I had to laugh when I saw the players wearing the "pay us what we're owed" shirts.
The WNBA owns just 42% of its own league, and yes certain owners also are NBA owners or in the group of investors, but the actual WNBA part is still just 42% so at best the players could hope for maybe 51% of that 42% (or about 21% of revenue).
Even that would be problematic is there is 1 glaring difference between the NBA and WNBA, that is that the NBA makes a profit and the WNBA has lost money literally every year of its existence. Hard to justify splitting revenue when you are operating at a loss.
The new media rights deal looks like it might change that, but the WNBA still only gets 42% of that $270m.
I think the players should get more after the media money kicks in, but it's not going to be as much as they want with the WNBA's 42% share and still leaving the owners room for some profit (for the first time ever).
As the league gets more popular players will make more money from endorsements and other off court revenue, which is why they should be doing everything they can to elevate CC, it's in their own best interests. Sadly it's mostly just Fever players getting the boost, I'd bet half the players are getting $1m+ just from being in CC's orbit.
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