Current Events > Caitlin Clark, WNBA All-Stars wear 'Pay Us What You Owe Us' shirts

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/allstar/2025/07/19/caitlin-clark-wnba-all-stars-cba-shirts-pay-us-what-you-owe-us/85294268007/

All eyes are on the WNBA as the best players in the league gather in Indianapolis for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game. And they used that opportunity to make a bold statement to the league, walking onto the court for warm ups in black T-shirts that read, "Pay Us What You Owe Us." One of the main items on the All-Star weekend agenda was a face-to-face meeting between the players and league on collective bargaining agreement negotiations as the current contract expires at the end of the 2025 season. According to multiple players, that meeting did not go well. "Thats one of the things we're in the room fighting for," Clark said Saturday ahead of the All-Star Game. "We should be paid more and hopefully thats the case moving forward as the league continues to grow. I think thats something thats probably the most important thing that we are in the room advocating about."

Crazy that Clark is still more valuable to the league than basically everyone else combined and she's been on the bench most of the season

lilORANG posted...

Crazy that Clark is still more valuable to the league than basically everyone else combined and she's been on the bench most of the season

Because everyone else combined apparently takes that fact personally and is headhunting her despite her being their golden goose.

I love the shirts. I wonder if they are headed towards a lockout. Unrivaled gives them a lot of leverage in negotiations too.

I'm sure she will get dogpiled on the Internet for it by people not realizing she really isn't advocating for herself but for all of the players in the league that aren't multi-millionaires with a nearly 30 million dollar contract with Nike alone.

Clark is going to have a very blessed life even if she never earned a penny from the league but the reality is there are a ton of players out there in the league that are in major cities where yeah the type of money they are making means they probably can barely afford to live in the city they play in.

Then again to average working folks that are in the same situation they aren't going to feel sorry for them especially when the league wouldn't exist without being subsidized by the NBA. So I get it. it isn't a clearcut situation.

But one thing for certain is she will catch shit for it just for being vocal about it and trying to help those way less fortunate that aren't in her position.

So they want less?

Apparently she makes around 90k per year. NGL more than I thought WNBA players got.

She got 11 million dollars from other things though....

LuigiChalmersJr posted...

I love the shirts. I wonder if they are headed towards a lockout. Unrivaled gives them a lot of leverage in negotiations too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't exactly my area of expertise, but isn't the WNBA still being very heavily subsidized by the NBA to the point that if the NBA decided to pull the plug, The WNBA would pretty much be instantly bankrupt? Negotiations can't make money appear where there isn't any.

Has the WNBA actually started making money?

chris1001_the_sequel posted...

Correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't exactly my area of expertise, but isn't the WNBA still being very heavily subsidized by the NBA to the point that if the NBA decided to pull the plug, The WNBA would pretty much be instantly bankrupt? Negotiations can't make money appear where there isn't any.

As far as I know yes, they still are, but I'd like to imagine that will change soon. The WNBA is growing very quickly.

Does the WNBA make money?

Looks like the players want a larger percentage of the revenue generated by the league. The article below, linked in the OP's article, says the players get around 10% of league revenue, while most men's leagues are around 50%.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2025/07/18/wnba-needs-to-pay-players-before-it-gets-ugly-just-ask-u-s-soccer/85281849007/

I saw some other sources say the percentage is 9.3%, and that there is 50/50 sharing above a revenue threshold that the league currently barely meets. The article I linked also mentions that next year a $200 million a year media deal kicks in, which more than triples what the league currently gets.

So more money is expected to be coming in and the players want to renegotiate their CBA make sure they're getting a piece of it.

The money in sports ownership is in the fact that team valuations increase at exponential rates. The Liberty, for instance, were recently valued at $450 million, having been purchased for less than $15 million less than a decade ago.
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/45271533/reports-wnba-liberty-sell-stake-record-450m-valuation

obsolete posted...

Does the WNBA make money?

It currently does not

Hell yeah. For those with snide remarks about the league's profitability, I might note that ChatGPT isn't profitable. Until the last couple years, neither were Uber, Lyft, or Doordash. But I can't imagine people here arguing for those companies paying their workers less on that basis.

chris1001_the_sequel posted...

Correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't exactly my area of expertise, but isn't the WNBA still being very heavily subsidized by the NBA to the point that if the NBA decided to pull the plug, The WNBA would pretty much be instantly bankrupt? Negotiations can't make money appear where there isn't any.

yes. this should wait till the next TV deal or like 5 years from now when they show sustained increased revenue and viewership. last year definitely brought in a spike and another spike with paige and just more people realizing a lot of these women are talented. but there's still a lot of lowlight clips going on. even CC is only shooting 36% this year. but give it a few more years for them to prove it can actually bring in money and not just lose a lot of viewership from all the casual fans in the next couple years.

i know the new tv deal starts next year and is 11 years and says it brings in $200 million annually but still they need to bring in more money than just that and keep bringing in ticket sales. not just from a few teams but need pretty much all the teams to be selling 90%+ of tickets a game. the owners aren't just gonna just put things at like 50/50 or whatever. but i can see the stars making like $1 million a year and maybe moving the min up to like 100k+. right now the highest players make 250~k

https://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/1m5uolh/several_wnba_players_were_denied_entry_into_a/

I'm starting to think these players are just entitled. Look at these players (maybe one and her groupies?) trying to get into that club like they're big time names lol. Caitlin is really the only one that deserves any additional monies.

Pikachuchupika posted...

https://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/1m5uolh/several_wnba_players_were_denied_entry_into_a/

I'm starting to think these players are just entitled. Look at these players (maybe one and her groupies?) trying to get into that club like they're big time names lol. Caitlin is really the only one that deserves any additional monies.

Oh they didnt get in? One woman in that video was in this viral one

https://x.com/Awk20000/status/1946815461720809483

They need at least a Major League Soccer set-up, able to pay big for handful of players or whatever.

Pikachuchupika posted...

https://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/1m5uolh/several_wnba_players_were_denied_entry_into_a/

I'm starting to think these players are just entitled. Look at these players (maybe one and her groupies?) trying to get into that club like they're big time names lol. Caitlin is really the only one that deserves any additional monies.

I think context is missing here. This was Angel Reese's party and she invited the player trying to get in. She shouldn't have to wait in line tbh.

Sometimes, the self-owns are just...mwah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAhE-RwlEr8&t=1s

MLBloomy posted...

So more money is expected to be coming in and the players want to renegotiate their CBA make sure they're getting a piece of it.

That make sense. If the league grows, it makes sense that the players would want a bigger share of the revenues.

Would this play a role in the team having issues with solvency though? As far as I know, the league itself does not turn a profit just yet.

Unless Im wrong,

They werent ever underpaid. I think many wnba teams lose money and some places the negative money is covered by the nba. Many of the teams are always at a loss. They never sell merch nor even fill much of the stadiums at all. For revenue I dont think the wnba even brings in 5% of what even a non top nba team brings in,
So the players expecting to be paid what major nba players get is ridiculous.

but Im hoping she will change this. Shes filling seats, selling merch and bringing attention.

but the HUGE problem here is, lets say they start paying more to all the players, what happens in 5-10 years? Once Clark is gone, will any of this hype carrying on? Will seats still get sold? They might all be beyond screwed since theyd be giving players millions more from pay contracts yet revenue drops to where it was before her where they were already losing or making no money.

im not saying any of this is fair or even right, but if they did try to do equal pay it would just bankrupt most these teams especially once the hype dies down.

SSj4Wingzero posted...

Would this play a role in the team having issues with solvency though? As far as I know, the league itself does not turn a profit just yet.

I guess not, because 5 more teams are coming in the next 5 years. Toronto and Portland next year, Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philly in 2030. If some teams were really that far in the hole, you'd think they'd try relocating over further expansion.

The league's Wikipedia article also suggests there might be some creative accounting going on to make the teams / league seem less profitable than they are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_National_Basketball_Association#Finance

The Green Bay Packers might be the only North American pro sports franchise where you have a chance to trust their financial reporting.

dhampire1 posted...

So the players expecting to be paid what major nba players get is ridiculous.

They don't want to be paid what NBA players are paid. They want the same revenue split the NBA players get. So roughly 50/50 between league and players compared to the 80/20 to 90/10 they currently get. Especially with a lucrative new TV contract about to kick in.

SSj4Wingzero posted...

the league itself does not turn a profit just yet.

The league itself got $750 million in expansion fees just this summer. About $50 million per current ownership group. Any year-to-year losses they've had are dwarfed by that