Women's National Basketball Players Association | |
 | |
| Founded | November 6, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Type | Trade union |
| Headquarters | 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY |
| Location | |
Executive Director | Terri Jackson |
President | Nneka Ogwumike |
| Executive Committee | |
| Website | wnbpa |
The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) is the players' union for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). It formed in 1998 and was the first trade union for female professional athletes.
The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) was formed in 1998 after the end of the WNBA league's second season. [1] [2] Players were protesting average salaries of $30,000 (equivalent to $56,080in 2023) and lack of health care benefits, retirement plans, and revenue sharing. [2] It was the first trade union for professional women athletes. [2] [3] According to its website it was the first trade union to ratify a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in women's professional sports. [1] The union's first director was Pamela Wheeler. [2]
The WNBPA ratified its first CBA on 30 April 1999. [1] According to its website it was the first CBA ratified in professional women's sports. [1] It included provisions to raise the minimum salary for established players to $30,000 (from $15,000), health care benefits that extended to the off-season, a retirement plan, paid maternity leave, and revenue sharing. [2]
The WNBPA threatened to strike in 2003 if a new deal was not worked out between players and the league. The result was a delay in the start of the 2003 preseason. The 2003 WNBA draft was also delayed. [4]
In 2014 the league and the union made an 8-year collective bargaining agreement which allowed an opt-out after the 2019 season. [5]
In January 2020, the league and the union announced they had reached a tentative agreement that represented a "profound shift" in compensation for players and the resources available to them. [6] Under the agreement the average player salary would "exceed six figures for the first time." [6] The agreement also covered revenue sharing, travel standards, and maternity and childcare benefits. [6] Billie Jean King, part owner of the Los Angeles Sparks, said the agreement would "redefine what it means to be a professional female athlete today.” [6] Sports Illustrated called it a "groundbreaking, glass-ceiling-cracking" agreement which was the "first of its kind in pro sports" in addressing the needs of working parents. [7] The league expected the salary increase to benefit the WNBA by helping prevent players from resorting to off-season play in Europe, Asia, and Australia in order to increase their earnings, as the extra playing time increases the risk of injuries that may affect WNBA competition and the extended time working outside the US affects players' availability to promote the league off-season. [6] Shortly afterward the union negotiated with the league on how to create the Wubble, a coronavirus bubble designed to allow the WNBA to play a shortened 2020 season. [7] [8]
Shortly after the George Floyd protests began in 2020, the league and the players' union agreed to put Say Her Name and Black Lives Matter slogans on warmup gear and uniforms for opening weekend. [9] [10] On 6 July, the WNBA announced their pandemic-shortened season would be "dedicated to social justice." [11] [12] [13] In early July 2020, Atlanta Dream owner Senator Kelly Loeffler criticized the league's support for Black Lives Matter and asked the league commissioner Cathy Engelbert to drop support of the Black Lives Matter movement. [14] [15] [16] Engelbert refused, releasing a statement saying the league would "continue to use our platforms to vigorously advocate for social justice," and the WNBA and WNBPA announced the joint formation of the Social Justice Council by the league and union. [14] [17] [18]
In 2021 the NAACP gave the WNBPA their Jackie Robinson Award (shared with Steph Curry) in recognition for the union's work advocating for social justice. [3] [20]
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league based in the United States. It is composed of 12 teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All-Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. Like some other WNBA teams, the Sparks have the distinction of not being affiliated with an NBA counterpart, even though the market is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Women's National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 1998 WNBA season, to the top rookie of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters throughout the United States, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The player(s) with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
The WNBA draft is an annual draft held by the WNBA through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. The first WNBA draft was held in 1997.
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The Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season, to the player who most "exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court—ethical behavior, fair play and integrity." This is the same criterion used by the analogous NBA Sportsmanship Award, given by the NBA since its 1995–96 season.
Rebekkah Brunson is an American basketball coach and broadcast analyst. She is currently an assistant coach with the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Brunson is a former forward for the Lynx and is the only player to win five WNBA championships. She held the WNBA record for rebounding, which she ceded to Lynx center Sylvia Fowles in 2020.
Nnemkadi Chinwe Victoria "Nneka" Ogwumike is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks first overall in the 2012 WNBA draft and signed an endorsement deal with Nike soon after. Ogwumike spent 12 seasons with the Sparks and was named WNBA MVP for the 2016 WNBA season and won the WNBA Finals the same year. She was named to The W25, the league's list of the top 25 players of its first 25 years, in 2021.
The 2014 WNBA season was the 18th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The season started in May and concluded in September to accommodate the 2014 Women's World Championship.
ChinenyeJoy "Chiney" Ogwumike is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2020, she became the first Black woman and the first WNBA player to host a national radio show for ESPN. She was one of the first and youngest commentators ever to be named an NBA analyst for the network covering the NBA, WNBA, and variety of sports, while simultaneously playing in the WNBA. Chiney is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in International relations. She played in three Final Fours and finished as the conference leader in scoring and rebounding as of January 3, 2014. As of 2016, Ogwumike was elected vice-president of the WNBA Players Association, and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. In May 2018, Ogwumike signed a multi-year contract with ESPN to become a full-time basketball analyst.
The 2016 WNBA Finals was the best-of-five championship series for the 2016 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx held home court advantage in the Finals, but lost three games to two to the second-seeded Los Angeles Sparks. The series followed a 2–2–1 format, and eschewed from the previous tradition of having the Western Conference champion face the Eastern Conference champion. Instead, in the 2016 season, the top eight teams qualified for the playoffs, regardless of conference. Both WNBA Finals teams were from the Western Conference. The Sparks won a semifinal series against the Chicago Sky to determine one of the Finals berths; the first-seeded Lynx defeated the Phoenix Mercury to earn the other. Candace Parker was named the 2016 WNBA Finals MVP. Renee Brown, outgoing Chief of Basketball Operations and Player Relations of the WNBA, issued statements following games 4 and 5 saying the referees had made an error in each game. Nevertheless, the Sparks won the series 3 games to 2.
Starting in 2016, players for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) have engaged in a series of legal actions against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). These legal actions detail the unequal treatment and compensation of the USWNT, as compared to the U.S. men's national soccer team (USMNT). The process of achieving equal pay and treatment started with a federal complaint submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016, with notable moments throughout 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2022. The fight for equal treatment and compensation has received widespread media attention, inspired legislative action in the U.S. Senate, and received fan support. The 2021 documentary film, LFG also details the story of the U.S. women's national soccer team and their fight for equal pay. A landmark equal pay agreement was reached in February 2022.
The 2020 WNBA season was the 24th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Washington Mystics were the defending champions. Planned changes to the league's schedule included an increase from 34 to 36 regular season games for each team, the introduction of a mid-season Commissioner's Cup tournament, and more games broadcast on ESPN and ABC. This was the first season under a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the WNBA Players Association. However, on April 3, the season was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a plan approved on June 15, the league began a shortened 22-game regular season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, without fans present on July 25. A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces was named the league MVP. The Seattle Storm won the 2020 WNBA Finals over the Aces, and Breanna Stewart was named the Finals MVP.
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The Women's National Basketball Association/Women's National Basketball Players Association Social Justice Council is an activist committee jointly run by the WNBA and the players union which addresses systemic racism, LGBTQ+ rights, and other issues affecting women in the United States. It was formed in July 2020 after criticism of and pushback against the organizations' support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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