WNBA players?


Beer Man

Beer Man

I RAISE..... ALL IN
Stern: Settlement by April 18, or 'you won't play'

Associated Press


NEW YORK -- NBA commissioner David Stern told WNBA players Tuesday that unless they settle their contract dispute by April 18, the 2003 season for the women's league will not be played.

"We want to get a deal and work with the players,'' said Stern, announcing at the same time that his league had voted an additional $12 million to subsidize its women's affiliate. "But if that's not to be, it's not to be. We'll know in the next 10 days if there will be a WNBA season.''


That came as no surprise to the players.


"We anticipated this coming out. It was just a question of what the day was going to be,'' Houston Comets guard Sonja Henning, president of the WNBA Players Association, said in an interview Tuesday with Houston television station KRIV. "We knew there would be a deadline set.


"It's not the sort of thing where we are suddenly going to cave in and say, 'Well, we've got to get a deal done, so let's get a deal done by the deadline.' The deadline, if anything, puts more fire under their feet than ours.''


Henning said she doesn't believe the season, or the league, is in jeopardy.


Calls by The Associated Press to the union were not immediately returned.


The contract with WNBA players expired last Sept. 15, and negotiations have gone nowhere. The union is demanding substantial pay increases and free agency among other things.


The WNBA rookie minimum salary is $30,000 and the veterans' minimum is $40,000 for the four-month season that begins with training camp in late April.


While the league says the average salary is $60,000, the union says it is closer to $46,000, excluding benefits. Top players reportedly earn a base salary of $79,500.


Nearly 80 percent of the players supplement that in the offseason in leagues in Europe, South America, Israel and Asia. Two American players per team can earn between $150,000-$200,000 each, depending on the country, for an eight-month season. A handful of top players can earn up to $300,000.


The WNBA, meanwhile, has been struggling financially. The Miami and Portland franchises folded, Utah moved to San Antonio and the Orlando team was bought by the Mohegan Indian Tribe and will play at the tribe's casino in Uncasville, Conn.


Stern said he thinks the $12 million subsidy can help spur an agreement. He also said he empathizes with the women.


"Many of these players are the most accomplished in their game,'' he said. "They see the men making so many times more than they make. But that's the nature of the world we live in.''
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This has gotta be a joke. Why are these women trying this. The attendance at their games aren't good. Television ratings aren't good. They are lucky to be making $60k for 4 months and 28 games. If you wanna make close to what the men make, play an 82 game schedule and stop missing lay-ups and shooting air balls. Stern should just cancel the season now. Then these players will realize how good they had it.
 
Originally posted by Beer Man


This has gotta be a joke. Why are these women trying this. The attendance at their games aren't good. Television ratings aren't good. They are lucky to be making $60k for 4 months and 28 games. If you wanna make close to what the men make, play an 82 game schedule and stop missing lay-ups and shooting air balls. Stern should just cancel the season now. Then these players will realize how good they had it.
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Uhhhh... I watch the WNBA.

Sparks baby!

:D
 



XFL send help. After the NBA finals are finished, no more basketball for me until MIDNIGHT MADNESS.
 
I 'ont know Beerman. Man, until you PLAY against some of these WNBAers, I think you'd respect their game more. These ladies have skillz and THEY can play!!!! :tup:

I had the opportunity to play against/with some of these homegrown Dallas area products and a couple for the Houston franchise as well as some I-Aers @ some of the former powerhouse women's teams and those ladies have much skill!!!

I hope the WNBA succeeds. I actually enjoy the WNBA more than the NBA. The WNBA players have to use a lot of mental in order to compensate for the lack of physicality that the men's game brings. :tup:
 
What does them having skills have to do with their making arses out of themselves by trying to hold out? You are arguing about their skill level Panthro, but that isn't the issue. The issue is generating revenue, and the product on the court. When it cokes to basketball, people want to see excitement, above the rim, alleys, atheletic play. Not fundamental basketball, correct passes, and lay ups. hell think about how mad you get when an NBA lays it up instead of dunking, and how excited you get when they throw that cross court alley!

Pro sports are driven by fans....WNBA has no fans!! And because they aren't making any money and the NBA is carrying their arses they have no leverage. They play 28 games, they make 45,000 bucks. If the pay was so much better in Europe.....go back to Europe. Either that or create a better product.

