WNBA players want new deal
Opt out of labour agreement with aim of improving salaries, travel
NEW YORK — Women’s National Basketball Association players have opted out of the current collective bargaining agreement that runs through October 2021.
The players’ union announced the decision Thursday. The new agreement would go into effect for the 2020 season during an Olympic year. “We look forward to our upcoming discussions and negotiating a new agreement with the league,” the union said in a statement.
The league has seen growth in many areas since the current collective bargaining agreement went into effect in 2014. Television ratings this season were the league’s best in four years. The WNBA started live streaming games on Twitter and partnered with one-day daily fantasy sites. Players appeared in a video game for the first time.
That hasn’t translated into the league and its owners making money. According to the WNBA, it’s lost a significant amount over the last 22 years, including
US$12 million last season.
“On average (we’ve lost) over $10 million every year we’ve operated,” National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver told the AP in a phone interview this week.
The top salary for a veteran player is US$115,500. Travel woes and player fatigue came to the forefront last season when the schedule was crammed into 13 weeks due to the FIBA Women’s World Cup. The Las Vegas Aces forfeited a game against Washington when the team endured 26 hours of travel and didn’t arrive in D.C. until a few hours before the scheduled tip.
Players have discussed flying on charter planes, but the league says the cost is prohibitive.
Silver said the league could be amenable to chartering at appropriate times. A compromise between the current state of travel and chartering flights, such as getting TSA PreCheck, would help.
The WNBA is currently without a president. Lisa Borders left to take a position at Times’ Up last month. NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum is overseeing the WNBA on an interim basis. “The league and its teams are committed to an open and good-faith negotiation that is rooted in the financial realities of our business,” he said in a statement. “We are getting to work immediately and are confident such a process can lead to a fair deal for all involved.”