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Engelbert: WNBA unable to finance charter flights
4dMechelle Voepel

ESPN networks to televise 25 WNBA games in '22
4dMechelle Voepel


Source: Liberty fined $500K for chartering flights
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32d


WNBA COMMISSIONER CATHY ENGELBERT SAYS PAYING FOR CHARTER FLIGHTS WOULD
JEOPARDIZE LEAGUE'S FINANCES

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Mar 4, 2022
 * Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said as much as she would like the league to
use charter flights throughout the season, it is not financially responsible to
do now.

"It would be more than $20 million a year to fund charter flights for an entire
WNBA season," Engelbert said Thursday in an interview with ESPN. "So this is
something that we're not going to jeopardize the financial health of the league
and be irresponsible about. If we can get it funded by sponsors and supporters,
great, but that's not where we are. We do not have that.

"We've asked all the major airlines. We've asked charter companies. I've been
working on this since the moment I came into the league. But without sponsors
stepping up, it's just not in the cards right now. If we could get it sponsored
or funded in some way ... I'm all ears. I've gotten lots of calls over the past
year about this since we've been back in our 12 markets. Then when people price
it out, and they see it's $20 million-plus, you never hear from them again."


EDITOR'S PICKS


 * SOURCE: LIBERTY FINED $500K FOR CHARTERING FLIGHTS
   6DALEXA PHILIPPOU


 * ESPN NETWORKS TO TELEVISE 25 WNBA GAMES IN '22
   4DMECHELLE VOEPEL

1 Related

The New York Liberty were fined $500,000 for chartering flights to away games
during the second half of this past WNBA season and for other violations of
league rules, including an unsanctioned team trip to Napa, California.

A portion of the letter sent to the team, shared with ESPN this week, read, "For
these violations, the Liberty is hereby fined $500,000. Any similar violations
in the future will result in more significant discipline, including larger fines
and the possible forfeiture of draft picks."

The league said Thursday the fine was always $500,000, and not a larger amount
that was reduced after negotiations with the Liberty.

The flights were purchased by Liberty owners Joe Tsai, co-founder of the Chinese
tech company Alibaba Group, and his wife, Clara. The news was first reported
Tuesday by Sports Illustrated, which also reported that the Liberty's unofficial
proposal of getting three years of comped chartered flights for the entire
league was rejected by the WNBA Board of Governors.

The WNBA said via a statement Tuesday that there was no proposal for the board
to consider, which Engelbert reiterated Thursday.

"And if there had been," she said, "it would have been supported."

The league has supported the use of charters during the playoffs if teams have
just a day between games and are crossing time zones. Engelbert also said the
league "would listen and be reasonable" if teams encountered significant travel
obstacles during the regular season that a charter might alleviate.

"We funded charter travel during the playoffs last year and in 2019, so I know
what it costs," Engelbert said. "I know how to be thoughtful about doing it when
it makes sense."

Engelbert, however, said the league needed to fine the Liberty because the
team's use of unauthorized charter flights violated the collective bargaining
agreement between the WNBA and the players' union. She said it provided a
potential unfair competitive advantage for New York, since not all franchises
can afford charters.

"The CBA is the cornerstone of the league," Engelbert said. "And absolutely, we
will never apologize for enforcing the CBA that was negotiated with the players
and the players' association, and that's what we did here. That's the ultimate
equalizer: that the league -- which is neutral -- will come in and make sure
teams are following the rules, and all the owners want that as well.

"Rules exist to create that competitive balance and to give every team an
opportunity to compete for a championship under fair rules. There has to be a
level playing field as much as you can have a level playing field."

Engelbert referenced the business plan she began working on when she stepped
into the commissioner's role in 2019, and how it was disrupted by the COVID-19
pandemic in 2020 and the need for the WNBA to play that season without fans in a
"bubble" in Bradenton, Florida. Last season, the WNBA teams were back in market,
but were limited for part of the season in the amount of fans that could attend.

"The whole reason for the three-to-five-year business transformation plan, to
have access to capital, is to grow revenue so that we can fund more things like
[charter travel] in the next phase of the league," Engelbert said. "But we are
not even close to being there yet, after two pandemic years. I think we always
have good healthy debates in our Board of Governors' room about things. But it's
not something that we have been able to find: a sponsor to step up and fund
charter travel."

With newer owners such as the Tsais and Mark Davis of the Las Vegas Aces being
billionaires who also own men's pro sports teams, there has been the question of
whether there is a lot of conflict between the WNBA's wealthiest owners and
others.

Engelbert disputed that. She said the board of governors meeting late last fall
was its first gathering in person since the pandemic, and some owners were
meeting others for the first time. Engelbert said she feels they have a strong
working relationship.

"All 12 owners are in this together, no matter when they came into the league,"
Engelbert said. "They're all investing, they all see the vision. It's good
governance to have different viewpoints: new owners, owners that have been
around for almost the whole 25 years in the league.