Do I think these woman can play. Yes.
Do I think they are role models for your girls who want to play sports....Yes.

Do I think watching them play is exciting, No. And neither do most people. And unfortunatly for them, that is their downfall. I hope these women come to their senses and strike a deal. The art of negotion only works when you have something to negotiate with.......they don't.
 
Well said suge. I agree some of the women are very good players. I heard Cynthia Cooper been downtown tearing up guy, trying to get in shape to come out of retirement. The top players are very good but the role players aren't very good at all. The women should just get payed their $60k for the 4 months and let the game grow. Oh yeah maybe get a team in San Fran where the gay community is very large and would support them.
 
Actually Suge, you're right. I'm not a pro sports fan at all (never watched a Cowboys game and never will - never watched a Mavericks game and never ever will LOL blah blah blah). "L", I don't get excited over "dunks" or alley-oops. I actually <b>prefer</b> fundamental basketball. It's something about the mental aspect that reaches my soul man. (so you KNOW that Princeton is the only PWCU that I do root for LOL). This past years' panther squad was <b>finally</b> fundamentally sound. LOL Man... :shame:

Y'all can keep all that show-off fancy-dancy "hot-sauce" "chili-sauce" "hot tomato" and-one bull-isht. <b>The last time I checked, a layup counts as 2 just like a dunk (c. Walt Kaser 1982 circa).</b>

Whew! Just venting! Back to the subject. LOL I hope the WNBA makes it. You're also right in that most people do want to see all of that show off stuff and they do get excited over that (I guess). People mean money, so... 60K over 4 months to play ball? :confused: The thing they're bytching about is not making the same type $$$ as the men do. But, it's the men's game that attracts the largest crowd. Go figure...
 
They should be thanking Stern for not shutting down the experiment. The WNBA does NOT make a profit and there's not one in sight. So, they need to back off Stern who is doing mucho charity work on this one.
 
Originally posted by Panthro
I'm not a pro sports fan at all (never watched a Cowboys game and never will - never watched a Mavericks game and never ever will LOL blah blah blah). "L", I don't get excited over "dunks" or alley-oops. I actually <b>prefer</b> fundamental basketball. It's something about the mental aspect that reaches my soul man.
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:eek2: :whatever: :what: :lol:
 
Before I form an opinion, I would like to see how much owners are REALLY making from these games.

60K seems like chump change for any profressional sport.. I can't blame the women for wanting more.

Maybe the owners should take more of a hit until they do a better job of promoting the sport.
 
Originally posted by Jag Voice
Before I form an opinion, I would like to see how much owners are REALLY making from these games.
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JV,

Did you not read this part?

The WNBA, meanwhile, has been struggling financially. The Miami and Portland franchises folded, Utah moved to San Antonio and the Orlando team was bought by the Mohegan Indian Tribe and will play at the tribe's casino in Uncasville, Conn.
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Franchises don't fold or move if they are making money. And let be real here, the NBA is the group thats really putting up the money to pay for salaries, the owners are simply there to manage how the money is spent.
 
If you take a good high school basketball team and good officials they would beat any womens basketball team. The men are just better athletes. The ladies in the WNBA need to realize that their sport just isn't that popular. There are a lot of women who don't bother to watch them. In my opinion the NBA has gotten to be very mediocre. There are about 12 teams in that league that need to be eliminated.
 
I think it is sad to read some of the remarks here. $30K for 4 months of play? I guess you can't take into consideration the months of training in order to make a team. The long hours to stay on a team. Its not like you can go get a part-time job.

The game is not as exciting as the NBA, but the NBA should realize that and market the sport differently. $30K or $40K is not enough money to be a professional athelete.

Every business must lose money before it makes money. The NBA should stick with the WNBA for at least 10 more years. Figure out a way to market those women. L, they can have a co-ed team with WNBA players and Semi-Pro men. That way we can see some women get dunked on.
 
