On the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Gigi Speer is joined by journalist Roberta Rodrigues to discuss the past, present, and future of the WNBA CBA negotiations. Rodrigues shares her experiences talking with various players about what they are hoping to see from a new CBA. She also compares the bargaining process in the WNBA with the one that took place in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Speer opens the show by asking Rodrigues what she thinks of the current situation surrounding the CBA. “Well, I think it comes down to the fact that the WNBA is a union,” Rodrigues says. “And we have the first union in women’s professional sports, and unions are key for workers. … And one thing that the WNBA said is that players want to have a fair share of the value that they bring to the league.”
Later on, Speer asks Rodrigues how new WNBA owners can look at return-on-investment in the league. “What we’re seeing today is growth in the value of WNBA teams,” Rodrigues says. “… So, investment today, that’s part of economic growth. … So the way that I see it, the WNBA can’t be seen as, you know, a tax write-off for people anymore.”
Speer and Rodrigues end the show by comparing the WNBA and NWSL bargaining processes. “What the NWSL did is historical,” Rodrigues says. “I do not believe the WNBA would benefit from that model, because soccer and basketball work very differently worldwide.”
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