room to continue negotiations if we're close at that point.' What's next? Engelbert said on Saturday that there 'are meetings scheduled moving forward.' 'I want a lot of the same things the players want,' Engelbert said. 'I said that last time, too. It's not changed. But we also have to have a process where we go back and forth. We're in the process. 'Again, I'm still really optimistic that we'll get something done that will be transformational and next year at All-Star we'll be talking about how great everything is. Obviously, there's a lot of hard work to be done on both sides to get there.' Ogwumike said that the union communicated heavily leading into All-Star weekend as it 'didn't want to miss our moment.' Players described it as the largest, most involved group since they came together to advocate for Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock in the 2020 bubble season. 'We're just going to have to do our best to talk online and see what we can do as everyone is getting into the depths of their season,' Ogwumike said. It's likely the players lean into the public outcry on their behalf — Collier described having chills hearing the 'Pay them' chants — as the group is experienced in advocating. 'We have a lot of leverage this time around,' Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said. 'You know, back when we did our last CBA, [we were] still trying to find our footing in the league. I think now we have a lot of power. As you can see, the league is growing. There's a lot of attention on this right now, and I think we just got to tap into that.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
WNBA All-Star Game Performer Arrested On Felony Charge
WNBA All-Star Game Performer Arrested On Felony Charge originally appeared on The Spun. The WNBA All-Star Weekend took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, to rave reviews. While Caitlin Clark was unable to play in the game - or take part in the 3-Point Contest - thousands of fans still flocked to Indianapolis for the special weekend. The 3-Point Contest was won by Sabrina Ionescu, the players wore "Pay Us What You Owe Us" T-shirts before the game and the TV ratings were solid. However, one of the halftime performers from the WNBA All-Star Game has since been arrested. And she has reportedly been arrested on a felony charge. It's troubling. Rapper GloRilla, who performed at halftime of the WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, was arrested on a felony drug possession charge, according to TMZ. From the report: As we told you, GloRilla's house was broken into this weekend ... by the time cops arrived, the suspects were gone -- but investigators say they encountered weed in their search for the burglars, and the rapper was then charged with felony drug possession. The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office tells TMZ ... deputies responded to a report of a burglary in progress Saturday around 1:30 AM at a residence in the Atlanta suburbs. The sheriff's office says three suspects entered the house when an "armed occupant fired at the intruders." Her lawyers have since spoken out. "When her family members did the right thing and called law enforcement, instead of investigating the violent home invasion and theft at Ms. Woods' home, they instead sought a search warrant when they spotted what they believed was a small amount of marijuana," the attorneys said. "Law enforcement then sought arrest warrants for her even though she hadn't been at her home for some time. No arrest warrants have been issued for the violent home invaders. Ms. Woods is a victim, not a suspect. This is our tax dollars at work, absolutely unbelievable." Police, meanwhile, are standing by their decision. "The homeowner is a victim of a serious crime, and we are committed to bringing the suspects to justice," Sheriff Ron Freeman said in a statement, according to FOX 5 in Atlanta. "At the same time, we must continue to uphold and enforce the law in all aspects of this case." WNBA All-Star Game Performer Arrested On Felony Charge first appeared on The Spun on Jul 24, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared.
New York Times
6 days 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.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘They're absolutely underpaid': Economists weigh in on WNBA labor showdown
They chatted over breakfast the morning of the WNBA all-star game. Some of the players who have led the fight to overhaul the WNBA's financial structure held an impromptu meeting early last Saturday to air out their frustrations over how labor negotiations with the league had stalled. Out of that conversation came the idea for a bold new approach to the WNBA's labor standoff. Players decided that it was time to stop bargaining primarily behind closed doors and to instead bring their message to the masses. Later that same day, players union leaders gave every WNBA all-star a black T-shirt with the slogan 'Pay Us What You Owe Us' emblazoned in white letters across the front. The all-stars unanimously donned those shirts during pregame warmups in front of a sellout crowd of nearly 17,000 and millions more viewers watching from home on ABC. 'The players are what is building this brand,' all-star game MVP and players union vice president Napheesa Collier said Saturday. 'We feel like we're owed a piece of that pie that we helped create.' Collier's comments come at a time of unprecedented growth for the WNBA, accelerated by the popularity of Caitlin Clark and other recent high-profile college stars. The league had a record 2024 season with historic viewership, attendance and merchandise sales. Expansion teams will debut in Toronto, Portland, Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland over the next five years. In 2026, the league will begin an 11-year media rights deal worth a reported $2.2 billion. Eager to cash in on that influx of revenue, the players union opted out of its collective bargaining agreement with the league last year and now must negotiate a new deal before the current one expires on October 31. Players are seeking a drastically improved revenue sharing model that would allow their salaries to grow as the league does. The league has scarcely acknowledged those proposals during early bargaining sessions, players have complained. The distance between the union and the league is vast enough that it raises the question: Who's right? Are WNBA players as grossly underpaid as they claim? Or are they asking for too much given the WNBA's history of unprofitability and the potential fragility of its recent rapid surge in popularity? For the past year, Harvard economics professor and 2023 Nobel Prize winner Claudia Goldin has been advising the WNBA players union in collective bargaining. Last month, Goldin penned a guest essay in the New York Times entitled 'How Underpaid Are WNBA Players? It's Embarrassing.' After examining TV ratings, attendance data and other metrics, Goldin estimated that the average WNBA salary should be 'roughly one-quarter to one-third of the average NBA salary to achieve pay equity.' In reality, WNBA salaries currently range from the league minimum of $66,079 to a maximum of $249,244. That's not in the same stratosphere as the NBA, where the league minimum is $1.27 million and the highest-paid superstars will earn more than $50 million apiece next season. 