Stern Addresses Status of WNBA Negotiations
David Stern: There are two items that we are going to talk to you about today. The first is the decision by the Board of Governors to put the Charlotte expansion team into the East and move New Orleans into the West for the 2004-2005 season.
NBA Commissioner David Stern
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The second was a vote by the Board to set a deadline of April 18 for the WNBA negotiations to successfully conclude or if not the season will not be able to move forward. The NBA owners have been asked to subsidize the league to a number, which will probably be $12 million this year. Unlike the situation in soccer where the women were asked to take very significant cuts in pay -- and did -- the owners authorized the negotiation committee to make proposals for cost-of-living increase in player costs for the WNBA, so that we could get a deal and then work with the players to build the league as we were prepared to in our seventh season. But if that is not to be, then we�ll know in the next 10 days or so whether there will be a WNBA season.
Other than that, we reviewed collective bargaining issues, as we prepare to sit down with the National Basketball Players Association in May; and marketing issues, as we come out of our San Antonio meetings.
Question: Is the $12 million figure annually for the WNBA?
Stern: That�s what in light of certain shifting of expenses and the like this year to the teams, and the subsidy that the NBA was giving to the WNBA, that�s the number that we project for this coming season. It would be our hope, indeed our anticipation given my assurances to the owners over the years, that that number would decline in future years, as the business of the WNBA begins to grow. But if we can�t get the ability to sit down and get to the deal that we have to get to, which I said would represent an increase as opposed to a reduction, I�ll be more disappointed than the most ardent WNBA fans, of which I consider myself one.
Question: What was their most recent offer?
Stern: We�re not in the same ballpark. And frankly, I understand the individual players� perspective. They are playing the sport at the highest level, they are playing � the television audiences that get to see them, and they see the men getting astounding numbers by comparison. The same could be said with respect to coming out of the World Cup the way the women soccer players captivated the nation, but the commercial realities are there that required them to take cuts. We�re the NBA, we are backing this league and we are not asking our women to take cuts. But we are asking them to make a deal that we can demonstrate once and for all that the WNBA has a strong future. It�s up to the women of the WNBA.
Question: Is there a lack of an understanding that you want the WNBA to support itself?
Stern: I�m not sure. The numbers � we�ve made available all the numbers, had a certain retrenchment by four teams that had foregone operation. We were fortunate to find in San Antonio and Connecticut willing operators and owners of teams. We�ve sweetened the pot so to speak for all of our teams to subsidize them so that they could make the transition to the owner model that we think is essential for the long-term success of the league. And now we want to roll up our sleeves with the players and make this a permanent landmark on the American sports scene. We�ll see whether the players want to do it with us or not. I think there is some sense that the NBA can afford it and we will � I have gotten authorization from the owners on a budget that allows us to subsidize it for $12 million this year. But in these financial realities, I�ve done my job. But I can�t do more.