Women's soccer teaches the WNBA a history lesson about when CBA talks go wrong

PHILADELPHIA — When the crowd at the WNBA All-Star Game aimed a chorus of "Pay them!” chants at commissioner Cathy Engelbert, they not only woke up the public to the players’ demands. They also woke up some echoes.

People who have been involved in women’s sports for a while couldn’t help remembering 2019, when the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup title was greeted by chants of “Equal pay!” in stadiums from the United States to France, where the tournament was held. And while WNBA players have their own goals at the bargaining table, the connection wasn’t just made by outsiders.

Spend enough time watching basketball and soccer, and you’ll see a fair number of players from both sports at each other’s games, especially in cities with WNBA and NWSL teams. It’s been the case in New York and Washington for a while, and now it’s just as likely in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago.

They don’t just pass by each other, either. Megan Rapinoe is a courtside regular at New York Liberty games with her equally famous fiancée, Sue Bird, who was a Seattle Storm teammate of Breanna Stewart for years before retiring.

Rapinoe also spent many of her playing years in Seattle with the NWSL’s Reign, so it was it was only natural that she also befriended Stewart. And given Rapinoe’s history of advocacy, it’s only natural now that Stewart can seek her advice.

“That will probably be my next conversation after the next meeting at the end of July,” Stewart said, adding that WNBA players noticed the historic gains made by NWSL players in their CBA deal last year.

“The way the NWSL last year completely changed and shifted their CBA, it changed the landscape of the sport,” Stewart said. “And that’s what we’re trying to do is change the landscape of the WNBA, of women’s basketball. So then thereafter, it creates a standard for all the other leagues.”

‘It’s really empowering for us’

Does the public’s involvement actually matter? Players in both sports say yes.

Stewart said the “Pay them!” chants were “probably the biggest success of the [All-Star] weekend because it just shows how much they care about what we’re doing.”

Kahleah Copper, the pride of North Philadelphia, said, “It means a lot to have the public support because it’s just giving us another platform to really push for what we want.”

And Liberty guard Natasha Cloud added her approval with her usual Delco-bred charisma.

“It’s a special thing,” she said. “Our fans know they love this league, they invest in this league [and] in themselves, whether it’s their money, their time, their energy, whatever it is. So to want to see the players that make their experience that much better at these games, at these venues, at these arenas — they know that this is a collaborative effort. So it’s really empowering for the players, for us to witness that.”

Though the circumstances aren’t entirely the same this time around — the WNBA players aren’t filing lawsuits like the U.S. soccer players did — those “Equal pay!” chants back then made a worldwide impact.

Former U.S. star midfielder Sam Mewis spent years on her union’s bargaining committee. Now a member of the media herself as a podcaster with the Men in Blazers network, she still vividly recalls her feelings from that magic summer.

“That moment was a big realization for all of us that this meant something to a lot of people, and that the fans were supporting us,” she said. “I remember our lawyers and PR team insisting that the public pressure on the U.S. Soccer Federation to come to terms with us was a huge factor in our negotiations. Having the fans on your side in a negotiation like the one the WNBPA is facing — that makes a big difference.”

U.S. Soccer also didn’t help itself. Its president at the time, Carlos Cordeiro, famously botched pronouncing Rapinoe’s name during the team’s World Cup victory celebration at New York’s City Hall.

But that was a small misstep compared to the one he made six months later: a lack of oversight of sexist language in a legal filing by U.S. Soccer’s lawyers in the equal pay suit. The furor that ensued forced his resignation, amid criticism not just from the women’s game but also U.S. men’s team coach Gregg Berhalter and MLS commissioner Don Garber.

The WNBA is on the clock

For as much criticism as Engelbert has taken from fans and players, it seems hard to believe she’ll suffer a fate that severe. Though the former Deloitte consultant has been accused of lacking a common touch — just as Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker, was — she spent a lot of time talking with players at the All-Star Game, and got credit from them for it.

Engelbert also knows where the WNBA needs to get, even if that doesn’t make it any easier to convince the people who sign her paycheck: WNBA team owners, and NBA team owners who also invest in the league without owning teams.

The players want a big increase in their share of league revenues, and they see three factors. NBA players get around 50% of that league’s basketball-related revenues, while WNBA players get only around 9.3% of theirs. But while the WNBA obviously hasn’t made as much money over the years, the league now has a $2.2 billion media rights deal starting next season, plus three expansion teams paying$250 million entry fees.

“All these teams are being added, we don’t see a dime of it,” Cloud said. “How much does it cost to buy into our league? Nine figures now. ... So why don’t we see any of it? This business is going to be a billion-dollar business within, like, 10 years, and they know that.”

Copper knows how many critics there are out there. She wondered aloud how many of them were alive when the NBA was the same age the WNBA is now, in its 29th season. (That was 1977, for the record.)

“I think there [are] a lot of people on social media who don’t know,” she said. “They say, ‘Oh, y’all don’t deserve this money,’ or whatever the case may be — but they don’t know that in Year [29] for the NBA, they weren’t getting paid as much as they’re getting paid [now]. So I just want people to educate themselves on what we’re really trying to accomplish before they comment.”

There’s one more history lesson here, and it’s meant to go straight to the top.

For as much as Cordeiro wanted to get a deal done, his missteps cost him the prize. It ultimately was won by his successor, Cindy Cone. After she rose from the vice presidency, she finished the job with experience as an administrator and World Cup-winning player.

If Engelbert wants to land on the right page in the history books, the pathway there is clear. Get the players the money they’ve earned, and she’ll have earned the right to be praised for it.