Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese creating new leverage for WNBA players
As the WNBA enjoys a surge in attendance and TV ratings, negotiates a lucrative media-rights deal and prepares to add four teams that will net tens of millions in expansion fees, the players want a larger slice of the pie.
So here’s what is likely to happen: Before the Nov. 1 deadline, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) will opt out of the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) set to run through 2027, with added star power.
Clark and Reese will be in the fold.
‘It’s all about leverage’
The players’ association is in a new position thanks to Clark, Reese and the rest of the WNBA’s rookie class, said Gary Roberts, the former dean of the Indiana University law school whose expertise includes sports law.
“This is really the first draft class that has gotten this kind of attention that would give the union some bargaining leverage,” Roberts said. “And it’s all about leverage.
“Take the first 40 years of the NBA. They didn’t make (expletive), too, because they didn’t have bargaining leverage.”
The value of Clark and Reese, along with other members of the heralded rookie class, seems clear to Nneka Ogwumike, in her ninth year as president of the WNBPA.
“We’re looking forward to more young players pushing the envelope and hopefully also being engaged in negotiation,,” said Ogwumike, the Seattle Storm forward and eight-time All-Star. “I mean, both with their popularity but also with their engagement on the players’ association side. And, of course, using their platforms however they can to bring history, information and facts to matter when it comes to pay equity and the WNBA.
“It can’t happen without the top players’ engagement.”
‘People flipped’
Already, Clark has provided a service to WNBPA. It happened after she declared for the 2024 WNBA draft and was selected No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever.
“People naturally asked what she would make, and people flipped,” Ogwumike said.
Clark, the all-time leading scorer in college basketball who captivated the country with her logo threes, this season is making $76,535 – the maximum rookie base salary under the WNBA’s current CBA. Her four-year rookie deal is $338,056 in salary.
Be the first to comment