Barbara Barker: Wicks thrilled to see WNBA stars hit jackpot

Sue Wicks is jealous . . . and she couldn’t be happier about it.

Wicks, the first player drafted by the Liberty, made $38,000 in 1997, the WNBA’s inaugural season. Most of her teammates made less. Things were so tight that players had to pay extra if they didn’t want to share hotel rooms on the road. Once, after Wicks tossed her jersey to a fan in the crowd at Madison Square Garden, the team sent her a bill for its replacement.

“I remember I told a reporter back then I wanted to be sitting in the front row of Madison Square Garden one day watching the girls who were playing making beaucoup bucks and I wanted to be jealous. I wanted to be envious,” Wicks, a Center Moriches native who now lives in Mastic Beach, told Newsday when asked her opinion on the WNBA’s new contract. “That was my vision and my dream back then. And now it will be happening this year at Barclays Center.

“I’m so happy they are getting this kind of money. I am just thrilled to death. The players knew their worth. I am just so proud of what they did.”

What WNBA players did this past week is hold out for a CBA that should forever be remembered as a game-changer in women’s team sports.

For the first time, women will be able to earn more than $1 million playing basketball in the United States. Though the deal still has to be formalized into a term sheet and approved by the players and the board of governors, there is an agreement in place that will greatly increase player salaries, with top stars making a supermax of more than $1.4 million in the first year.

Terms of the contract, which were confirmed to Newsday by a source with knowledge of the deal, also raise the salary cap to $7 million in 2026, up from $1.5 million in 2025. It provides for a minimum salary of approximately $300,000 and an average salary of $600,000. Over the life of the seven-year deal, players will receive 20% of gross league and team and league revenue.

“The deal is going to be transformational,” union vice president and Liberty star Breanna Stewart said after the  two sides came to an agreement at about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday. “It’s going to build and help create a system where everybody is getting exactly what they deserve and more from on-the-court and off-the-court aspects.”

The deal took a year of contentious negotiations, including two deadline extensions and an eight-day marathon of discussions that lasted more than 100 hours. The agreement finally was announced one day before training camp opened on Thursday.

It marks a significant step forward money-wise in women’s team sports. By way of comparison, the National Women’s Soccer League’s minimum salary is $50,500, according to its CBA. The Professional Women’s Hockey League’s salaries have not been made public, though players recently voted to release them. The team salary cap in the PWHL is approximately $1.3 million and there are at least 18 foundational players making more than $80,000.

The WNBA’s agreement reflects the league’s skyrocketing growth and popularity. Attendance, viewership and investment from stakeholders has increased to historic levels over the past few years.

It also sends a message to everyone from advertisers to investors to young girls that there is money to be made — potentially big-time money — in women’s team sports.

“This agreement seems to be historic,” said Greg Bouris, an assistant teaching professor at Adelphi University who teaches sports management and has spent 35 years in the industry. “I think this is about having a voice and sticking together and making the game better for your generation and for those who follow.”

Making the game better for the next generation has always been a big part of the WNBA’s mindset. Wicks said it just feels great to see that tradition keep moving on. She is particularly thrilled with the way the players held out to get a substantial piece of revenue sharing, raising their percentage from 9.3% to 20%.

“With the revenue question, they were looking at future generations,” Wicks said. “They could have just said pay me today, but they didn’t do that. They stuck with revenue because they know their product and they believe in its future. There are players in the future who will make five, 10, 15 million.

“They did it for the imaginary young player who is watching them right now the way my generation did it for the imaginary player in the stands watching us. All the girls playing now grew up knowing there was a WNBA and a place they could go play. The girls watching them now will see how they fought for themselves . . .

“I wish I was a young player again and someone was going to give me a million bucks. I’m just so proud, honestly, that they did this.”

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.