WNBA All-Stars pressure league on CBA negotiations with warmup shirts

By ALYCE BROWN INDIANAPOLIS AP The WNBA All-Stars desired to send a clear message to the league on the battle s brightest stage All of the players on Squad Clark and Crew Collier warmed up for Saturday night s WNBA All-Star Competition in shirts that read Pay us what you owe us We get a very tiny percentage of all the money that s made through the WNBA which obviously is made through the entertainment we provide revealed Lynx star Napheesa Collier on the decision to wear the shirts So we want a fair and reasonable percentage of that The idea was hatched Saturday morning at a players meeting The demonstration comes after the players and the league failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement at an in-person meeting Thursday The league s players opted out of their last CBA in October and are looking for a better revenue-sharing model increased salaries improved benefits and a softer salary cap After the failed negotiations several players stated there was a large discrepancy between what they requested and what the league was offering If a new CBA is not reached by October specific players including All-Stars Collier and Angel Reese have mentioned the foreseen of a walkout At the end of the competition chants of Pay them broke out in the arena Several fans held signs that read Pay the players during the meeting We had no idea that they were in solidarity with our demonstration mentioned former Stanford star Nneka Ogwumike president of the WNBPA and Seattle Storm forward I ve been hearing it all weekend at the fan events supporting us and wanting us to get our fair share of the value This was potentially the last time that so multiple players would be together in one place before the season ends a fact not lost on the union leadership This is a perfect opportunity to raise awareness for what we re doing and do it together Collier announced Related Articles Napheesa Collier s record-breaking performance leads her unit to WNBA All-Star Contest win Bay Area s Sabrina Ionescu wins -point contest at WNBA All-Star Friday night How Kayla Thornton became a WNBA All-Star Valkyries best competitor Valkyries activate French center Iliana Rupert Golden State Valkyries Takeaways from loss to Seattle Storm The players haven t decided whether they ll wear the shirts on their own teams over the program of the second half of the season which begins Tuesday They hope that fans will wear them as the union communicated on social media during the meeting that the shirts were on sale Ogwumike was unaware that the shirts were already on sale You put it out there and you stand on business Minnesota All-Star Courtney Williams reported about the shirts And we re standing on business