Originally posted by enswaclopedia
If you take a good high school basketball team and good officials they would beat any womens basketball team. The men are just better athletes. The ladies in the WNBA need to realize that their sport just isn't that popular.
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:rolleyes: :slap: :saw: :fart: :shame: :upset: :rolleyes:
 
Sperm, You wild, letting some of them girls get dunked on. They need to realize that this is a free enterprise system and the sword cuts both ways. There game does not attract the money (Fan, TV, etc) that the mens game does. Playing an 82 game schedule would not help, because they can't even sell out the 32 game schedule. Just be glad that have what they have now. I like the WNBA and hope it works (then again , I liked the XFL and watched that a lot, there ain't been nothing like that 50 yard sprint for the ball instead of a coin toss. You get your arse knock the fugg out the game before it even starts)
 



Please don't get me started. Men can't do half the things women can. But the fact that he thinks a high school team can beat any team in the WNBA is simple at best.

I would like to see him pay one on one with any women from the WNBA.
 
The problem is the WNBA is not a sport for the coach potatoe. There is no man in America that is going to grab a cold beer and watch a WNBA game with his boyz.

What they could do is team up with playboy, and market some of them.
 
Yeah, look what those spreads in Playboy did for that Price is Right broad, or better yet, LaToya Jackson ... her stock just flew OFF THE METER once she posed ass naked!

<marquee>CLUES FOR SALE OR LEASE</marquee>
 
I have tried to watch some of the WNBA games and I just can't sit through the entire game. The players can't be looking at the empty seats in the arena's they play in. There are only a few of their games that actually attract more than 10,000 people to the games.

$30,000 for 4 months or work in a game they "Love". I don't see the problem. Put more people in the seats and salaries will increase just like in all of pro sports.

If the Players Union really wanted to help their members, they need to try and encourage agents for the players to land more endorsement deals. That's were the REAL money is.
 
Okay....I don't agree with a high school boys team beating a WNBA team.....but Toi, what does telling an average man to play a professional woman gonna prove?

I never said that I can beat any of them. Hell I can't beat most 10 year olds because I can'tr play basketball. But it seems that anytime women want to make a point about how good they are in a sport they want their best to play just the average guy. The fact is that women are not as great of atheletes as men. They aren't built to be either. The best man at a sport will crush the best woman at that same sport. Of course the best women can beat the average man off the street. But that doesn't prove sqaut.

I'm not saying that the WNBA should be concelled. But they will never be the NBA. Do they deserve more money....maybe. But to use a strike as a bargaining tool you have to have something to strike with. They don't. You see what David Stern did to the NBA when he locked them out, and they actually had some leverage and they still got shafted......what do you think is gonna happen to these ladies.
 
Why are the WNBA players complaining? The league is only a few years old. It's not like they've been around 20 years and are still making the same thing as they did when they started out.
Each and every professional league had it's share of pains when they started out. The NBA didn't start out giving players multi-million dollar contracts when it first started. They started making the same amount of money that the women are making now. Once the league got popular, they money started coming in and they started getting more money. What propelled the NBA was the names that started coming in and competition from the rival ABA.
If the WNBA can get some of the so-called "big names" to put the league on it's shoulders and take it to new heights and get some of these college players put some excitement in the league, the WNBA start gaining attention.
The WNBA players have nothing to bargain with. If anything, they should be going to David Stern and coming up with ideas on how to make the game more exciting to watch and how to increase fan attendance.
They are making $30,000 for 4 months. If they want more money extend the season. The NBA plays from November until June. They play 82 games in seven months then have to play in the playoffs and the Finals. If all of their games go to seven in the playoffs and Finals (the first round is now a seven game series, too), then they would have played in a total of 110 games. That's more than double what the WNBA plays in it's season.
They need to put all this mess aside and work with David Stern on how to make the product better. They should be thanking David and the other people that got tired of seeing these women go overseas to play professional basketball and decided to start a pro women's league over here.
 
They may be shooting themselves in the foot. The draft was posponed from Monday to Wednesday. If a deal is not reached by Friday, the NBA Board of Governors may cancel the season.
 
I hope these women are not thinking David Stern is bluffing. The men went through the same thing and right before Stern was about to cancel the rest of the season, the dudes got their act together. But at least the dudes had something to bargin. This women don't have any power in this. I am waiting of friday. For all i care cancel the season. I hate working Comets games anyways.
 
I hope they don't cancel the season. I plan on comming to Htown this summer and I know I can get cheap tickets to see the Commets play
 
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