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The WNBA’s 2020 CBA: How Will It Affect League Growth?JMC 474: Advanced Issues in Sports and Media By: Kaylee ConnorsIntroduction The new WNBA CBA rolled out in the 2020 season is groundbreaking for the league and women’s sports as a whole. Though strides have been made into bettering the experience for women athletes, this research wants to better understand whether or not the CBA translates into growth for the league and not just the players within the league. The WNBA is the longest running women’s sports league in America. The 2020 season will be the league’s 24th season ( 2020). The new CBA is set to last until 2027. This is the fourth CBA since the league’s creation (Bowman, 2014). The last CBA signed in 2014 was set to run through the 2021 season, but the WNBAPA informed the league it would opting out of the contact in November of 2018. This had no effect on the 2019 season, but forced a new CBA to be drafted before the 2020 season began (Voepel, 2018). This research will look at if the league will grow within the impact the CBA has on increased cash compensation for players, participation in leagues over-seas, and an increased marketing budget. Key Points of the CBA According to the WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, the league “approached these negotiations with a player-first agenda,” she said. “This agreement guarantees substantial increases in compensation and progressive benefits for the women of the WNBA” ( 2020). According to the main components of the agreement include:Additional Cash Compensation for playersQuality of travel elements will be increased included flying premium class, and individual hotel roomsMotherhood and Family Planning Events including players receiving full salary while on maternity leave, two-bedroom apartment for players with children, progressive family planning benefits, etc. Easier Free Agent ElementsCareer development and other quality of life elements including finding off-season jobs, enhanced mental health benefits, a joint Nutrition Council, etc. Increase in Player Cash Compensation Due to the fact this is a player-first styled contract, most of the benefits revolve around bettering the lives of the players, because of this it is important to look at how these improvements for players can affect the league as an entity. The biggest point of the new CBA is the increase in cash compensation for the players. According to and the CBA, the breakdown of increasing salaries per year is demonstrated below:Minimum Player Salary with New CBAYears of Service 202020212022202320242025202620270-2$57,000$58,710$60,471$62,285$64,154$66,079$68,061$70,1033+$68,000$70,141$72,141$74,305$76,535$78,831$81,196$83,631Maximum Player Salary with New CBA 20202021202220232024202520262027Veterans$215,000$221,450$228,094$234,936$241,984$249,244$256,721$264,423Normal$185,000$190,550$196,267$202,154$208,219$214,466$220,900$227,527“WNBA’s salary cap will rise by a stunning 30%, from $1 million to $1.3 million. This jump exceeds recent salary cap percentage increases for NBA players, who over the last few seasons have seen increases of 7% or less” (Mccann, 2020). The maximum salary under this CBA at $215,000 is almost double that of the previous CBA at $117,500 (, 2020). For the first time in league history the average WNBA player will earn six figures with an expected average cash compensation of $130,000. This all translates into a 53% increase in total cash compensation (Mccann, 2020).Although this is great for the players of the league, the money has to come from somewhere. Some of this money will come directly out of the revenue of the WNBA as the new CBA outlines new revenue splits. The players of the WNBA had been pushing for years to receive a revenue split close to that of NBA players who enjoy a 50-50 split between them and the league, whereas before the players of the WNBA only received 20 percent (Ellentuck, 2020). Based on the new CBA players have the potential to earn up to a 50-50 revenue split in 2021 if the “cumulative league revenue exceeds the cumulative revenue target” (, 2020). This extra cash compensation can be taken directly from the extra percentages of revenue the players are receiving. This will attribute to the league’s cost for the year and overall profit or loss which according to David Stern is on average a loss of $10 million every year the WNBA has operated (Hahm, 2020). Studies have shown increasing players’ pay may not be cost effective for the league as a whole. “Charts for the MLB, NBA, and NFL appear to show a negative association between payroll spending and operating income. In other words, from a financial perspective, there is a negative return on investment when spending additional money on players. To some degree, this follows intuition, since increasing player expenses directly reduces profits” (Shorin, 2017). This move to increase pay could lead to even greater financial losses for the league. Aside from actual dollars and cents, it is important to also examine what this extras cost will buy the league. First, current and former players alike were extremely satisfied with the CBA. Lisa Leslie, a former player tweeted “I am so happy for ever single