"They're engaged about many issues, including this issue of charters that is
getting all the attention. But there are lots of other things we're trying to do
-- globalize the game, expansion, digital transformation, merchandise -- that we
also talk about in the boardroom."



On Feb. 3, the WNBA announced a capital raise featuring both new investors and
existing WNBA and NBA owners. It was funded via selling equity in the WNBA and
brought in $75 million according Engelbert, with the proceeds to be used for
things like marketing and brand elevation.

"We've been around 25 years, we're really healthy, we're growing," she said.
"I'm trying to set this league up for the next 25 years. It's only two years ago
that we signed a very progressive collective bargaining agreement where we
tripled the pay of the top players, we put a $1 million into league-marketing
agreements, we put together a half-a-million-dollar prize pool for the
Commissioner's Cup, with more to come, hopefully.

"We're growing viewership; a lot of things are going well. But we can't
jeopardize the momentum here. We have to make sure that we're setting this
league up to thrive for many years."

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Preferences’ link located on every page. We work in coordination with an
industry framework which will signal your preferences to our participating
vendors.
For additional information, please visit our Privacy Policy.


WE AND OUR PARTNERS PROCESS DATA TO PROVIDE:

Store and/or access information on a device. Precise geolocation data, and
identification through device scanning. Personalised ads and content, ad and
content measurement, audience insights and product development. List of Partners
(vendors)

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PRIVACY PREFERENCE CENTER

We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the
delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our
website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent and
legitimate interest. You may exercise your right to consent or object to a
legitimate interest, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in
the link under each purpose. These choices will be signaled to our vendors
participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
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MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

TECHNICALLY NECESSARY

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Technically necessary to provide this service or other features.

PERFORMANCE & ANALYTICS

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Used by us or third party partners to measure and analyse performance and use,
and to help improve our services.

FUNCTIONAL

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These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality. They may be
set by us and/or by third party providers whose services we have added to our
pages. If you disable these cookies then some or all of these services may not
function properly and our site may not perform as smoothly for you as we would
like.

ADVERTISING

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Used by us or third party partners to collect information about your online
behaviour or location to show you relevant or personalised content or
advertising on this and other sites, apps or platforms, including social media.

STORE AND/OR ACCESS INFORMATION ON A DEVICE

Store and/or access information on a device

Cookies, device identifiers, or other information can be stored or accessed on
your device for the purposes presented to you.

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PRECISE GEOLOCATION DATA, AND IDENTIFICATION THROUGH DEVICE SCANNING

Precise geolocation data, and identification through device scanning

 * USE PRECISE GEOLOCATION DATA
   
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   Your precise geolocation data can be used in support of one or more purposes.
   This means your location can be accurate to within several meters.

 * ACTIVELY SCAN DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS FOR IDENTIFICATION
   
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   Your device can be identified based on a scan of your device's unique
   combination of characteristics.

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PERSONALISED ADS AND CONTENT, AD AND CONTENT MEASUREMENT, AUDIENCE INSIGHTS AND
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and
product development

 * CREATE A PERSONALISED ADS PROFILE
   
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   A profile can be built about you and your interests to show you personalised
   ads that are relevant to you.
   
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 * SELECT PERSONALISED ADS
   
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   Personalised ads can be shown to you based on a profile about you.
   
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 * CREATE A PERSONALISED CONTENT PROFILE
   
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   A profile can be built about you and your interests to show you personalised
   content that is relevant to you.
   
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 * SELECT PERSONALISED CONTENT
   
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   Personalised content can be shown to you based on a profile about you.
   
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 * SELECT BASIC ADS
   
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   Ads can be shown to you based on the content you’re viewing, the app you’re
   using, your approximate location, or your device type.
   
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 * MEASURE AD PERFORMANCE
   
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   The performance and effectiveness of ads that you see or interact with can be
   measured.
   
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 * MEASURE CONTENT PERFORMANCE
   
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   The performance and effectiveness of content that you see or interact with
   can be measured.
   
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 * APPLY MARKET RESEARCH TO GENERATE AUDIENCE INSIGHTS
   
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   Market research can be used to learn more about the audiences who visit
   sites/apps and view ads.
   
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 * DEVELOP AND IMPROVE PRODUCTS
   
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   Your data can be used to improve existing systems and software, and to
   develop new products
   
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SPECIAL PURPOSES AND FEATURES

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 * ENSURE SECURITY, PREVENT FRAUD, AND DEBUG
   
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   Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent fraudulent activity, and
   ensure systems and processes work properly and securely.

 * TECHNICALLY DELIVER ADS OR CONTENT
   
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   Your device can receive and send information that allows you to see and
   interact with ads and content.

 * MATCH AND COMBINE OFFLINE DATA SOURCES
   
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   Data from offline data sources can be combined with your online activity in
   support of one or more purposes

 * LINK DIFFERENT DEVICES
   
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   Different devices can be determined as belonging to you or your household in
   support of one or more of purposes.

 * RECEIVE AND USE AUTOMATICALLY-SENT DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS FOR IDENTIFICATION
   
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   Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it
   automatically sends, such as IP address or browser type.

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