2025 WNBA Off-Season

[CTGirl15]

One of the WNBA demands in the negotiations is that players don't play in Unrivaled and AU.

The only way this ends up in the CBA is if the WNBA increases salaries significantly. The reason those two leagues exist is because the WNBA doesn't pay the players enough.

If they want the players to only play in the WNBA, they need to pay them salaries that are competitive with Unrivaled/AU and the international leagues. They need to make the WNBA into a league that's great enough that players don't want to play anywhere else.

 

[Dillon77]

Wasn't one of the reasons for the formation of UnRivaled was for players who were burnt out/fried going over to Europe, Korea, China or Australia to play in one domestic place -- Florida -- for a set time, while making enough money to augment what are still relatively paltry salaries for the vast majority of players?

The W has solid money being invested in it, for sure. And that can and should result in larger salaries which may or may not hurt UnRivaled. We'll get an idea of where this going with the new CBA. However, having one of the faces of the W trash the commissioner who is going to be in charge of the new CBA is certainly going to, err, make things interesting.

BTW, I do think Englebert has done some solid things for the league, but 'Phee has noted some attitudes which may show some intransigence on leadership's part. Not a good idea to think this this popularity is only due to the W (See Clark, Caitlin or Bueckers, Paige or Watkins, JuJu -- all of whom were/are doing their things in college.).

Another area....they chose that the way forward is in conjunction with NBA money. This is evident in the downright "our way or the highway" treatment of the Connecticut Sun.

I'm writing this while watching the nailbiter between Las Vegas and Indiana, which is now tied at 84, so excuse lack of flow, clarity.

 

[maccca3232]

I will add a couple of thoughts.

I think overall Cathy has done a good job. I think the big thing was getting the NBA players buy-in (attending games, wearing apparel, talking about them in interviews) to normalize watching and discussing the WNBA.

During a recent interview with one of the WNBA podcasters (can't find it at the moment) when answering a question in relation to Unrivaled Engelbert mentioned something like "it is unusual to have a capital raising so close together". I took that a shot at Unrivaled's ownership.

During a recent interview (starts 12:55) with Sean Evans when answering a question about the future of Unrivaled, Breanna Stewart said:

"I think about us expanding, you know we were able to play in this facility which could really hold probably 3 to 5 thousand people but we want 20, 25 on a nightly basis and paying everybody seven figures".

 

[BRS24]

I think Phee will be with the league longer than Cathy Englebert.

Phee's gonna be the comissioner someday.

One of the WNBA demands in the negotiations is that players don't play in Unrivaled and AU.

Really? Then will they also prevent players from going overseas? The whole prioritization thing is a sham - prevent players from playing somewhere else to make more money than the WNBA provides. And, somewhere in here could be legal issue, maybe antitrust? Heck, I'm just a former engineer/data analyst, but that demand smells of monopolization.

Imagine telling players it's us or the highway? With all the NIL that some are bringing from college, and the continuation of sponsorships in the pros, some players would ROFL over this demand and say, ok, I'll play in Unrivaled in the winter for more money and ciao to the W. Let's look at the high profile players - Clark, Stewie, Paige, A'ja, Reese, etc, etc. I would bet that at least one of them would leave the W and have more freedom to play where they want, for the money they deserve.

 

[JstVisiting]

Englebert seemed like a great get coming as CEO of Deloitte in 2019...

I think it is a mistake to view sports admin leadership as interchangeable with leadership in industry or professional firms, and many of Englebert's mistakes stem from this original sin. Many such cases.

 

[Geew1992]

The only way this ends up in the CBA is if the WNBA increases salaries significantly. The reason those two leagues exist is because the WNBA doesn't pay the players enough.

If they want the players to only play in the WNBA, they need to pay them salaries that are competitive with Unrivaled/AU and the international leagues. They need to make the WNBA into a league that's great enough that players don't want to play anywhere else.

The leagues exist so players don't have to go overseas to play. Especially after what happened to BG. But.... they def have to increase the salaries

 

[CTGirl15]

The leagues exist so players don't have to go overseas to play. Especially after what happened to BG. But.... they def have to increase the salaries

Yes, its so they don't have to go overseas, but the reason a lot of the WNBA players were going overseas in the first place was because they were not making enough money in the WNBA to cover their offseason needs. There are absolutely players that go overseas to play basketball year round or who want to make a lot of money, but many players who would go overseas in the offseason did so because they needed the money and resources to help them keep being an elite player.

The WNBA can't act like it has to be a players' #1 (or only) priority when the minimum commitment time is less than half the year (May - September) and the salary is a quarter what other leagues pay.

 

[azfan]

This brouhaha may have profound consequences for the CBA negotiations.

The commissioner position is one that requires realistic analysis. They work for the owners. They are presented as representing the league but they work in furtherance of the owners.

As such a commissioner needs an extraordinarily rare and diverse set of skills in order to maintain the fiction that they are advancing the interests of the league while representing ownership interests.

On one end of the spectrum is Roger Goodell who makes no bones about his work on behalf of the owners.

Until this brouhaha I thought the WNBA commissioner had done a wonderful job of walking the fine line was on the other end of the spectrum.. I suppose she's learned from all this that you have to be very careful how you shine on the representatives of the Union. But that's too late.

It's also odd because in the entire scheme of imposing improved standards and management of referees is a no-brainer.

So the WNBA commissioner's failure on a layup would suggest that her days are numbered.

The question is will a CBA be completed before she is invited to return to consulting?