I had heard the W had already offered to give them 4 times what they are making now and were summarily rebuffed. That equates to one million plus for some (actually quite a few) in the league. My point was merely that if you are getting that kind of money from a league that is at least arguably on shaky financial ground (and overly reliant on the popularity of one player, who they are seemingly constantly trying to injure or drive out of the league) it would not be surprising that the owners would attempt to prevent their players from exposing themselves to injury
I missed the reference to Dee’s Russian payday for 54 players. I have no idea what that means. Why would the W invest in a competitor league anyway? That would not solve their concern about injuries to their star players? As far as I know, players play in other leagues for the money, not as some sort of skill development thing. It is very clear that the final numbers as to salaries is going to be more than four times the current rates as the players have already rejected the 4x offer. I just think the owners, should they spring for that much of a raise, are going to demand some kind of agreement that players not expose themselves to injury risk beyond that which we all face in everyday life. I could be wrong of course, but given the salary increases being bandied about, I don’t think so.
Diana
agreed to be paid extra by her Russian team in 2015
to skip the WNBA season in order to rest herself for her Russian team’s season.
Players won’t entertain &0 any non-compete clause in Unrivaled that restricts their ability to work/ train &2 during their
non-WNBA playing days unless they get paid extra to do so.
- The current WNBA Supermax contract is $250K for 5 months (reportedly proposed to go up to ~ $1M) while the average Unrivaled Salary is $220K for 1 month;
- I imagine the extra remuneration for not playing is not just for 1 month;
- The WNBA has painted itself in a box as to whether they can pay extra for all (not just 54) WNBA players to skip the Unrivaled season and all other leagues because of their CBA untransparent miser stance.
Then there’s the problem of whether such expensive non-compete clause is
lawful.
- Why now?
- WNBA players always supplemented their WNBA incomes and develop their skills &2 by playing in other leagues. Unrivaled became very attractive because of the WNBA’s prioritization rule.
- So the WNBA flexing its market power to stifle Unrivaled is problematic &1 which could lead to a judicial anti-trust finding based on a wide net of evidence with redress, say, including disclosure of its financials to the players’ union.
“We look at ourselves as an extension of what the WNBA has built, what college basketball has built, the excitement,” Bazzell
said. “We want to extend the runway and bring more visibility to the stars domestically.”
“Seattle Storm player Gabby Williams was outspoken during All-Star Weekend that she thinks the WNBA wants to see the end of Unrivaled and another U.S.-based league, Athletes Unlimited, even if they aren't direct competitors with the WNBA's summertime schedule. The WNBA hasn't said that. But the owners have been willing to put more pressure on the players since the last CBA to affirm their loyalty to the WNBA.”
WNBA's CBA negotiations: From rev sharing to potential lockout - ESPN
&0 “It would make sense if they were paying us more here, but it still isn’t the case, even with the new proposals. And it’s very clear now that they wanna push Unrivaled out, push AU out.”
WNBA CBA negotiations: How could a new deal affect outside leagues like Athletes Unlimited, Unrivaled? - Yahoo Sports
&1 “If [pushing leagues out] becomes a bigger issue, obviously I think players will step in from AU and Unrivaled to protect that, because that’s an asset that we created on our own outside of W ownership [and] leadership to have, so we want to keep those programs going,” [Isabelle] Harrison
said.
&2 “The short nature of the WNBA season means players want to find ways to stay active and develop over a five-to-six-month period.”
