Adam Silver makes telling comments on WNBA CBA negotiations as deadline approaches originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The WNBA is having more than a “moment.” The league’s collective bargaining agreement expires on Oct. 31, and the WNBPA is intent on securing significant salary increases for its players in accordance with the competition’s exponential growth.
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Starting next year, a $200 million-per-year media rights deal takes effect as two more teams — the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo — enter the WNBA. The players are very aware of how much money is flowing into the league; during All-Star Weekend in July, the league’s all-stars wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” shirts, bringing a ton of publicity to the labor battle.
Seeing as he is WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s boss, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has kept a close eye on the negotiations — which, at one point earlier this month, he said had become “too personal” amid Engelbert’s public war of words with Minnesota Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier.
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During his appearance on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday, Silver was asked whether WNBA players “should” receive a larger share of the league’s revenue than the reported 9.3 percent to which they are entitled currently.
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“I think share isn’t the right way to look at it because there’s so much more revenue in the NBA,” Silver told NBC’s Craig Melvin, who noted that NBA players get 50 percent of that league’s revenue. “I think you should look at it in absolute numbers, in terms of what they’re making.”
Silver then made a pledge that the WNBA Players’ Association will hold him to: the players are going to get a “big increase” in salaries with the next CBA.
The WNBA’s last reported offer to the players saw supermax salaries capped at roughly $850,000 and the veteran minimum salary set at $300,000. Silver is correct: those are significant increases. But the players’ union is after more.
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With the CBA set to expire in 10 days, the sides are likely going to have to open an extension window to keep talking — and prevent a work stoppage that would stall the league’s momentum.
