2025 WNBA Thread

[GB Warrior]

I don't mean this in a negative way because she's awesome, but does anyone else think Caitlin Clark doesn't really impact winning at the professional level yet? She's a really good player. She's going to be an all time great. I'm sure she'll win titles. But when I watch her at this point I think I see a lot of Trae Young.

No. She changes the way the women's game is played. The Fever succeeded without her, yes, but their entire gameplan and roster construction strategy changes with her starring. 

[Jay Bee]

Need Sophie to come to Minnesota

[cheebs09]

Need Sophie to come to Minnesota

Will that impact your ability to legally be in the arena?

[Uncle Rico]

Will that impact your ability to legally be in the arena?

He'd have to trim his beard

[MU82]

In 2021, Raiders owner Mark Davis expanded his Vegas sports empire by purchasing the Aces for $2 million. Four years and three championships later, Yahoo Sports says the franchise is worth $310 million, an increase of 15,400%.

Other franchises have seen a similar meteoric rise in value over the last 5 years.

One of many factors to explain why the WNBA players association isn't gonna accept cries of poverty from the owners during these collective bargaining negotiations.

[WhiteTrash]

In 2021, Raiders owner Mark Davis expanded his Vegas sports empire by purchasing the Aces for $2 million. Four years and three championships later, Yahoo Sports says the franchise is worth $310 million, an increase of 15,400%.

Other franchises have seen a similar meteoric rise in value over the last 5 years.

One of many factors to explain why the WNBA players association isn't gonna accept cries of poverty from the owners during these collective bargaining negotiations.

I don't really follow the WNBA, so forgive me if this is common knowledge, but it has been reported that the NBA has bankrolled the WBA for about 25 years, so does the WNBA have a massive debt due to the NBA?

[MU82]

I don't really follow the WNBA, so forgive me if this is common knowledge, but it has been reported that the NBA has bankrolled the WBA for about 25 years, so does the WNBA have a massive debt due to the NBA?

From a Google AI search:

No, the WNBA does not currently owe the NBA money in the sense of a formal debt; rather, the NBA serves as a financial backer and owner of the WNBA, providing capital and covering operational losses to keep the league afloat and help it grow, as the WNBA remains unprofitable. The NBA owns a significant stake in the WNBA, which functions like a subsidiary, and has been investing millions into it since its inception.

Bottom line: Rich NBA owners invested in the WNBA as a way to grow interest in basketball overall, with the idea that the investment eventually would pay dividends. With what's taken place the last couple of years, starting with the enormous interest in Caitlin Clark joining the league, "eventually" has arrived for the WNBA. Sold-out arenas around the league, huge TV contract, major boost in merchandise revenue, etc ... and they are still paying next to nothing for talent, without whom there is no league.

[WhiteTrash]

From a Google AI search:

No, the WNBA does not currently owe the NBA money in the sense of a formal debt; rather, the NBA serves as a financial backer and owner of the WNBA, providing capital and covering operational losses to keep the league afloat and help it grow, as the WNBA remains unprofitable. The NBA owns a significant stake in the WNBA, which functions like a subsidiary, and has been investing millions into it since its inception.

Bottom line: Rich NBA owners invested in the WNBA as a way to grow interest in basketball overall, with the idea that the investment eventually would pay dividends. With what's taken place the last couple of years, starting with the enormous interest in Caitlin Clark joining the league, "eventually" has arrived for the WNBA. Sold-out arenas around the league, huge TV contract, major boost in merchandise revenue, etc ... and they are still paying next to nothing for talent, without whom there is no league.

So how long has the NBA/WNBA been paying players "next to nothing" relative to the profitability of the WNBA?

[Jay Bee]

Bottom line: Rich NBA owners invested in the WNBA as a way to grow interest in basketball overall, with the idea that the investment eventually would pay dividends.

That's a "bottom line" you dreamt. The Righteous know reality.

[MU82]

That's a "bottom line" you dreamt. The Righteous know reality.

Please show proof what I said was incorrect. Thanks!

I'll provide this, for starters:

https://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/article/theyre-absolutely-underpaid-economists-weigh-in-on-wnba-labor-showdown-151146341.html

[Jay Bee]

Please show proof what I said was incorrect. Thanks!

I'll provide this, for starters:

https://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/article/theyre-absolutely-underpaid-economists-weigh-in-on-wnba-labor-showdown-151146341.html

Oh, to be naive.

[Uncle Rico]

Oh, to be naive.

😂

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

In WNBA logic, I've read there are two buyers at $325mil, the Boston bid and the Marc Lasry Hartford bid.  The WNBA says both are relocation (Hartford is not) and they did not apply for expansion teams so they have to get behind expansion bidders.  The league will buy the team at $250 mil (the current expansion fee) so they can sell to the Houston offer. 

