Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz discuss the proposed salary increases and new $850,000 “supermax” in the new CBA that the WNBA recently pitched—and why it still falls short of the WNBPA’s expectations. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.
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Video Transcript
A new CBA proposal from the WNBA includes a super max salary closer to 850K.
Sources tell FOS the vet minimum would more than triple, hovering around 300,000.
Caroline, what do you think?
Is that enough?
Well, I mean, on paper, if you just look at the numbers, it’s like, OK, great, it’s a massive increase, woohoo, win for everybody.
But that’s not what the WNBPA is fighting for, because if you look at the new TV revenue that is coming in, well, the percentage of the share that the supermax would be that these contracts would be is the exact same that it is right now, which is pennies on the dollar of what the NBA counterparts are making in terms of share.
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WNBA players understand that the amount of money that is invested into the league is massively different than the NBA.
They’re not asking to be made the dollar amount of what NBA players are making.
What they’re asking for is the portion, the share, the revenue share that the NBA players are making relative to their television contracts.
So what the WNBA is asking for is around a supermax that is 35% of the salary cap.
That is what it is in the NBA.
What the WNBA is also asking for is for a more fluid number.
So therefore, if the television revenue and revenue for the league goes up significantly before the next CBA is up, well then that percentage will go up relative to what the league is bringing in.
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That’s all they’re asking for, not a specific dollar amount, but a percentage share that is more reflective of every other professional league in sports versus just the measly pennies on the dollar that they’re making now.
