WNBA players make a CBA declaration with t-shirts
Meghan Hall of the USAT explains how WNBA players make a huge statement during ABC negotiations with t-shirts during the stars match.
Sports seriously
Indianapolis-WNBA players want to be paid, it is obvious after a weekend of stars which has become as much contractual negotiations as the game itself.
Players are looking for higher wages and better income sharing, and rightly so. They see very little money that flock to the WNBA now expansion fees, media rights and sponsors.
However, these are not the only problems on the table. Here are four other problems that must be solved so that the WNBA continues to prosper:
Officiant
Complaining of an officer is as much part of the sports as uniforms and dashboards. In this case, however, criticisms have one point.
The W is, has been and will always be a physical league. But the referees did not follow the pace of the speed of the players and the strength, and that led to too many games becoming uncontrollable. They also missed calls and made the bad.
And for the love of God, put criticism back in a rereading center – as in the NBA. The calls and consultations of this season have felt atrociously long and disrupted the flows of matches.
“Our game is growing … and I have the impression that the game is growing up, we need the officers to grow up with us,” said center of Las Vegas Ace a’ja Wilson. “Sometimes it takes time, and I know they are human, they will make mistakes. But I think that at some point, we will have to start meeting in the middle.
“I mean, James Harden created a completely different hindsight, but the references understood this and were like,” ok, that’s how the game is played. It’s legal. Let’s try to work from there “” said Wilson. “We have just continued to grow together. We really get, really, really good in what we do, so we need them to be the same. ”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert did not throw the referees under the bus. But she admitted to having heard the complaints and said that the league actively endeavored to improve improvement.
“Each game is examined. We spend hours and hours and hours (which do it). We then use it to follow the managers (and) the training, ”she said.
“We work hard to make sure that we put the best product in the field and our officiant must follow this.”
Calendar
The Minnesota Lynx calendar before the star match was a nightmare. Eleven matches between June 24 and July 16, including a section with five games in eight days. Two back sets during the section. Four noon starts in the five games between July 9 and 16.
“When we received the calendar, we thought it was about as illogical as possible,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve. “Each team has stretched for sure, but it is illogical.”
And there is more! THE Golden State Valkyries Start the second half of the season with four games in seven days. The New York Liberty will play five games in eight days between July 25 and August 1. The Dallas wings have matches on July 25, July 27 and July 28. You get the photo.
“Planning is still a Rubik’s Cube,” said Engelbert.
But the W also does this to itself.
The League will play 44 games this season, against 40, but Engelbert seems reluctant to move away from the traditional period from mid-May to mid-October, except in the years when there are international competitions.
“I don’t think you can do a lot of things in front. You can a little on your back,” she said. “How many Saturdays in university football do you want to enter? … So the NBA would start. We generally did not ride with them. ”
The league has grown to the point that it must prioritize rather than worrying about other sports. Otherwise, it will lead his players in the ground.
Extension
Making a WNBA list can often look like the Hunger Games basketball version.
Even with the addition of the Golden State Valkyries extension, there are only 156 list places available in the League. It is often even less, because many teams will only keep 11 players on their lists due to the salary ceiling.
Only three months after being drafted, the choices of second round Madison Scott, the sellers of Shyanne and Dalayah Daniels are outside the league. Alissa Pili, a first round choice last year, was cut by the Lynx of Minnesota earlier this month.
These thin lists are also harsh for the teams. There was one point last month when the Dallas wings had only eight players available. The teams used difficulty contracts the first week of the season.
Although Aaglbert has declared in the past that it prefers to increase the number of players in the league thanks to expansion, it now seems more open to the addition of list points.
“It’s certainly on the list,” she said.
Transparency
This is not necessarily part of the ABC negotiations, but it must address. Even if the WNBA does not try to hide anything, its conviviality on the fines and the end of the game commissioner gives the impression that this is the case.
The main professional leagues of men have realized that transparency makes the game better. The NBA publishes an assessment of all official calls in the last two minutes of any match where the advance is three points or less. The NFL, which takes paranoia to an art form, reveals the quantity of players and the reasons for the suspensions.
These are little things, but they are used to create confidence in the leagues and the people who direct them. Given the response of fans to requests from the players’s contract during the stars weekend, the WNBA can use any good will it can obtain.
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