New rule could force players to choose between WNBA, overseas teams

LAS VEGAS – An hour before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, commissioner Cathy Engelbert stood on a platform inside Michelob Ultra Arena and championed the league’s progress on multiple fronts. She said “improving the player experience and compensation has been a main priority.”

Former league MVP Breanna Stewart criticized those exact efforts just days earlier.

Welcome to the age of prioritization, when the league looks to make its product the No. 1 priority for players while many of those same players say new rules attack their experience and compensation.

The prioritization clause, collectively bargained in 2020, goes into effect next season and requires players with two or more years of league experience to report to training camp on time or by May 1, whichever is later, or face a fine. They will be suspended for the year if they miss the start of the season.

Starting in 2024, players will be suspended for the season if they don’t arrive by the start of training camp or at least by May 1.

A number of players across the league routinely report late because their overseas teams are still wrapping up their seasons. Players from the WNBA regularly play in Europe and elsewhere to make significantly more money than what their WNBA contracts pay.

“The owners really stepped up on the compensation side for the players in this collective bargaining cycle,” Engelbert said, “and I think the kind of quid pro quo for that was prioritization, showing up on time for our season. And quite frankly, after 36 years of working in my working world, there wasn’t once where I wasn’t required to show up on time.

“We understand players are going to make their decisions.”

Players emphasized those last sentiments.

Stewart, who led the WNBA in scoring this season, has already signed with Fenerbahce in Turkey. She called prioritization “one of the biggest disconnects between players and the WNBA and Board of Governors” at her exit news conference after the Storm lost to the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. Chicago Sky star Emma Meesseman also signed with Fenerbahce. Sun forward and 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones has signed with Cukurova in Turkey.

The Washington Mystics played the first five games of 2022 without Elizabeth Williams while she finished the season with Fenerbahce.

Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, Storm guard Jewell Loyd and Stewart were the highest-paid players in the league this season, according to salary tracking site Spotrac, at $228,094. Engelbert said the top-earning players can earn up to $700,000 including salary, Commissioner’s Cup and award bonuses, league and team marketing deals and other incentives.

“It’s not the same thing,” said Sun center Brionna Jones, the 2022 sixth player of the year who played in with USK Praha in the Czech Republic last offseason. “Overseas, is guaranteed. If I sign a contract, it’s guaranteed overseas. So it’s like, yeah, we have these opportunities but not for every player. So, it’s different.

“And yeah, the top people are making more money and the rookies are making more money, but then those middle people are still like in limbo. There’s strides being made and it is moving in the right direction, but the conversation is not the same as overseas.”

Top players can earn more than $1 million per season overseas.

Sun teammate DeWanna Bonner noted that the additional overseas money is particularly important for players with children and said the new rule can eliminate off time and family time for foreign players in the WNBA.

Especially adamant about the possibility of leaving the WNBA was Storm forward Gabby Williams. A Final Four MVP playing for Sopron Basket in Hungary last season, Williams will be a free agent in the WNBA this off-season.

“Money doesn’t touch what we make in Europe, that’s just the truth of it,” Williams said. “I’m young, I have to make those kinds of decisions. I would love to return to the WNBA. What the WNBA decided to do to players like me makes it complicated.”

She also lamented the fact that the prioritization rule doesn’t allow for individual teams to make their own decisions about whether they’re willing to wait for a player to return.

This conflict over the rule with some players was fully expected, Engelbert said. She pointed to half a million dollars in that Commissioner’s Cup pools, half a million dollars in playoff bonuses and $1.5 million in marketing money the league has made available to offset lost overseas money. Engelbert also noted that players in their first two years are not subject to the prioritization rules.

“Players are going to do what they want, and they know their bodies are only going to hold up for so long,” Engelbert said. “Average tenure is less than six years, so we want them to have opportunities in the first couple years to play overseas.

“Again, we are not negative on playing overseas. We just want them to come back and prioritize the WNBA when our season starts.”

The WNBA continues to grow as its 26th season winds down and having all players for the full training camp and season can impact that growth. Owners want all of their players in camp to build team chemistry, and fans coming to early games may not want to risk buying ticket when popular players might not be available. Broadcast partners also don’t want stars missing televised games.

Broadcast rights could have a big impact on the entire situation. The current media rights deal has games televised on ABC and ESPN/ESPN2 through the 2025 season. A new deal is expected to be much more lucrative as ratings have continually grown, and that should directly affect the salary cap and player contracts. Engelbert said the league just had the most-viewed playoffs in 20 years and the most-watched regular season in 14 years.

MLS, for example, recently sold its streaming rights to Apple TV Plus for $250 million annually over 10 years, according to Forbes.

“Its probably the most important business issue I am focused on,” Engelbert said. “Everything we do accrues the players and absolutely will help the players. If you look at our viewership this year compared to some of the men’s leagues, we are doing quite well. We doubled one men’s league who signed a very large media rights deal, so I am very optimistic we’ll get something very favorable.”

That’s something players and the league can certainly agree on.

“It can change the game in a number of ways,” Stewart said. “More money means you’re not as worried about going overseas.””