The World is Screaming at the WNBA, Will it Listen?
Equal treatment is a constant fight for female athletes. Sometimes this brings success, for example the US Women’s National Soccer Team won their years long legal battle for equal pay in 2022. But for most, like WNBA players, their organizations are unresponsive to their requests for things as simple as a livable wage. With the massive growth of the WNBA in the last 5 years, they are under more pressure than ever to make changes. Millions of eyes are on them, the players union is gathering, rival leagues are starting, and young players have newfound agency with NIL and the transfer portal. Will front office obstinacy be the league’s downfall?
April 1st, projected 2nd pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, Olivia Miles, announced she will forgo the draft and enter the transfer portal. She is the third 1st round prospect to deny the draft this year, something we have never seen before. Along with Miles is Azzi Fudd (UConn) and Lauren Betts (UCLA). Fudd is taking her 5th year of eligibility which she acquired from a redshirt (torn ACL in 2023). Betts is only a junior but is draft eligible because she is 22 years old, she is staying at UCLA to play with her younger sister next season. NIL has an undeniable role in the increase of 5th year players. Since Name Image and Likeness was enacted in 2021, the merit of college ball has increased substantially. NIL creates a triple threat, players earn extra degrees, often master’s degrees that will help their careers post-basketball, stars make thousands, if not millions of dollars, and gain fame and cultural value through the exposure of their brand deals. When stars like Miles take 5th years, the stakes of their seasons are heightened because it is definitively their last time around the block. For example, Paige Bueckers opted for her 5th season this year and has had the biggest storyline in women’s college basketball, “Will Paige Bueckers get her national championship?” Miles’s case is unique because she is also utilizing the transfer portal. Unexpectedly so, given she has been the face of Notre Dame basketball for the last 4 years. Here, the intersection of the transfer portal and NIL is present; by transferring after a monster season, she is maximizing her NIL value and will land a more lucrative deal. At this point, players are making more money in college than WNBA salaries. This could be detrimental for the league because they are looking to ride on the buzz of rookies and fans following their favorite players to the league after the successful 2024 class led by Caitlin Clark. Until the WNBA increases rookie salaries, we can expect more top prospects to extend their college careers.
College players are not the only ones pulling away, this year WNBA all-stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier began a new 3-on-3 league with 36 of the best players in the world including Angel Reese, Sabrina Ionescu and Arike Ogumbawale. This league has been praised hand over fist by players for how they are treated. Unrivaled treated the players like the professional they are, for some players like Alyssa Thomas it was the first time. Thomas had played for the Connecticut Sun for her entire 10-year career before Unrivaled. Despite making it to playoff semifinals the last 5 years, the Sun practice in a community center and share their courts with exercise classes. At Unrivaled, she experienced expansive weight rooms, athletic training rooms, practice courts, and a beauty room sponsored by Sephora. It’s no surprise that after Unrivaled, Thomas left the Sun and joined the Phoenix Mercury who opened a new $100 million facility last year. The Sun lost their entire starting line up during the free agency trading period and must do a complete rebuilding. Players know their value, they deserve more, and they are empowering themselves and telling the league that this treatment is insufficient. If you want to win, you better treat your players right.
These players have come to a consensus that now is the right moment to make change. In October 2024, the players union (WNBPA) rejected their collective bargaining agreement (CBA), meaning they will be able to renegotiate the terms of the league, like salaries and working conditions. After rejecting the CBA, the union and the league have a year to agree on a new one, and WNBPA Vice President and Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier has said that work stoppage is not out of the picture. Player strikes would be monumental with the attention the league is receiving, and the $2.2 billion media rights deal the league just secured. The leadership knows the power they hold and President Nneka Ogwumike says they “are ready to lead transformational change — change that goes beyond women’s sports and sets a precedent for something greater.”
Pressure is building for the WNBA to evolve. Their world is screaming at them, “we deserve more” and “we will not wait anymore!” It’s become clear that if they won’t move forward, the players will move past them and invest in other institutions that tangibly recognize their greatness.
