It casually came up on her podcast in a conversation with her teammate Dijona Carrington.
Which to be fair, is true of any person at any job anywhere.
It’s a pretty regular concept.
At least from a financial standpoint.
And in business, what other standpoint even matters?
When Angel Reese says something like that, you know what the response is going to be.
Obviously that sentiment is true for a majority of sports fans.
Many people couldn’t care less if the WNBA existed or not.
But when you really think about it… if WNBA players went on strike for more money…
I think they might have more of a leg to stand on than what people want to believe.
All people want to do is point at the numbers.
Which makes perfect sense.
In almost any other situation in the world, that’s the only thing that would matter.
But again… the WNBA hasn’t turned a profit in the history of their league.
They have been operating at a loss forever.
The WNBA isn’t there to make the NBA money.
If it were, it would have folded a long time ago.
On the other hand, the NBA is thriving.
But their revenue continues to go up.
Every year the NBA rakes in billions and billions of dollars hand over fist.
Sports fans say, “We wouldn’t even notice if the WNBA didn’t exist”.
But it’s not sports fans the NBA is worried about dealing with.
It’s barely even WNBA fans they’re worried about.
It doesn’t matter where the noise is coming from.
The NBA doesn’t want to deal with bad press on any level.
No matter how smart of a business move, or how in the right they may be.
It doesn’t matter that it’s simple supply and demand.
It doesn’t matter that the WNBA season is half a long.
That the WNBA consistently operate at a loss.
They want to grow the game at all levels.
The NBA wants to be viewed as a progressive organization.
That’s the image they’ve always gone for, and care so deeply about projecting to the world.
So what’s easier for them?
Then the NBA can pat themselves on the back and say, “Good job us.
We’re good people.
We support women’s sports.”
It’s a win-win for both sides.
All for an amount of money that’s completely negligible to the NBA.
I’m not saying WNBA players would be right or wrong to hold out.
But they’re not negotiating with money.
They negotiating with the NBA’s own image.
They’re negotiating with negative headlines.
All things considered, I think WNBA players have more pull with the NBA than people think.
Not because they’re bringing in millions of dollars.
They don’t want to shut down the WNBA in the prime of Caitlin Clark’s career.
The don’t want to do anything that can be viewed as “not growing the game”.
The NBA doesn’t want that.
The NBA isn’t saying no to LeBron James.
The last thing Adam Silver and the NBA want to do is go to war with women’s basketball.
If you want to call it charity, that’s probably fair.
In many ways it’s kind of like charity.
But having the WNBA is a huge part of the image that the NBA cares so deeply about.
I have no idea how probable a WNBA hold out even is.
But at this point, I want to see it happen just out of pure curiosity.
I’d be very interested to see WNBA players attempt to call the NBA’s bluff.
Just dare them to not have a WNBA season because they refuse to increase player salaries by $50k.
Maybe the NBA really is that ruthless.
From a financial perspective, they’d have no reason not to be.
