The WNBA is Getting Closer to a Work Stoppage. That’s Not a Bad Thing.
The collective bargaining agreement has expired; drama could ensue at any moment.
By Carron J. Phillips
If you ask the ladies of the WNBA who their biggest “hater” is, they’ll point to a woman: League Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
She isn’t the root of all The W’s issues, but her decisions are why the league’s first potential work stoppage will be one of the many missteps that will define her tenure.
The momentum from consecutive years of record fanfare, public interest, television ratings, and revenue growth for women’s college basketball and the WNBA may soon screech to a halt in the world’s premier professional basketball league for women. However, growing pains are necessary for the league to evolve and for its players to be better compensated. These women understand their worth. They wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” t-shirts at the All-Star Game for a reason. And that’s why a work stoppage might be one of those necessary growing pains.
“At midnight, the 2020 WNBA-WNBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire. Despite demonstrating our willingness to compromise to get a deal done, the WNBA and its teams have failed to meet us at the table with the same spirit and seriousness,” the WNBA Players Association said in a statement released 30 minutes before the CBA was set to expire. “Instead, they have remained committed to undervaluing player contributions, dismissing player concerns, and running out the clock.”
Currently, the league and its players have entered a “status quo” period, continuing to operate under the rules of the 2020 CBA. However, either side could announce a work stoppage at any moment.
I say, let the madness begin.
“It’s so much that is mind-boggling when you hear how they’re treating us,” said veteran WNBA guard Courtney Williams on a recent live stream when discussing the situation.
“The league wants to pay themselves first, before they pay us,” she explained. “When they pay themselves, it leaves less than 30 percent for us to split with them.
“The league is basically saying that they want us to stay at less than 15 percent each year. So if the league grows, we stay at 15 percent the whole way through.
“They want to pay all their expenses first, but, mind you, they don’t consider the players as expenses, but they consider coaches as expenses,” Williams claimed. “They still want to pay coaches more than A’ja Wilson or Napheesa Collier.”
Wilson is the league’s first and only four-time MVP; she is also a three-time WNBA Champion and two-time WNBA Finals MVP. Collier is one of the three best players in the league. Wilson’s coach, Becky Hammon, earns over $1 million per year. Wilson made only $200,000. Collier’s contract paid her a little over $214,000.
The math isn’t mathing.
Reportedly, the Players’ Union is still waiting on a counteroffer to the proposal sent to the league several weeks ago. The players desire a salary cap somewhere around $10.5 million, with the maximum salary reaching $2.5 million, and 30% of gross revenue. The league wants the salary cap at $5 million with max salaries slightly above $1 million and 70% of net revenue. Things are at a standstill this offseason with only two league veterans who aren’t free agents. It’s why this week both sides came to an agreement to put free agency on hold.
“Being on this side with Unrivaled, I know what it takes to run a sustainable business,” Collier said recently. She is co-founder of the women’s 3-on-3 league that had an average player salary of $200,000 in its inaugural season last year. “So, I think if they can’t find a model that makes that happen, they need to put people in place who can.”
Last fall, Collier and Englebert were involved in a very heated public back-and-forth when the Minnesota Lynx star alleged that the commissioner once told her that “Only the losers complain about the refs” in a league that’s been hampered by bad officiating. And that Caitlin Clark should be “grateful” for the WNBA, as “players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.”
One would think the league and its owner would want to get a deal done because of the popularity of women’s basketball now. Young stars entering the league can make millions in college via name, image, and likeness rights, and established stars are cashing in huge endorsement deals off the court. Playing hardball with women who aren’t necessarily depending on WNBA contracts to survive is a bad business strategy.
There’s also the fact that this is a league whose players have proved that they’ll do what’s necessary when motivated. As of now, 98% of the players who voted supported authorizing a strike if necessary. Don’t forget, when players in the league showed their support for Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, police officers left their security posts. And their support of Raphael Warnock—players wore “Vote Warnock” shirts—helped him become Georgia’s first Black senator despite having polled as low as 9%. Warnock defeated former WNBA team owner Kelly Loeffler. And we saw how the league came together to make sure Brittney Griner wasn’t forgotten when she was stuck in a Russian jail cell.
The issues that WNBA players are fighting for mirror those faced by athletes in other professional sports. Negotiating with owners for a bigger piece of the pie is par for the course. For instance, there have been nine work stoppages in Major League Baseball history, the last one coming in 2021-2022. The NFL has had six work stoppages, as pro football and the NBA both experienced pauses in 2011.
The “History” tab of the WNBA’s website details how the league, which began in 1997, has been “the home for the world’s best women’s basketball talent.” Nearly 30 years later, however, the owners are being stingy with the fruits of the players’ labor. Ideally, WNBA players wouldn’t have to fight for fair compensation in a league led by a woman. Unfortunately, history has proved that women can be a woman’s adversary.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University.
Unlike other hoops, I find the W competitive. And there's actually defense. Be a shame if ownership can't do the right thing.