View Full Version : Stern plays hard ball, threatens to cancel WNBA season
Andy_B
08 Apr 2003, 06:58 PM
http://espn.go.com/wnba/news/2003/0408/1535722.html
Alex_1
08 Apr 2003, 07:16 PM
I liked his comment: "Thats the nature of the world we live in". :D Yeah, right. That's not the real reason why the wage discrepency is as it is.
mpruitt
08 Apr 2003, 08:01 PM
the WNBA players threatening to go on strike is the funniest thing to happen in sports, ever. here's a league that even the NBA and all it's resources decided it couldn't prop up anymore. looks on the brink of going under, people couldn't care less about and players are going on strike?
FlashMan
08 Apr 2003, 08:18 PM
Originally posted by maxim-1
the WNBA players threatening to go on strike is the funniest thing to happen in sports, ever.
you mean funnier than MLS players suing their own leauge for it to be disbanded or declared illegal (or whatever their strike was about) after only a few years of playing?
i'd say it's at least pretty close, either way.
WarrenWallace
08 Apr 2003, 08:22 PM
Let them strike. If they feel that they can't make enough money in this US league, try and go play somewhere else. No one is making them play basketball here.
empennage
08 Apr 2003, 10:51 PM
Not to be sexest but...
They are overpaid. College basketball is a better product and the players play for free or scholarships. Why should anybody in the WNBA be compensated more, when college players are better and being paid less?
Andy_B
09 Apr 2003, 12:04 AM
when college players are better and being paid less?
I don't pretend to follow womens hoop but I find this statement about college players being better than the best female basketball players in the world strange.
You do realize that 90% of the women who played in the NCAA final today will never be able to make a WNBA squad right?
As for the health of the WNBA, as long as they go under before WUSA does I don't care.
If they go under before the WUSA does (assuming either go under), then the WUSA failure will be more blamed on people not following womens sports rather than soccer failing again.
Andy
empennage
09 Apr 2003, 12:32 AM
Originally posted by Andy_B
I don't pretend to follow womens hoop but I find this statement about college players being better than the best female basketball players in the world strange.
Sorry, I should have made myself more clear. What I meant is that there are college men that play for free and a much better than the WNBA.
The WNBA is a 3rd rate league and the pay should be accordingly.
Tea Men Tom
09 Apr 2003, 12:49 AM
Note to WNBA Players-
Don't mess with David Stern - ever.
kenntomasch
09 Apr 2003, 08:11 AM
<crickets chirping>
GoDC
09 Apr 2003, 09:01 AM
Do you think this would help MLS attendance if they do cancel the season?? If so, then go Stern.
;)
AndyMead
09 Apr 2003, 10:31 AM
Originally posted by empennage
Sorry, I should have made myself more clear. What I meant is that there are college men that play for free and a much better than the WNBA.
The WNBA is a 3rd rate league and the pay should be accordingly.
Oh yeah, that argument again.
And college football is better than high school football, yet millions of folks turn out in person - and watch on TV/listen on radio - to high school football every Friday night during the fall.
It has never been a matter of "best", only "entertaining". Does the WNBA provide good entertainment?
The worst team in the NBA would almost certainly go undefeated through a college season. There's no comparison. Yet I don't see you demeaning men's college B-ball. The NFL teams would crush NCAA teams. The top European and South American club sides would regularly beat MLS teams.
It just doesn't matter. This is a non-argument.
SlowFox
09 Apr 2003, 10:32 AM
Originally posted by GoDC
Do you think this would help MLS attendance if they do cancel the season?? If so, then go Stern.
;)
I know where you're coming from but I don't think it EVER helps when something like this looms on the horizon.
Soccer will survive or not based on its viability as a sport; I don't think people will turn to it because they can't get their fix of WNBA action. :)
=NLK=
gofire2001
09 Apr 2003, 10:36 AM
the Orlando team was bought by the Mohegan Indian Tribe and will play at the tribe's casino in Uncasville, Conn
Damn, the league must be in real big trouble.
sachinag
09 Apr 2003, 10:46 AM
Perhaps, but it's a very interesting move. First - it's the only WNBA team that is independent, that is, not associated with a NBA team. Second - there's a huge following for UConn women in the state. I don't think women's pro hoops in the state is necessarily a non-starter. Third, the Mohegan Sun casino has a huge (for a casino in the middle of nowhere) 10,000 arena that could use a few more non-boxing, washed-up singers, and WWE dates.
Frankly, I'd love to see Diana Taurasi declare early for the draft and play there and see what happens.
Jeremy Goodwin
09 Apr 2003, 10:47 AM
Originally posted by sachinag
Perhaps, but it's a very interesting move. First - it's the only WNBA team that is independent, that is, not associated with a NBA team. Second - there's a huge following for UConn women in the state. I don't think women's pro hoops in the state is necessarily a non-starter. Third, the Mohegan Sun casino has a huge (for a casino in the middle of nowhere) 10,000 arena that could use a few more non-boxing, washed-up singers, and WWE dates.
Frankly, I'd love to see Diana Taurasi declare early for the draft and play there and see what happens. Right, Mohegan Sun is a good match for WNBA.
Also of note is that they DO NOT offer a sports line at the casino. If they did, then they would never have been allowed to bring in a team.
deejay
09 Apr 2003, 11:05 AM
Originally posted by empennage
Sorry, I should have made myself more clear. What I meant is that there are college men that play for free and a much better than the WNBA.
The WNBA is a 3rd rate league and the pay should be accordingly.
You didn't get the point. The players could make a lot more playing in Europe.
Dr. Wankler
09 Apr 2003, 11:08 AM
Or they could've played in the now-defunct ABL (I think), which paid it's players better than the WNBA, but which was forced out of existence because no one would give them a TV contract because of the NBA juggernaut that was backing the WNBA.The players had a league that might've been viable, but they jumped on the NBA bandwagon expecting to make more money in the long run. Too bad.
Sandon Mibut
09 Apr 2003, 11:18 AM
Originally posted by deejay
You didn't get the point. The players could make a lot more playing in Europe. The players DO make more playing in Europe. The WNBA's dirty little secret is that for almost all of their players, the WNBA is a part-time job. Most of the players spend the fall-winter-early spring playing abroad, where they make more money.
Others are assistant, and even head, coaches of college programs.
A select few "marquee" players who make decent money live in their WNBA town all year round and make marketing and other appearances throughout the offseason. But, they are a very select few.
The facts are that for a floundering league with no TV revenue and poor attendance, make 40K for 4 months is a damn good wage.
pething101
09 Apr 2003, 11:31 AM
Originally posted by empennage
Not to be sexest but...
What is wrong with being sexy?
http://www.spinalpap.com/images/general/actors/bw_nigel.gif