The WNBA plans to commit $50 million over the next two years to providing full-time charter flight service for its teams during the season, the league’s commissioner announced Tuesday in a move that addresses years of player safety concerns. Does.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a meeting with sports editors that the league would start a charter program “as soon as we get planes to locations.” He said it is estimated to cost about $25 million per year for the next two seasons.
That means long security lines, bodyguards in public places, tight legroom or no room for the professional athletes who were advocating for better travel long before Caitlin Clarke brought new interest to the league of celebrities.
Most importantly, says Lynx forward Nafeesa Collier, it means safety for the players.
“All these players and these faces are becoming so popular that it’s really as much about it as it is about recovery,” Collier said, noting that Brittney Griner was featured during a commercial tour by the WNBA last season. How he was harassed by being called “provocative”.
The WNBA had already announced plans to once again pay for charter flights for the entire playoffs as well as back-to-back games during the upcoming season. The league started that program last year by spending about $4 million on charter flights. Engelbert said that at the time the league needed to be in the right financial position to conduct charter flights full-time.
The WNBA has never been more popular thanks to rookies like Clark, who helped the NCAA reach its best audience in women’s basketball history, with nearly 19 million fans watching the title game, along with Angel Reese who was at the Met Gala on Monday night. They went. And Cameron Brink.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said it’s no longer business as usual: It’s time for the league, franchises and women’s sports to be innovative.
“We’ve had some moments in the league,” Reeve said, calling the current momentum a tsunami. “But it is clearly a movement. And if you think it’s not, you’ll be left behind.”
Clark attracted attention last week while hanging out at the airport with his new Indiana Fever teammates for a preseason game with the Dallas Wings. That exhibit sold out, with fans lining up eager to get inside.
Due to increased demand, WNBA teams are moving games against Clark and Indiana to larger arenas. The defending champion Las Vegas Aces became the first WNBA team to sell out allotted season tickets in March after leading the league in attendance in 2023.
Flights have been an ongoing issue for the WNBA that only escalated last year when the league began working with the Phoenix Mercury and Griner following the All-Star center’s 10-month detention in Russia.
The league did not allow teams to use charter flights except when they had back-to-back games.
It forced players like Breanna Stewart, a 6-foot-4 forward for the New York Liberty, to sit in her assigned window seat, leaving behind her fellow passengers on commercial flights. WNBA players not only had to lug their luggage back but also endured days of travel that could lead to delays of up to 13 hours.
Charter flights will allow WNBA players to go directly from private air terminals to buses or their cars when returning home. Avoiding layovers will also help with recovery between games, which is even more important with this season’s schedule around the Olympics.
WNBA coaches and players were waiting Tuesday for details about the charter flights.
Stewart spoke to reporters via Zoom just before the commissioner’s speech in New York. Stewart shared an airplane emoji with a question mark on social media to draw the WNBA’s account’s attention.
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, whose Aces already had security in place to protect the players, knows what will make everyone happy.
“Everyone is very happy that they don’t have to stand in security lines as much or for as long,” Hammon said.
Two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, who now has an endorsement deal with Gatorade, said the growth of the women’s game has been a “whirlwind” that is just a matter of time. Wilson said it’s up to the players and teams to present the best product on the court now that so many people are watching.
Wilson said, “That’s what keeps attracting more people and more people and more investors, and then we end up with charter flights, and then things shut down and people are moving, and now We’re having a good time.”
