NBA
Breanna Stewart is, by most estimates, the best women’s basketball player in the world, and as she enters free agency at the age of 28, she has the potential to shake up the WNBA. In more ways than one.
Stewart is using the attention garnered by her decision and the question of whether she will take her talents to Brooklyn (the New York Liberty, who play home games at Barclays Center, are likely among four finalists to sign her) to make the case for that the league abandons its budget travel policy and adopts the use of charter flights for its teams.
The charter flight issue is at the heart of economic tensions related to the WNBA’s growth from a fledgling league to a more traditional, better-funded operation — and who’s footing the bill.
“I would love to be part of a deal that would subsidize charter travel for the entire WNBA,” Stewart wrote on social media on Sunday. “I would contribute my (name, image and likeness), my posts + my production hours to ensure that we all travel in a way that prioritizes the health and safety of players, which ultimately results in better product. Who is with me?”
The tweet, which had been viewed 3.6 million times as of Wednesday afternoon, was promoted by fellow WNBA stars Chiney Ogwumike and Elena Delle Donne, as well as NBA All-Star point guard Ja Morant and the phenom Connecticut Paige Bueckers.
“I’m glad they’re speaking out. … I want this generation of WNBA players to really fight for what’s good for our league,” former WNBA All-Star Chasity Melvin told the Post.
“It was very difficult (when I was flying commercial), because one thing that is difficult is the training aspect and the physical aspect, you know, the swelling in your knees and your feet. … You can have the best coaches, but you won’t have all that swelling and you won’t be stretched enough to play the game. We trained for long hours and took commercial flights and had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch a flight. …So you take a whole day to travel, which you could use as practice time if you have charter flights.
Only, it’s not as simple as making a collection and then refueling private jets. Rules regarding travel standards are part of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union, and WNBA team owners – many of whom have balked at the added cost – are expected to vote to change the current system in which players teams travel exclusively. commercial and charter flights are prohibited.
In an interview this week with Sportico, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the expected cost of charter flights across the league costs between $25 million and $30 million a year and the current airfare budget is only a “very small fraction” of that amount.
“I think it would take a collective of companies, because $25 or $30 million a year is a big number – but what if a group of stakeholders brought together a group of companies who wanted to help finance this “We would absolutely partner with the players and talk to them about how it would work,” Engelbert said.
“Honestly, when you start talking about the numbers that are at stake here, it scares people away. That’s why, in the longer term, it’s ultimately (happening) either through the proper assessment of our media rights or through a collective of sponsors who really want to step up and make sure that this happen.”
Passing the buck onto players and their sponsors is at least partly due to a division within the ownership ranks over investing in charter flights from their own pockets. Liberty and Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai are part of a contingent of new, deep-pocketed WNBA owners — reportedly including Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis and the Larry Gottesdiener-led Atlanta Dream group — loans to make seven-figure internal investments. .
But the fact that one team travels privately and another continues to travel on commercial airlines is considered an unfair advantage. In 2021, the Tsais were discovered to have provided charter flights for the Liberty during the second half of the season, according to Sports Illustrated, and the team was first threatened with “termination of the franchise” before ultimately agreeing to a record $500,000 fine – for treating the players too well. players.
(On a related note, Clara Tsai led a Liberty contingent to Istanbul – not United with a Lisbon connection, we guess – on Wednesday for a meeting with Stewart.)
Another standout for the 2023 season involves All-Star Mercury center Brittney Griner, who plans to return to the WNBA after sitting out most of 2022. as a prisoner in Russia. ESPN recently reported the speculation that Griner will have to fly private due to security concerns. And if a team flies private…
So the WNBA, now entering its 27th season, is experiencing the turbulence of a mid-sized professional league – similar to MLS or the G-League – trying to synchronize its ambitions with the realities of its record. As recently as 2018, a match was canceled after the Aces were forced to spend the night at an airport; last year, the league found the money for charters in the finals.
“At the end of the day, we’re not a G league,” Melvin said. “We are the premier professional women’s league. We need to find a way to get charter flights.
Stewart talks about the discomfort of commercial travel – but to reach new heights with charter flights, someone has to write the big check.
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