player in the @WNBA and ever young girl on her way! This is such a blessing! I’m just happy to witness it! Congrats to all who helped fight the good fight” (Leslie, 2020). “Seeing these changes in our league has been AMAZING. It has my dream since I was little was to play in the @WNBA! This truly is an organization that I’m super proud to be a part of and can’t wait to see what the future holds” (Brown, 2020). Other prominent figures within the sports community, including Dwayne Wade, Billie Jean King, and Josh Hart, sent out tweets expressing their support for the new CBA (Cash, 2020). The overwhelming positive reaction to the CBA leads to a positive reaction towards the league. “The increase in social consciousness and demand for a human element has consumers interested in what the company believes, and what it is doing about it” (Simpson, 2017). Fans, spectators, and sponsors have all become increasingly interested in the values companies hold. This can be seen in the case of the USWNT and their law suit against the USSF. In court documents the federation argued “it is undisputed that the job of [Men’s National Team] player requires materially more strength and speed than the job of [Women’s National Team] player” as reason to pay women’s players less (Bieler & Bogage, 2020). There was immediate backlash due to these statements. Many found the comments to be misogynistic and sexist. Big sponsors for the USSF, such as Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, and Deloitte immediately condemned these statements and requested meetings with the federation (Bieler & Bogage, 2020). There was also outcry all over twitter condemning the federation (Twitter, 2020). This is a perfect example of what the WNBA wants to avoid. The dispute between the USWNT and the USSF centers around the team demanding higher wages, as did most of the conversations from WNBA players while creating the CBA. The league’s submission to increase salaries for players, allows the league to avoid a public relations nightmare the USSF is currently facing. “The NBA and by proxy the WNBA have promoted themselves as progressive leagues, and this deal delivers on that point” (Zillgitt, 2020). It is difficult to put a numeric value on the public’s perception for a brand. It cannot be said with certainty the perception of being the progressive league the WNBA says it is, is worth the cost of increasing salaries. But, because this was a key point for the players in the negotiating the new CBA, the league’s willingness to make this happen left both the players and public happy, which increasing their positive public perception. Overseas ParticipationA large component of the experience of many WNBA players is to travel overseas during the offseason to continue to play professional basketball. The ramifications for playing overseas and missing dates for the WNBA in the new CBA are much more specific and stricter than previous CBA’s. In the 2014 WNBA CBA teams could “offer players a ‘time off bonus.’ Teams have up to $50,000 to divide up among players who play less than three months overseas” (AP, 2014). The fines and suspensions for missing games and training camp remain the same in both CBAs, but at the start of the 2023 season WNBA must become a priority for all players having played three years or more. According to , in 2016 there were 65 players who played overseas, which is 45% of the league. In 2018 there were 81 players who played overseas. This accounts for a little over 56% of the league. In 2019-2020 there were 89 players who played overseas. This accounts for about 62% of the league. Due to these specific statistics it can be concluded there has been growth in the number of players playing overseas which allows us to assume the old CBA’s bonus of $50,000 for each to team to split and a mere paragraph stating the WNBA should be a priority is not sufficient to keep players from traveling overseas. There are a few reasons why players traveling overseas poses a problem for the growth of the league. First, there have been many instances where star players have been injured in their times overseas. For example, Brenna Stewart, the 2018 WNBA MVP suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon and missed the entirety of the 2019 season (Voepel, 2019). Another, and potentially more damaging, is players decided to forego entire seasons of the WNBA to stay with their overseas team. This happened in the case of Diana Taurasi, one of the most prominent faces of the league, who sat out the entirety of the 2015 season at the request of her Russian Premier League team (Fagan 2015). The WNBA is known by both players and fans alike it has the best talent in the world, with a high level of competition than any other league and that is why overseas teams recruit Americans so hard (Butler, 2018). If the WNBA wants to continue to keep its reputation as the most talented to league and continue growing as a league it is imperative, they keep their top performers playing. In a study done interviewing 10 WNBA players who have also played overseas it was determined that money was not the only driving force sending players overseas. Other factors included a strong desire by all interviewees to explore the world, stay