NIL Hits The WNBA

[CL82]

The team is owned by Mark Davis, which they pay to play in Michelob Arena in the Mandalay Bay Casino owned by MGM Resorts. Both are separate from each other as well as separate from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

I meant the Sun.

 

[MSGRET]

I meant the Sun.

Sorry, thought you were talking about the Aces. That is a very good question on the Sun.

 

[MSGRET]

See you in court. I think the deciding issue will be to what extent it impacts the WNBA's internal workings. And I know the title of the thread mentions NIL, but this isn't that since these players are actually employees, unlike student athletes. Should be interesting what is decided.

Yes the players are actually employees of the WNBA Aces, who are being paid by a non WNBA entity for non WNBA services. The club had no dealings with this or knowledge until after the announcement.

 

[uconnfan68]

Maybe they need to kind of force the owners to meet minimum guidelines across the board, like player facilities, home court standards. Restricting players from signing contracts outside of league play is not good for business and has a good chance of losing in court, no matter what their bylaws say.

Sounds like the WNBA will go bankrupt much sooner than expected.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

The problem is that the franchise has nothing to do with the contract or its negotiation of the contract. So as far as I'm concerned the league has no way to stop it from happening, unless they want to have a heck of a lawsuit to worry about and some very bad publicity.

I disagree that the franchise has nothing to do with the contract. They may even be okay with it because they benefit. You stated that these players were celebrities. Their celebrity is tied to the Championships won by the ACES...otherwise, save for a couple their marketing value plummets. And this parasitic relationship is easily identified by the fact that the 100k was offered to every player...even those who have been a part of the team for less than 2 weeks. The whole NIL argument is that schools were profiting off the name, image and likeness of players. Sounds to me as if this is reverse NIL. Players, even brand new ones, are profiting off the organization's success.

You said you saw digital ads by Plum and Wilson. And let's assume, there are others, but certainly not all of them. So how does everyone get paid and they haven't lifted a finger? Answer, because you are employed by The ACES. And why in this video does he explicitly say that all you have to do is ....keep winning. Who has to keep winning? The ACES. What happens to the player payments if the ACES start tanking? Sounds to me like...the money goes too. If that's the case, seems to me that the money is for on court (team) performance not because of some marketing done by a handful of players and extended to players who might get a minute or two of playing time...but the same pay?

I saw a Target advert with Plum and Wilson. Private company versus tax funded Tourism group. Funding through taxes on tourism...is public money. A private company can't generate funds through a tax on lodging. I'm sure Target didn't pay every ACES player 100k. Why would they when most of the players wouldn't even be recognized in or out of uniform? I also noticed, and this is how it should be done, neither adorned any ACES or league logos or apparel, not even their colors. You think Fair or Martin could pull this off? What are the players wearing in LVCC marketing? Any hint in this marketing of the ACES or even the league isn't consistent with them have nothing to do with the contract.

This will probably end up in a court...and it should. But don't be surprised if it's other teams suing the ACES or LVCC.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Maybe they need to kind of force the owners to meet minimum guidelines across the board, like player facilities, home court standards. Restricting players from signing contracts outside of league play is not good for business and has a good chance of losing in court, no matter what their bylaws say.

These are great ideas. I also think they should plot out a 10 year course to raise the salary cap and place owners on notice. I think all companies have some guidelines that impact outside employment if not behavior or associations. I mean a teacher can't be hosting on an adult website even after school. I had restrictions when I was in the military and as a civilian government employee.

 

[MSGRET]

I disagree that the franchise has nothing to do with the contract. They may even be okay with it because they benefit. You stated that these players were celebrities. Their celebrity is tied to the Championships won by the ACES...otherwise, save for a couple their marketing value plummets. And this parasitic relationship is easily identified by the fact that the 100k was offered to every player...even those who have been a part of the team for less than 2 weeks. The whole NIL argument is that schools were profiting off the name, image and likeness of players. Sounds to me as if this is reverse NIL. Players, even brand new ones, are profiting off the organization's success.

You said you saw digital ads by Plum and Wilson. And let's assume, there are others, but certainly not all of them. So how does everyone get paid and they haven't lifted a finger? Answer, because you are employed by The ACES. And why in this video does he explicitly say that all you have to do is ....keep winning. Who has to keep winning? The ACES. What happens to the player payments if the ACES start tanking? Sounds to me like...the money goes too. If that's the case, seems to me that the money is for on court (team) performance not because of some marketing done by a handful of players and extended to players who might get a minute or two of playing time...but the same pay?

