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The Women’s National Basketball Association has become the fastest-growing professional sports league in the United States. This year, the Golden State Valkyries joined as an expansion team. Next season will see two more expansion teams in Portland, Oregon and Toronto, Canada. In 2028, Cleveland – which had a previous WNBA franchise called the Rockers, makes a return to the league, while 2029 sees another former WNBA city return to the fold, Detroit. In 2030, Philadelphia will get its first franchise, bringing the total number of WNBA teams to 18.
“This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a press release last month.
Normally, this would be cause for great excitement. But the WNBA’s progress is being threatened by negotiations between the league and Women’s National Basketball Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires at the end of this season.
At the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis last weekend, a major disagreement on the state of negotiations emerged. Engelbert said the negotiations were going well. But the WNBPA felt otherwise.
“The WNBA’s response to our proposals fails to address the priorities we’ve voiced from the day we opted out,” the WNBPA said in a statement, July 17 (The WNBPA exercised its opt-out clause at the end of last year). “A transformational CBA that delivers our rightful share of the business that we’ve built, improves working conditions, and ensures the success we create lifts both today’s players and the generation that follow. We’ve told the league and teams exactly why their proposal falls so short.”
The WNBPA added, “This business is booming – media rights, ratings, revenue, team valuations, expansion fees, attendance, and ticket sales – are all up in historic fashion. But shortchanging the working women who make this business profitable stalls growth. The only thing more unsustainable than the current system is pretending it can go on forever.”
In warmups before the All-Star Game, the players wore T-shirts that said, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” Afterward, as Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx the All-Star was awarded the Most Valuable Player trophy, Engelbert was booed by the crowd, who chanted, “Pay them! Pay them!” Also, Brittney Sykes of the Washington Mystics held up a “Pay The Players” sign during the presentation, which was shown in front of a national television audience.
The players see what’s going on. They see the increased amount of revenue for the WNBA, and all they want is a bigger piece of the pie. They want increases in revenue-sharing along with an increase in salaries. As of last season, the average WNBA salary was $147,745. Not bad, but it still lags way behind the average salary of an NBA player, which is about $13 million.
I’m certainly not saying WNBA players should be paid the same as NBA players. But I am with the WNBPA when it comes to the CBA negotiations. The players are the ones responsible for the WNBA’s success in recent seasons, and they should be rewarded accordingly, not with crumbs but with real salary increases.
Responses to what the WNBPA said varied widely on social media, and I was shocked at the amount of negativity directed toward the players. Most online critics feel the players are wrong to demand increased salaries because they believe the WNBA is losing money. I can’t say if that’s true because I haven’t seen the yearly revenue outcomes from the league. But in my opinion if the WNBA can afford to add franchises, it must be doing well financially.
A work stoppage, whether it’s in the form of a lockout by the owners or a strike by the players, would be very detrimental to the WNBA’s growth. It is my sincere hope that the league comes to its senses and provides the players with a fair CBA that reflects the revenues generated recently. If these negotiations are botched, it’s going to be tough for the WNBA to bounce back.