'How could that be?' wrote Goldin. 'The most likely explanation is that the WNBA is not receiving the full value it contributes to the combined NBA and WNBA enterprise revenue.' Three other sports economists who spoke to Yahoo Sports agreed with Goldin's assessment that WNBA players are not being paid what they deserve. As evidence, they pointed to the fact that about 50% of the NBA's revenue goes to player salary and that WNBA players take home a miniscule percentage of their league's revenue by comparison. 'Even without knowing the exact revenues of the WNBA, we know they're certainly not making even close to 50%,' University of San Francisco professor of sports management Nola Agha told Yahoo Sports. 'So they're absolutely underpaid.' The WNBA will make at least $500 million in revenue next year, argues David Berri, an economics professor at Southern Utah and the co-author of 'Slaying the Trolls: Why the Trolls are Very, Very Wrong About Women and Sports.' Berri bases that estimate on a report from Forbes that places the league's 2024 revenue at $226 million, another report from Sportico that the expansion Golden State Valkyries are bringing in $75 million in their inaugural season and the WNBA's media rights deal with Disney that will provide $200 million annually. Say that WNBA players negotiate the right to take 50% of that $500 million, a revenue sharing percentage similar to what their counterparts in the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball get. In that scenario, the 168 players on 2026 WNBA rosters would earn an average of $1.49 million — more than 10 times the league's current average salary. 'Clearly, if the league is going to treat WNBA players like they do the NBA players, there has to be a substantial increase in pay,' Berri told Yahoo Sports. Of course, evaluating how much revenue any league makes is notoriously tricky because sports accounting always includes some sleight of hand tricks and deception. That's particularly true in the case of the WNBA, whose deeply intertwined financial relationship with the NBA makes it hard to decipher where one league's revenue ends and the other's begins. The NBA founded the WNBA nearly 30 years ago, provides financial support to cover losses and remains a significant stakeholder to this day. Seven of the WNBA's 13 teams are owned by NBA ownership groups. Last year, the NBA negotiated joint television contracts for the leagues. Back in 2018, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that the WNBA annually loses roughly $10 million per year. Those losses allegedly quadrupled last year, sources told the New York Post, citing a rise in expenses like full-time charter flights and the fact that the WNBA's new media rights deal would not kick in for another two years. Count Andrew Zimbalist among those skeptical of those figures. Zimbalist, a professor at Smith College and a leading sports economist, served as an advisor to the NBA Players Association during multiple previous collective bargaining sessions. He remembers the NBA claiming losses each time in an effort to gain public support and extract further concessions from the players. 'They might claim they're making a loss but when you look closely at their books they're not really making a loss,' Zimbalist told Yahoo Sports. 'There are lots of shenanigans they can use to play with the books, so one would have to look very carefully at how they're doing their accounting before you even enter into discussions. The women's union needs to have some financially adept people at the bargaining table so the owners can't pull the wool over their eyes.' The lack of transparency regarding the WNBA's finances is a huge issue, according to union president Nneka Ogwumike of the Seattle Storm. In a 2018 Players Tribune essay, Ogwumike wrote that the union just wants 'information about where the league is as a business, so that we can come together and make sound decisions for the future of the game.' 'As players, we never get to see the numbers,' Ogwumike added. 'We don't know how the league is doing. As the kids say nowadays, we just want to see the receipts.' Last Thursday, on the eve of WNBA All-Star Weekend, many of the league's most recognizable players crammed into an Indianapolis hotel elevator and smiled for a picture. They were on their way to a rare in-person bargaining session between the players union and league owners. The mood was not so upbeat several hours later when those same players emerged from that meeting. While WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert characterized the talks as constructive and expressed confidence a deal would get done, players seethed over how far apart the two sides remained. 'A wasted opportunity,' Breanna Stewart called it. 'Disrespectful,' was how Angel Reese described the league's counterproposal. 'We have a long way to go,' Kelsey Plum admitted. Forty-eight hours later, 'Pay Us What You Owe Us' was born. By the end of the night, fans chanting 'pay them' drowned out Engelbert presenting Collier with the all-star game's MVP award at mid-court. 'That gave me chills,' Collier said later. To sports economists, the biggest challenge for WNBA players will be keeping supportive fans on their side and winning over those who already feel they're asking for too much. They have to be very clear with the public about what the numbers say and about why they're asking for a much larger piece of the pie. 'You can't let the NBA frame it to the media that we're willing to double their pay or something like that,' Berri said. 'You've got to come back and say, 'Look, I know what the revenue is. I know what the math says. We're partners in this and you owe us money.''
The Herald Scotland
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
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