From a 72-hour livestream hosted by two Minnesota Lynx players to Breanna Stewart giving her opponent a second chance at a four-point shot with one second left in the game, the WNBA’s annual All-Star Weekend maintained an energetic and lighthearted atmosphere.
Amidst the entertainment, the athletes seized this high-profile opportunity to call out the league and its commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, on the issues regarding players’ salaries and revenue.
From the boardroom to live TV
The Thursday before the weekend began, 40 WNBA players attended a meeting with the league’s CBA committee and Engelbert to negotiate higher salaries and revenue sharing for the players.
With the league reaching record numbers in terms of ticket sales and viewership rates over the last two years, players expected the new CBA agreement to reflect that success and pay them accordingly.
However, the New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart said the meeting ended up as a “wasted opportunity.”
Led by WNBPA President and Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike, the players met ahead of Saturday night’s game to agree on wearing the matching shirts during warmups that evening. The clear demonstration, made evident in light of the CBA meeting, brought the issue to the public’s attention, informing the 16,000 fans in Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the 2.2 million viewers at home that this game serves as something greater than a beloved tradition— it’s a call for change.
Fans quickly picked up on the message and joined in at the end of the game as Minnesota Lynx guard Napheesa Collier received her MVP trophy. As Collier answered questions from ESPN’s Holly Rowe, fans chanted “pay them” while Washington Mystics guard Brittany Sykes floated through the background with a sign that read “PAY THE PLAYERS.”
When asked what Collier found important for her and her players, she simply said, “The crowd is saying it for us.”
Just the beginning
With five expansion teams on the way to the league and a $2.2 billion media rights deal, the WNBA’s economic growth is evident.
However, WNBA players receive 9% of the league’s revenue, compared to the 50% their NBA counterparts receive. To maintain economic stability, many players play in other countries or leagues during the offseason. More recently, WNBPA Vice Presidents Stewart and Collier founded Unrivaled, a 3×3 league held during the offseason, which offers an average salary of $220,000 per player. With WNBA representatives urging for more commitment from their players, the numbers and benefits must be enticing enough to forego other opportunities.
While this season proves that the WNBA’s growth spurt is likely to turn into something sustainable, there is still much room for improvement.
With the teams playing four more games this season than last year, without any extension in the season’s length, there are more games with less time in between. This results in injuries, most notably in Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones, and Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson.
For the WNBA to live up to the phenomenon it’s become, it must allow its beloved players to perform in an environment conducive to its expectations, and the All-Star Game was just one example of the passion the players have to make it happen.
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