By Dorothy J. Gentry
Sports Editor
Las Vegas – WNBA players used the All-Star Weekend to speak out on issues affecting the league, including the well-documented travel issues.
The issue of WNBA travel jumped back into the spotlight last month when Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and teammates were harassed at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after playing a pair of games in Texas against the Dallas Wings.
A man used his cellphone to record video of himself asking Griner questions about her detainment in Russia. It was a frightening and uncomfortable incident for BG and her teammates – even though police say no crime was committed. Shortly after the incident, the WNBA players’ union renewed its pleas for charter flights.
Since Griner’s return from Russia, the league has approved her to fly charter for WNBA games.
And earlier this month, the Seattle Storm suddenly had to change travel plans recently and take a bus and a four-hour drive from New York to Washington, D.C., due to thunderstorms in the region, which canceled their flight.
Travel is an ongoing issue that the league must figure out sooner rather than later. Since the league began in 1997, WNBA teams have used commercial flights during the regular season. This season, the league expanded its charter flight program to include all postseason games, the Commissioner’s Cup Championship, and select back-to-back regular season games. The league cited financial hardships in not allowing teams to fly charter throughout the season. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert previously said it would cost more than $20 million per year to fund charter flights for an entire WNBA season.
As a result, the league has always traveled mostly via commercial flights, which are paid for by the individual franchises during the regular season. Then teams are reimbursed during the playoffs.
Player Response
During last weekend’s All-Star festivities in Las Vegas, several players were asked about the biggest issues facing the WNBA and the majority cited the travel issues.
When asked if the league was any closer to resolving their travel woes, Kelsey Plum, first vice president of the WNBA Players Union, said: “I think we will see how close we are with this upcoming 2025 CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement). A lot of the time, we can talk publicly about how we want these charter flights and these organizations to support player safety and player health, but then, at the end of the day, these owners are the ones who vote on these things.
“If we don’t have a majority, it’s not going to happen. So we can keep talking until we’re blue in the face, but some of these actions have to get done behind the scenes, and it takes time. I understand that, but it doesn’t mean we stop pushing the issue.”
Something new to the league this year – that is also affecting travel – is an extended schedule with teams playing 40 games.
This is both a blessing and a challenge, believes Nneka Ogwumike, president of the Players Union.
“More games means more games on television. As a player, more games also means more travel, and I feel this 40-game season, especially with the commercial travel,” she said. “Now you know there have been changes made where we have charter flights on back-to-backs; I don’t think that it’s equitable for what we are being asked to do, especially in a 40-game season. This season you can feel it; it’s different in a good way. There’s a lot of fervor and energy and excitement around the W, but I still think there is a ways to go.”
Of all the issues facing the WNBA, for reigning league MVP A’ja Wilson, travel is the most important.
“I’m bougie. I really am and I also think that we deserve it. It’s really hard out here for us and at the same time my biggest thing is protection as a player,” she said. “That situation at the airport with BG should have never happened. We have situations where I just wanna go grab food, and we’re somewhere where it’s not the best, and I can’t even do that, so I think the security and protection of the players (while traveling) is a big situation.
“We need security; we are women. We need people by us; we can’t just walk around and think everything is okay,” Wilson continued. “So protecting the players, security for the players, and obviously the charter flights is what is most important.”
