Last season, during the WNBA 2021 finals, the league announced it would pay for charter flights to Sky and Mercury when both teams have to travel from Phoenix to Chicago between Games 2 and 3. Such advantages are rare due to price, but the league recently made exceptions during the playoffs under new Commissioner Katie Engelbert.
But while the league has occasionally been inclined to take the bill under certain circumstances, homeowners are not allowed to do the same for their teams during the season. Under the current CBA, charter flights are prohibited in order to maintain a competitive balance; some owners may be willing and able to pay for them, but other owners may not.
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Last season, New York Liberty, led by new owners Joe and Clara Tsai, decided to push those boundaries by paying for charter flights anyway, according to Sports Illustratedis Howard Megdal. After they were captured, a furious league office offered massive fines, including a $ 1 million fine, significant draft losses and possibly even a “franchise termination.”
In the end, after Liberty agreed and did not fly for their first-round playoff match, they were fined $ 500,000 – still the biggest fine in the history of the league – and will not face another penalty. For Megdal, Engelbert told the WNBA’s board of directors during a conversation in November that she had “made a deal” with Tsais.
During a previous call to the WNBA’s board of governors in September, Liberty reportedly suggested that charter flights be the standard for all teams and said there was a way to offset costs for three years. The plan did not materialize because there was no majority support, according to Megdal.
In a statement to CBS Sports, a WNBA spokesman challenged this aspect of the report: “At no time has there been a proposal from the New York Liberty WNBA Board of Governors to consider offering three-year charter flights to WNBA teams. It was agreed that Liberty would explore the possibility of charter flights and present it on board. That has not happened to date. “
In all, Liberty paid for charter flights for five road games in the second half of the season, as well as a trip to the Napa Valley over Labor Day weekend for a teamwork experience – a benefit that also violates the CBA. In the end, the team lost all five of those matches on the road in the second half of the season, so it’s hard to say that a better trip gave them a big lead. However, this was a deliberate violation of current rules, and it is no surprise that the league has fallen sharply.
The bigger question that is moving forward will be how this affects the league’s approach to issues such as travel accommodation and the growing mismatch between property groups. Should richer and more invested owners use their resources to improve conditions for their players? Can old school owners who either don’t want to or can’t meet growing expectations continue to keep the rest of the league? How is enlargement, which seems increasingly likely in the next few years, affecting all this?
In February, the WNBA announced a $ 75 million fundraiser from investors to help solve some of these problems. “It’s really important for players to know that it’s an investment in them, even though it’s in the league, not in a specific team or just specific players,” Engelbert said. “This is to help increase our revenue streams and create sustainable long-term growth.”
But even with a significant increase in funding, it is clear that the league is facing some serious existential issues as it plans for the next five, 10, 25 years.