in shape for the WNBA season, and gaining experience for future careers outside of basketball (Butler, 2018). The league has no control over a player’s eagerness to explore the world and therefore cannot make much impact on a player’s decision to play overseas in that regard. However, the new CBA does work to address the other reasons players decide to play overseas and combats these reasons with new benefits. One of these benefits is the additional cash compensation mentioned above which offers players better income. This additional income could potentially take away the money factor in a player’s decision to go overseas. Overseas teams are able to pay foreign players significant amounts more due to their structure, which results in high compensation for American players to travel abroad to play (Butler, 2018). The WNBA paying players more allows the league to potentially compete salary wise with other leagues around the world. More benefits include, according to the WNBA’s agreement to secure 30 employment opportunities in the off-season. These employment opportunities would include housing. The league also agrees to contribute no less than $75,000 a year towards programs such as graduate school, a pre-professional certification program, a career apprenticeships program, etc. These benefits help to address the desire to gain experience for future careers outside of basketball that could send players overseas. Lastly, the desire to stay in shape during the off-season is a priority for many players in traveling overseas to play. The WNBA season is short, the players only play 36 games a year and the season lasts for roughly only five months (, 2020). This leaves seven months of the year for players to continue staying in shape. The CBA did increase the number of maximum games from 38 per team to 44 per team (, 2020) but this will not have a great effect on the overall length of the season. To combat this issue, teams are encouraged in the new CBA to make their playing or practice facilities available to players. Other than this suggestion and the possibility of a few off-season games the league does not offer a ton of support for staying in shape during the off-season according the CBA (, 2020). In addition to addressing the key driving forces of players going overseas outlined in Butler’s study, the new CBA sets strict punishments in place for allowing oversea play to interfere with the WNBA season. Some of these punishments include fines, suspensions, and additional unpaid team promotional appearances. These punishments could infringe on a player’s overall salary which could negate the extra money a player would make going overseas. The biggest leverage the league will gain will be in the 2023 season. At the start of this season, a player will be fined 1% of her base salary for each day of missed training camp. A player can also be suspended without pay for the entire 2023 season if they fail to report by the start of the season. If a player departs a season early due to obligations from another basketball entity, they will be suspended without pay for the remainder of that season and will be deemed as ineligible for the next season (, 2020). These are much stricter sanctions for players. It will force players to prioritize the WNBA if they want to remain a part of the league. The new CBA addresses the key driving forces of players going overseas outlined in Butler’s study. It not only provides benefits to players for staying home during the off-season, but also could provide potential punishments for going overseas. The punishments set forth by the new CBA by the 2023 season will not allow players to miss anything. If players find these extra benefits as adequately addressing their reasoning for leaving and the possible punishments as not worth the risk, the WNBA should see a decrease in players going to play overseas, and therefore helping to grow the league by keeping players in the states year round to promote the WNBA as the only league in the world worth playing in. Marketing Expansion Another key point within negotiations for the new CBA was increasing marketing for the league. Keeping players in the country for the entirety of the year is the first step, but an increase in marketing budgets will allow those players to use the time at home to promote the league. “The league and teams understand that it is important to prioritize the use of players off the court and to maximize the efficiency of player appearances” (, 2020). The league expanded its marketing budget, by promising to spend a minimum of one million dollars per year specifically on marketing and promotion. The league will use players as marketing tools and are able to pay them up to $150,000 by 2023 (, 2020). “We’re really going to step it up and market these players,” Engelbert said. “We’re going to pick some of our top players who have a real feel for marketing and appealing to the fanbase, and bring in new fans” (Hahm, 2020). The NBA uses a similar strategy. Players who market well not only make money for themselves but can draw attention to the league as well. The NBA is phenomenal at content creation and gives fan insights in the players lives. They build their players up in all aspects, on the