The first half of your perspective I am 100% in agreement with. The battle of abuse by both parties seemed to have started well before they got married so why anyone would think the “leopard could change their spots” is mystifying to me-but
Love makes people do strange things.
Where we part ways is your comment about the WNBA supporting these players overseas on mental health issues. The overseas gigs will pay more Money than the WNBA will. They go overseas to make their money. The WNBA can not make money as it currently stands so to add in this burden is not only logical as the women are free to do what they want once the WNBA season ends, it is also financially unattainable. Not sure you thought this perspective out with all the facts.
Lastly, let’s be clear that NO leagues of women’s basketball anywhere make money. The vast majority of teams are owned by rich people who treated them as a passionate hobby or by a local town as a source of community. And that’s okay.
This issue occurs across all aspect of life unfortunately with a wide disparity on how companies/ entities deal/support it base on their own revenue. Most offer token support at best due to the cost. Sad but true.
Speaking of not thinking things through without all the facts, you're aware that the league is about to renegotiate its CBA with the players, right?
And you're aware that benefits is one question that will be front and center, right?
And that one negotiable item could be coverage for behavior and mental health for players (and their spouses/domestic partners) who are signed to league contracts even when they are playing overseas, right?
And that providing the players with information and training about how to use mental health resources could become a standard part of their entry into the league and a right/requirement of the league under the CBA, right?
Yes, I'm aware it won't be free. But if I were the league, I'd shift some expenses in that direction
over just about any other additional costs, because if it would help prevent even one Howard or Williams type incident, I'd say the policy would pay for itself.
The situations with Howard, Williams, and Griner/Johnson are (figuratively and perhaps literally) black eyes for the league. That is NOT the way the WNBA wants to make headlines on ESPN. It's a terrible look for the league, and makes it easy to write off the product. If you wonder why few young women follow the WNBA, well, I'm pretty sure recurring and poorly handled domestic abuse against women isn't going to draw them in.
And I suspect the situations with players like Howard, Williams, and Griner/Johnson might not have escalated as they did if they knew, were aware of, and had access to, a therapist or behavioral health professional that they could speak to to help deescalate things. Players have those resources in college, so why not ensure they are aware of, and able to access them, in the pros? It's ridiculous that Howard's wife's only recourse was to try to text with the President & GM of the Storm Alisha Valavanis. Valvanis is not trained or equipped to handle it, it's way outside her purview, and her conflicts of interest are so abundant. And the text exchange did not end with "we have counseling and behavioral health resources for you - contact X to access them." There has to be a better way forward.
ETA: depending on whether the league's benefits management is pooled with the NBA, it might not actually be all that costly to include WNBA players under similar policies/coverage. I looked over
the last CBA and don't see any mention of mental and behavioral health, and a simple $75k catch-all "Player Programs Fund" that includes education about substance abuse (on page 91). No mention about domestic violence, maintaining mental health and wellbeing while overseas, etc.
Tl;dr: There's a lot more the league could be doing and it doesn't all have to cost a fortune.
www.seattletimes.com
