The WNBA’s Players Association has voted to opt out of its current Collective Bargaining Agreement with the WNBA, it announced on Thursday. The current CBA expires after the 2019 season, but the players had until Nov. 1, 2018 to exercise their option.
Why WNBA players are opting out of their CBA
The players are making a push for better treatment in terms of compensation, travel, and much more.
Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports
“We believe in women, we believe in the WNBA, we believe in the WNBPA, and we believe that, wherever the finish line is for this movement that we’re a part of … we’re just not there yet,” WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike wrote in an essay on The Players Tribune. “We’re opting out because women’s basketball’s potential is infinite. We’re opting out because there’s still a lot more work to be done. And we’re betting on ourselves to do it.”
The WNBA responded with the following statement:
“We were informed today that the Women’s National Basketball Players Association has opted out of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement following the 2019 season. The league and its teams are committed to an open and good-faith negotiation that is rooted in the financial realities of our business. We are getting to work immediately and are confident such a process can lead to a fair deal for all involved.”
Your guide to the upcoming WNBA labor battle
Read these pieces to get caught up on everything that led to the WNBA players opting out of the current CBA.
- What WNBA players are actually asking for
- WNBA players are not here for your Twitter criticisms
- The Las Vegas Aces flight delay, explained
- SWISH APPEAL: What will the WNBA look like in 10 years?
- ELLENTUCK: Liz Cambage’s five ways the WNBA is failing its players
- WEINER: G-League select contracts underscore WNBA’s pay problems
- ELLENTUCK: The search for the new WNBA president has never been more important
- SWISH APPEAL: How players can increase their share of revenue
This comes as no surprise after players had their most vocal season to date speaking out on a need for improved pay, better travel conditions, more marketing opportunities, and much more. The league itself is operating without a permanent president after Lisa Borders stepped down in October.
While the start of bargaining is unknown, it will last through 2019, and the impact of the eventual negotiations won’t be felt until the 2020 season.
What do the players want?
All season, the WNBA’s superstars spoke out for better pay. The maximum contract for veterans this past year was $115,500, and that number increases by just $2,000 each season. The No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, A’ja Wilson, earned just under $53,000, according to High Post Hoops. Overseas, where a majority the league’s superstars play, stars can make as much as 10 to 15 times the WNBA’s max.
Contrary to how the ask is often portrayed, WNBA players are not asking for the same multi-million dollar figures their NBA counterparts earn. Instead, they’re advocating for a bigger cut of the pie. In the NBA’s CBA, players earn about half of the league’s revenue. The WNBA players’ cut has never been announced, but public estimates suggest it’s much closer to 20 percent.
Las Vegas Aces 2017 No. 1 pick Kelsey Plum made that clear:
The actual pie is smaller — the WNBA generates less than one percent of the NBA’s $9 billion in revenue, according to Bleacher Report’s Mirin Fader — but most players understand that and argue that the league undercuts itself with a lack of investment. As MVP and Players Association President Nneka Ogwumike told Fader:
“What we’re discussing and fighting for is a lot more intricate than simply pay us more. It’s a lot deeper than that. It’s infrastructural. Why is this so hard for people to understand? It’s kind of business 101. You’re not going to make money off a product that you don’t invest in. We are the product. The W is the product. And the investment is not there.”
The players want more than just better pay
The league’s leading scorer, Liz Cambage, provided SB Nation a laundry list of non-pay items she’d like to see improved. The list included: marketing around the stars, marketing the teams like teams instead of billboards, spacing out the schedule, and improved travel conditions.
That final point became a flashpoint in the league this year, with teams playing the same number of games it typically does (34) in a season shortened by two weeks due to the FIBA national championships. (This is a problem the WNBA faces every two years with either FIBA or with the Olympics running through the summer.)
The Aces, who were in the playoff run at the time, forfeited a game because their commercial flight was delayed several times, not arriving to D.C. for a game against the Mystics until mere hours before tip-off. All WNBA teams and players are required to fly coach, whereas NBA teams fly charter.
Many, including champion point guard Sue Bird, saw the power of the Aces stand, and that’s sure to help set the table for reform.
Marketing the players will be another key issue. Cambage has already alluded that she may not play in the WNBA next season because she’ll make exponentially more overseas. Most of the league’s top talent plays for the love of the sport or to build a league in America, often with a financial cost. In 2015, the league’s all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi was paid her whole WNBA salary by her Russian club to sit the season out.
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The CBA round of negotiations comes at a time of uncertainty, too
After three seasons in charge, Borders left her post to become the CEO of Time’s Up in early October. It came to the surprise of many, as Borders was well respected by the players.
The search is on for her replacement, but no favorites are clear just yet. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum is overseeing the league in the interim.
This CBA opt out is a pivotal moment for a league just 22 years into its run, which is why Borders’ successor has an important task in front of them. The “W” has grown over the past few seasons in viewership and relevance on national television, so these negotiations will have a massive impact on the future viability of the league.