court, on social media, and in traditional media turning them into household names. “The league does not police its copyrighted content throughout the web. This freedom gives fans opportunities to share highlights and create user-generated content” (Liam, 2019). The use of social media is important in this time to all businesses. The new CBA includes making players market on their own social media accounts to promote sponsors in exchange for cash compensation (, 2020). The WNBA Instagram account has 905,000 followers. Elena Delle Donne has 465,000 followers. Candace Parker has 604,000 followers on Instagram. Skylar Diggins has one million followers on Instagram. The women of this league have a following as shown by their social media followers. Once the league takes full advantage of these millions of followers by promoting these big-time players even more, they will continue to grow in popularity. If, the popularity growth is similar to the that of the players in the NBA, the WNBA will see a growth in followers of the league as a whole just as the NBA did. Another way the WNBA is looking to expand their marketing is through expanding their television broadcasts. The WNBA saw an attendance drop of 12 percent from last season (Jefferson, 2019). However, this is on trend for most other professional sporting leagues. According to ESPN’s attendance reports, the NFL, MLB, and the NHL have all seen decreases in game attendance from 2008-2018 (, 2019). The opportunity for the league to grow rests in television deals. Last year “the WNBA’s television ratings went up 64 percent” (Jefferson, 2019). This is in part due to the WNBA deals with CBS Sports which broadcasted 40 regular season games. This is in addition “to the 16 regular season games and up to 19 playoff games” that were shown on ESPN, ESPN 2 which ESPN pays $25 million annually for (Draper, 2019). The CBA adds a new element to the television broadcasting is the implication of wireless microphones for players to wear during play. “A player shall wear a wireless microphone during any game or practice, including warm-up periods and going to and from the locker room to the playing floor. The rights in any audio captured by such microphone shall belong to the ENBA or a League-Related Entity and may be used in any manner for publicity or promotional purposes” (, 2020). This has been done in other leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and most recently the MLB, who saw great success with using microphones during play to liven up the spring training broadcasts this year (Brown, M 2020). In the NBA, special pockets have been designed inside of jerseys specifically for wireless transmitters, the WNBA could follow this protocol. “Sounds of the Game”-type packages have become regular features on sports broadcasts, where A1s and effects sub mixers get to do the equivalent of drum solos, playing edited pastiches of bat cracks, engine roars, and teammates’ high fives” (Daley, 2018). The extra audio provides insight into a player’s personality while in the middle of action, this will allow fans closer insight into their favorite players which will in turn help market the players. The audio offers “a window into the world of sports — the pep talks, excitement, disillusion, and lots of humor, whether deliberate or not. The exchanges between players and referees are particularly interesting” (Bajak, 2015). If the microphones are able to pick up lively and clean sound from players, the broadcasts of games will then be enriched and enjoyed more as they have in other leagues.Another way the league plans on increasing marketing is with the creation of WNBA Changemakers, “which brings together values-driven businesses who lead the way in the advancement of women through sports. This new platform is designed to directly support the WNBA in its transformation across marketing, branding, and player and fan experience” (, 2020). The partners offer not only financial support but also collaborative strategic marketing plans. According to , the inaugural Changemakers include AT&T, Deloitte, and Nike. These strong companies have the resources and the passion to continue to drive the WNBA forward. ConclusionThe new CBA is groundbreaking for the WNBA. The players are seeing so many benefits they have been fighting for, for years. The league does however also see benefits as well. Leagues around the world were able to see a women’s players association successfully negotiate a favorable agreement with their league which can serve as an example for future CBAs. The increase in salary is a huge step forward for women’s sports, but I do believe it will cost the league. Paying the players more will ultimately lead to more losses especially for the first couple of years of this agreement, with that being said that is why so many of the statements about this new CBA include the notion it is a big bet on women (Medal, 2020). It is a risk for the WNBA to be putting so much more money into a league that consistently has turned losses, however I do believe this new CBA can get the league in the right direction. The loss of money I believe is worth the gain in reputation. The way the WNBA handled this negotiation shows the public, as a league, they are