WNBA All-Star Players Wear ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us’ T-Shirts

WNBA All-Star players got straight to the point on the court ahead of their All-Star game on Saturday: “Pay Us What You Owe Us” their T-shirts read as they warmed up. The players union and league management have been in ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations.

On Thursday, more than 40 players attended a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) meeting, which apparently did not land on a mutually agreeable deal getting done. Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was at the meeting.

“We should be paid more and hopefully that’s the case moving forward as the league continues to grow,” Clark said in a video posted on social platform X. “I think that’s something that’s probably the most important thing that we’re in the room advocating about.”

Clark, who was present at the All-Star game on Saturday, was unable to play due to a right groin injury.

Thursday’s CBA meeting was the first time the league and the players union, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), have met in person since December. “We were disappointed for sure,” co-WNBA All-Star captain Napheesa Collier said on Friday, via ESPN. “What they came back with was just nowhere near what we asked for or even in the same conversation.”

Ahead of the game, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert offered an optimistic viewpoint contrasting the players’ apparent outlook on the negotiations. “We want the same things that the players want,” Engelbert said in a Saturday press conference prior to game time, via Sportico. “We want to significantly increase their salary and benefits while balancing with our owners their ability to have a path to profitability as well as continued investment.”

The opposing viewpoints highlight how far apart the WNBPA and league management appear to be in negotiations. The labor fight is centered on the union’s call for a revamp on revenue sharing, where players would receive a bigger percentage of league revenue. Englebert has said the next pass will be “much more lucrative.” However, players have said that what has been recently proposed was far from “equitable.”

As the WNBA grapples with labor negotiations, it has also been expanding, with three new cities being added in the next five years. With its expansion, racial attacks against players have also been growing.