I saw a Target advert with Plum and Wilson. Private company versus tax funded Tourism group. Funding through taxes on tourism...is public money. A private company can't generate funds through a tax on lodging. I'm sure Target didn't pay every ACES player 100k. Why would they when most of the players wouldn't even be recognized in or out of uniform? I also noticed, and this is how it should be done, neither adorned any ACES or league logos or apparel, not even their colors. You think Fair or Martin could pull this off? What are the players wearing in LVCC marketing? Any hint in this marketing of the ACES or even the league isn't consistent with them have nothing to do with the contract.

This will probably end up in a court...and it should. But don't be surprised if it's other teams suing the ACES or LVCC.

They can sue all they want, a business has a right to contract whoever they wish, if it happens to be the Aces and that business is separated from the team, then it should be legal. The LVCVA mission is to bring in conventions and tourism, if that is accomplished by using the Aces then they are meeting their mandate. On the wearing of uniforms, if that is required by one team then it should be required by all teams. You see many players wearing uniforms in their commercials so why is it okay to ban one team and let the others do it. On your other questions I would have to see what their contract says, something that I bet the WNBA will see. I willing to bet that knowing what the LVCVA does and on the amount of advertising that they do, their contracts is most likely within line of WNBA guidelines.

 

[MSGRET]

These are great ideas. I also think they should plot out a 10 year course to raise the salary cap and place owners on notice. I think all companies have some guidelines that impact outside employment if not behavior or associations. I mean a teacher can't be hosting on an adult website even after school. I had restrictions when I was in the military and as a civilian government employee.

They haven't done it for almost 30 years, what's going to make them do it now. Actually I believe that this is going to force the WNBA to get off their rear ends and actually start being more like a professional league then like a Div two basketball conference.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

They can sue all they want, a business has a right to contract whoever they wish, if it happens to be the Aces and that business is separated from the team, then it should be legal. The LVCVA mission is to bring in conventions and tourism, if that is accomplished by using the Aces then they are meeting their mandate. On the wearing of uniforms, if that is required by one team then it should be required by all teams. You see many players wearing uniforms in their commercials so why is it okay to ban one team and let the others do it. On your other questions I would have to see what their contract says, something that I bet the WNBA will see. I willing to bet that knowing what the LVCVA does and on the amount of advertising that they do, their contracts is most likely within line of WNBA guidelines.

Yea...I don't profess to know all the details, but these are things I hear in these types of negotiations. Lot of moving parts here and a lot of nuances at the pro and college level. Money is involved so I would be shocked if this didn't require an arbitrator of some type.

 

[packwrap]

What are they getting paid for if not basketball services? It's a subterfuge at best. The real problem in my mind is that it is public taxpayer revenue. How much do they get per hour to welcome visitors? $5000.00? $10,000.00?

This has been happening for years. US Postal service sponsoring Lance Armstrong, every milk mustache, US Navy with David Robinson and Roger Staubach, athletes supporting the COVID shot, get out the vote ads etc.

Once taxpayer money is allocated to an organization's budget, the responsible marketing director can use it largely as they wish to achieve their goals.

As long as this is not a case of the owner giving extra money to players via the tourism authority it will pass muster. To some other comments: nothing stops Nike from signing a deal with each player; just because sponsor chooses to pay all players, instead of just one does not make it a violation.

This is largely just the WNBA suddenly having to deal with the league being popular enough to attract sponsorship much higher than current salary levels.

 

[Cuango]

I don’t know the answer as to whether the League can stop this or not but you can bet they will go to the mats over it! It clearly creates competitive advantage for the Aces and the League will fight it tooth and nail. Likely, with the full support of some, if not all, of the other teams!

I find it puzzling that the LVCVA chose to do it this way? They clearly have made it about basketball whereas they could have accomplished the same thing by simply offering some kind of personal service kind of contract with each individual player for promoting tourism to LV! If thay had done it gat way, there would have been no basis for the League to object. However, by tying it to basketball it becomes a potential salary cap issue and essentially forces the League to fight it!

 

[temery]

Locked. Don't bring politics into any thread on this site.