hearing the players and they are wanting to take care of them. After the release of the CBA, people were starting to take notice of the WNBA and the reactions were positive. The league has positioned itself as a player driven progressive league that the public cannot help but to like. The good publicity is also good for obtaining more sponsorships for the league, companies want to be linked to something positive and progressive and the WNBA offers just that in a time when we may see sponsors start to pull away from the USSF. The continuous glowing reputation will help the league grow by allowing fans an honest entity to cheer for and companies and positive public relations program to combine with. The increase in pay not only helps to solidify the WNBA’s reputation, but it is one part in helping to keep players in the states during the off-season. I do not think an increase in money alone is enough to keep players from going over-seas. The stipulations, fines, and suspensions that are set to start in 2023 will be a major factor in keeping players here. This is good for the league in the fact it will force players to either prioritize the WNBA or their team over-seas, no longer will many players be able to do both. However, this concerns me in the fact that some players could still potentially decide the over-seas leagues are better for them year-round. In addition to the increase in pay, the employment opportunities, and the future punishments I think a big problem still exists. Players lack the environment to continue to train properly for more than half of the year. The WNBA season is so short and there are few facilities open for WNBA players to continue to compete and train at a high level when they are not in season. This is an issue I see needs addressing that has not been. The key could be elongating the season if players are actually committed to staying here, or maybe it could be the league facilitating scrimmages during the off-season. I do not know the exact answer to this problem I just know it exists. With that being said, how this CBA is set up right now will still allow growth for the league. I do believe with the extra benefits and future consequences, most players will choose to stay in the states year-round, which allows them to promote the WNBA year-round in the places the league calls home. The more frequent the players can be seen promoting and interacting with the fans, the higher chance of growth there is. It also ensures a greater chance star players will remain healthy and prepared to play in the next WNBA season, which leads to greater talent and competition during season. Lastly, the marketing efforts are solid and a huge upgrade from what the league was doing before. I believe getting players mic’d up for every game or practice will make broadcasts more exciting and fun to watch which can then raise ratings which could mean even more games on television. The more games there are on television the easier it is for people to become comfortable with the league. The WNBA has made advancements within their broadcasting agreements, the problem is their broadcasting partners such as ESPN could be doing more to encourage ratings of the league. I believe if the ESPN started showing more highlights, spending more time talking about the WNBA, or creating an ESPN W channel they would see viewership of WNBA games increase. The use of not only the leagues social media brand but the players as well will be key in advancing the WNBA. If the players are able to buy into the marketing efforts, posting the extra sponsorship post on your feed, sitting down for more interviews, and constantly allowing the WNBA to use them as individual platforms the league could see growth. The more the league can get out in front of the public with players, or exciting games, or community initiative, the harder it will be for people to continue to ignore them. Overall, I do think this new CBA will translate into growth of viewership and fans but not necessarily revenue at least for the first few years. I believe this is a good first building block into a something that has the potential to be much bigger. ReferencesAssociated Press (2014) WNBA, players union agree to new CBA, increase roster sizes , A. (2015) Storytelling in sports: how mic’ing up football players brings a human element to sports broadcasts, D., Bogage, J. 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TV Ratings Are Up for the WNBA, but Fan Attendance Is Still Lacking , L (2020) Tweet (2019) The King of Sports Content: NBA Brand Review , H. (2020) WNBA Makes “Big Bet on Women” With a New Contract , M. (2020) Analyzing the WNBA’s New CBA Deal and What It Means for the Future of the League , G. (2017) Team Payroll Versus Performance in Professional Sports: Is Increased Spending Associated with Greater Success? , J. (2017) How the Perception of a Good Brand Helps Your Company’s Effectiveness (2020) , M (2020) WNBA players opt out of CBA, can start negotiating sooner , M. (2019) Could Brenna Stewart’s injury be tipping point for WNBA negotiations? , January 14, 2020. , J. (2020) Opinion: Historic CBA elevates WNBA as progressive, aggressive league ................
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