Lou to play in Europe during the WNBA offseason

[MSGRET]

The Aug. 23, 2023 article below in The Athletic explains all about the progress made with the issue of charter travel for the WNBA.
It says that all of this year's post season games will fly by charter.
Also this year some select games such as back to back games were allowed to fly by charter.
Some teams have been using 30 seat jets provided by a small commercial carrier named JSX to fly them from private terminals with the possibility of a league partnership.
And the players also have the option to pay for their own 1st class tickets.
The article makes it clear that if charter flights were instituted today, that the WNBA would fold in 5-7 years.
The JSX jets can fly at a much lower cost than regular charters & that's why a partnership is being considered.

Earlier in the year the WNBA said that universal charter flighrs would cost the league $25 million/year or $2 million per team which would cause some teams to fold.
The league needs a new & larger media deal in order to afford charter flights for every team.
WNBA revenue has increased but not by enough to be able to afford charters yet.

The article can be read without a paywall on Archive.org , the Internet Archive Wayback Machine below.

WNBA travel woes persist. Besides charters, what are the answers?

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert says charters not yet financially feasible. "They’re not going to have jobs ... if we did it today."

theathletic.com

Wayback Machine

archive.org

Owners should be allowed to pay for charter's if they wish, or even use their own private jets. The league does not allow it because they say it is an unfair advantage to other teams. That's the other teams problem not the one that uses either charter or private jets.

 

[sun]

Owners should be allowed to pay for charter's if they wish, or even use their own private jets. The league does not allow it because they say it is an unfair advantage to other teams. That's the other teams problem not the one that uses either charter or private jets.

The article said that it was agreed to by both management & labor in the collective bargaining agreement & that either side, the WNBA or the WNBAPA (union) can abandon the agreement after the 2025 season.
Charter flights can get delayed & canceled too.

The players voted for the CBA to receive higher salaries & for a chance to earn additional bonus money through a revenue sharing formula.

WNBA Revenue Sharing Explained

Breaking down the misunderstood system of revenue sharing that is likely to activate in the next several seasons

herhoopstats.substack.com

 

[awhom111]

Here's a list of all WNBA salaries by rank for 2023.
I doubt that any such list even exists for all of the players in foreign leagues because their salaries are kept secret.
That means that there's no way to compare the salaries overseas to the US.

2025 WNBA Rankings

Listing the top salaries, cap hits, cash, earnings, contracts, and bonuses, for all active WNBA players.

www.spotrac.com

Yes, only a few leagues release anything official so we do know things like Kim Roberson making $215,000 a year after taxes to make her one of the highest paid American women in the world. Her success has made a lot of Americans with Korean heritage realize that they want to find a way into the league there.

Not really, unless we traveled back in time and 2009-2010 was last year. It used to be one of the better teams in Europe, but that was many years ago at this point.