WNBA Players May Strike Next Season - (My title ...and will anyone care?)

Associated Press ^ | Wed Jun 12, 3:45 AM ET | By MELISSA MURPHY

[wallcrawlr]

NEW YORK (AP) - WNBA players are threatening to strike next season if a new deal isn't worked out by the start of training camp.

Seattle Storm guard Sonja Henning, the president of the WNBA players association, said Tuesday that 100 players discussed the possibility of a work stoppage. The four-year collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15, during the offseason.

"We discussed the idea of getting comfortable with a strike," Henning, also a lawyer, said in a conference call. "Of course we love the game, but understand it's a business. We hope it won't get to that."

WNBA training camps open in April, and the season runs through August.

Players' salaries make up less than 15 percent of the league's revenue, compared to more than 55 percent of revenue for professional basketball, baseball, football and hockey, WNBPA director Pam Wheeler said.

A nine-player negotiating committee was formed to increase salaries and marketing rights for players. The WNBA rookie minimum salary is $30,000 for the three-month season and the veteran minimum is $40,000.

"The players have been extremely reasonable in their demands," Wheeler said. "They've made sacrifices to help make the league grow. Even if (the WNBA) doubles salaries, proportionately it is significantly less (than other pro leagues)."

The WNBA will not release financial figures, but league president Val Ackerman has said the 16 teams playing in NBA arenas during the summer do not make a profit. The union argues that salaries should increase because the league is no longer a startup with competition from the ABL, which folded in 1998.

"We'd be willing to meet at any mutually agreeable time, but to date we have not been contacted by the union," WNBA spokesperson Maureen Coyle said.

Ackerman was not available for comment.

[1Old Pro]

I wouldn't care, but that's just me. The only female professional sport I watch is, yep, tennis.

[skateman]

I bet that they don't have the "balls" to strike!

[RabidBartender]

A nine-player negotiating committee was formed to increase salaries and marketing rights for players. The WNBA rookie minimum salary is $30,000 for the three-month season and the veteran minimum is $40,000.

Did any of the teams even have 30,000 total attendance for an entire season?

[Nonstatist]

Do people actually pay to watch these games, or are most of the people in the stands there with courtesy tickets ? ( Ive heard its the latter..)

[Tai_Chung]

Has anybody here ever watched an entire WNBA game?

[AmishDude]

The WNBA will not release financial figures, but league president Val Ackerman has said the 16 teams playing in NBA arenas during the summer do not make a profit.

Worse, they're subsidized in large part by the NBA. Maybe 15% of operating budget is salary, but I'd suspect promotion is a huge proportion and it's still losing money. A strike would end the league entirely.

[3catsanadog]

They want higher salaries for a sport nobody goes to. What, pray tell, can they squeeze to get more blood.

[CollegeRepublican]

The WNBA rookie minimum salary is $30,000 for the three-month season and the veteran minimum is $40,000.

Ha ha ha. That is that market at work if I ever saw it. Actually, shouldn't their salaries be even lower. Oh yeah, the NBA actually gives them money to exist. The WNBA is only there to make lesbians happy.

[jimtorr]

What is the WNBA? What do they do? (he asked, in feigned innocence)

[VRWCmember]

What if they had a strike and nobody noticed?

[Snuffington]

Of course we love the game, but understand it's a business.

Don't kid yourself. When it's the WNBA even the business aspect is a game. They're pretending to be a professional sports league, when they're really the NBA's trophy to their own inclusiveness and gender sensitivity.

How many people would notice the difference between the WNBA regular players and replacement players?

[AmishDude]

Did any of the teams even have 30,000 total attendance for an entire season?

"Official" attendance puts it at an average of 145,185 for a season (16 home games) which is 9,074 per game. That doesn't count courtesy tickets or NBA season ticket holders. The worst average attendance for an NBA team (41 home games) is 12,648. That beats all but 2 of the WNBA teams (NY & DC).

[GnL]

If the players want to accelerate the freefall of their league and drive it completely out of business, a strike will do it. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better. It's time for more television coverage of real sports, like womens billiards.

[Marc Poor]

I watch figure skating, gymnastics, volley ball.... any thing with tight outfits. I really admire their, ahem, athletic ability.

[FreeTally]

Doesn't the WNBA pretty much have to blackmail TV networks to get air time?

[codebreaker]

Im waiting to see 'Juwanna Man' first and then I will think about the WNBA stirke.

That is a great idea for a movie..

[cherry]

Official" attendance puts it at an average of 145,185 for a season (16 home games) which is 9,074 per game. That doesn't count courtesy tickets or NBA season ticket holders. The worst average attendance for an NBA team (41 home games) is 12,648. That beats all but 2 of the WNBA teams (NY & DC).

how many years was the NBA in existance before they started averaging 10,000 a game?

bet that question won't be answered...

[codebreaker]

[AmishDude]

Well, the NBA players didn't go on strike in the early days.

Presumably, with there already being interest in the NBA having developed over time, the WNBA should be able to capitalize on it as an off-season replacement.