[MU82]

Oh, to be naive.

Thanks for your valuable contribution to the discussion.

[Pakuni]

WNBA players got some massive gains with their new contract.

Salary cap: $1.5 million to $7 million
Average salary: $150,000 to $600,000
Supermax salary: $250,000 to $1.4 million
Minimum salary: $66,000 to $270,000-$300,000

[MU82]

WNBA players got some massive gains with their new contract.

Salary cap: $1.5 million to $7 million
Average salary: $150,000 to $600,000
Supermax salary: $250,000 to $1.4 million
Minimum salary: $66,000 to $270,000-$300,000

The players' union did a great job rejecting several much-poorer offers. They knew they had leverage: While they could make good money away from the WNBA - and many players do - WNBA owners couldn't make a cent on league operations without the players. Indeed, they would lose money every day the league wasn't in session.

Well done by the players, and well deserved.

[WhiteTrash]

The players' union did a great job rejecting several much-poorer offers. They new they had leverage: While they could make good money away from the WNBA - and many players do - WNBA owners couldn't make a cent on league operations without the players.

Well done, and well deserved.

And the WNBA would have folded decades ago without the NBA propping it up, so also well done NBA owners. Onward and upward.

[Uncle Rico]

And the WNBA would have folded decades ago without the NBA propping it up, so also well done NBA owners. Onward and upward.

Won't anyone think of the poor billionaires?!?

[MU82]

And the WNBA would have folded decades ago without the NBA propping it up, so also well done NBA owners. Onward and upward.

OK, but this negotiation had nothing to do with decades ago.

Nowadays, billionaires are tripping over each other to buy WNBA franchises. They must be pretty confident in the business model, and the CBA they eventually agreed to reflects that confidence.

There's always another rich person in the wings - several hoping to land WNBA franchises lost out to fellow rich
people. But again, there is no WNBA without the talented athletes.

[Pakuni]

And the WNBA would have folded decades ago without the NBA propping it up, so also well done NBA owners. Onward and upward.

Lots of successful spinoff ventures would have folded without propping up by investors in the early years.
Heck, the NBA wasn't profitable for about 40 years after its founding.

[WhiteTrash]

Lots of successful spinoff ventures would have folded without propping up by investors in the early years.
Heck, the NBA wasn't profitable for about 40 years after its founding.

This is very true.

[WhiteTrash]

OK, but this negotiation had nothing to do with decades ago.

Nowadays, billionaires are tripping over each other to buy WNBA franchises. They must be pretty confident in the business model, and the CBA they eventually agreed to reflects that confidence.

There's always another rich person in the wings - several hoping to land WNBA franchises lost out to fellow rich
people. But again, there is no WNBA without the talented athletes.

This is silly. NBA owners don't get any credit for supporting the NBA for decades when the vast majority of the public did not? The WNBA needs players and fans. When hardly any fans would support the WNBA, the NBA cultivated the product to finally allow it to succeed.

I'm not calling for a parade for the NBA, but we are not at this point without the NBA.

[MU82]

This is silly. NBA owners don't get any credit for supporting the NBA for decades when the vast majority of the public did not? The WNBA needs players and fans. When hardly any fans would support the WNBA, the NBA cultivated the product to finally allow it to succeed.

I'm not calling for a parade for the NBA, but we are not at this point without the NBA.

Sure. I hereby give NBA owners credit for supporting the WNBA when it wasn't making money.

Not sure what that had to do with this collective bargaining agreement or with the WNBA in its present situation ... but there ya go, credit given by at least one Scooper!

[Pakuni]

This is silly. NBA owners don't get any credit for supporting the NBA for decades when the vast majority of the public did not? The WNBA needs players and fans. When hardly any fans would support the WNBA, the NBA cultivated the product to finally allow it to succeed.

I'm not calling for a parade for the NBA, but we are not at this point without the NBA.

You make a fair point. I just think people hear that - and I'm not saying this was your intent - and take it as a swipe against the WNBA from the "nobody cares about women's sports" crowd.
I have no idea whether the WNBA is profitable yet - and professional sports leagues have made crying poor into an art form - but the league has seen impressive growth in recent years, as evidenced by this new deal.

[Uncle Rico]

You make a fair point. I just think people hear that - and I'm not saying this was your intent - and take it as a swipe against the WNBA from the "nobody cares about women's sports" crowd.
I have no idea whether the WNBA is profitable yet - and professional sports leagues have made crying poor into an art form - but the league has seen impressive growth in recent years, as evidenced by this new deal.

White Trash has history of supporting owners, leagues, the NCAA, etc., over the players worth