r/sports • u/GreenSnakes_ • Jul 21 '25

Basketball Several WNBA players were denied entry into a nightclub after the All-Star Game this weekend. “We in the W (WNBA), and just got done with the All-Star game; we shouldn’t even be waiting in no line.”

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624

u/alwaysmyfault Jul 21 '25

Most of them are so incredibly jealous of CC that they can't help themselves.

57

u/GentlemenBehold Jul 21 '25

I think it just takes time for people to come to their senses. There was definitely some jealousy of Tiger Woods by fellow golfers at the start of his career. Then they saw the purse sizes and sponsorship deals going up and realized his popularity was good for all of them.

5

u/CohibasAndScotch Jul 21 '25

Bingo. Rising tide lifts all boats but these mfs trying to eliminate the tide

330

u/Raoul_Duke9 Jul 21 '25

Meh even cc wearing the "pay us like the men" shirt was insane. My sister in christ - no team turns profits

503

u/Daniiiiii Chelsea Jul 21 '25

Lose-Lose situation for her. She wears it in solidarity with the rest of the league, legitimacy of grievance aside, and she gets shit on.

If she doesn't wear it she will make headlines and even more enemies within the fraternity itself. Can't win.

265

u/Tommyboy2124 Jul 21 '25

She wore it and Kelsey Plum still shittalked her...

39

u/Raoul_Duke9 Jul 21 '25

Totally fair.

-12

u/richmyster84 Jul 21 '25

-fraternity

+sorority

?maternity (most are lesbian so probably not) xD

239

u/RTRC Jul 21 '25

CC did it because of the PR backlash that would result if she didn't. She bagged a 28 mil deal with Nike lol I think she's doing alright.

124

u/theycallmefuRR Jul 21 '25

100% this. CC doesn't make the majority of her income from her WNBA contract. She's making millions in endorsements and the rest of the league doesn't. That's their biggest issue with her

41

u/xSaRgED Jul 21 '25

Jordan came into the league making royalties on his shoes.

CC came in with a Nike deal.

If the rest of them can’t figure this shit out, and that they gotta play up the positive celebrity engagement, then that’s really on them.

Can’t have a following without building one. ☝️

32

u/cXs808 Green Bay Packers Jul 21 '25

It's funny because they could easily become friends with CC and piggyback her endorsement popularity but nope - instead, they want to treat her like shit because of jealousy.

A rookie/AAAA player named James Outman piggybacked Ohtani's fame and he's now incredibly popular in Japan. They need to learn.

-18

u/AmphibianThick7925 Jul 21 '25

It’s so weird to me how people make fun of white-knighting but will bend over backwards to shield this one chick from any and all criticism. Infantilizing a grown ass woman.

9

u/RTRC Jul 21 '25

It's so weird to me how people try to have conversations on reddit without basic reading comprehension.

23

u/OutlawJoseyWales Jul 21 '25

"pay us like the men"

thats not what the shirt said but go ahead and get upvoted for getting centel'd i guess

62

u/LaidToRest33 Jul 21 '25

It was "Pay Us What You Owe Us" not pay us like the Men. You are probably thinking of the US Women's National Soccer team who made that argument a few years back despite being offered the same contract as the Men but they turned it down in fa or or a different contract and then tried to back-track once they realized they would have made more money had they taken the same contract as the Men.

The WNBA players are starting the contract negotiations soon and the owners are currently trying to hide how much money they are making now that the WNBA has gained a lot of popularity because they want to pocket the profits and keep paying the ladies dirt. Very different situations.

They don't even get a cut of their own jersey sales which is ridiculous if you ask me.

47

u/king_lloyd11 Jul 21 '25

They want the same revenue split as the men though, even if it’s not the same dollar amount. That would be a way more ridiculous ask, but the players of a league that hasn’t made a profit since its inception asking for more money/for the league to go deeper in the red to pay them more still doesn’t make sense, especially when the WNBA is set to make money for the first time in its history.

The game is growing and so is revenue. Their salaries will grow too as a result, from their current splits. I just don’t think the first year you make money is the time to ask 5x increases. The NBA had to grind it out to get a piece of the billions the league makes. I think people just feel that the WNBA is getting ahead of itself based on one decent year.

11

u/LigerZeroSchneider Jul 21 '25

I think the context is that the new TV deal is kicking in and will like quadruple the leagues tv revenue. So they should be profitable going forward.

The players want to get paid asap, which I get. If your boss announced they signed a new deal to triple the companies earnings and offered you a 10 percent raise you would be pissed too.

-6

u/LaidToRest33 Jul 21 '25

All good points. Both sides have valid arguments and the ladies would be idiots not to try and capitalize on their current popularity not knowing if it is going to last or not and they are certainly going to come to the table asking for more they they will eventually settle with. Negotiations 101. No one should begrudge them the opportunity they are currently trying to capitalize on.

10

u/thejabel Jul 21 '25

In what world are they hiding money? They are subsidized by the nba they don’t make any money.

1

u/LaidToRest33 Jul 21 '25

That hasn't been true for awhile and may not have ever been true.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/s/oqebIoszSb

17

u/c12yofchampions Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

Eh, I agree with the whole players can’t stop stepping over their feet with the bad publicity. Even agree the hate CC gets from all the players is crazy considering the revenue she drives for them. It reminds me of when Tiger was breaking into the golf world.

The shirts I wouldn’t put in that same vein. They’re relevant as they’re about to enter a heated CBA negotiation. The whole “no team turns profits” narrative is extremely murky territory with a parent league that has been proven of hiding finances during CBA negotiations in the past.

Plenty of examples to use for WNBA players giving themselves bad publicity, I wouldn’t call that one of them. To add on, not even getting the quote of the shirt right suggests theres some arrogance in how they’re being criticized

19

u/13143 New England Patriots Jul 21 '25

The NBA and NBAPA have a 50/50 revenue split. The WNBA and WNBAPA have something like a 95/5 revenue split. The WNBA is about to sign a massive new TV deal, like $250 million. The WNBAPA want the financials shared and a bigger piece of that pie, neither of which the WNBA are currently open to.

The "Pay us what you owe us" kind of comes off wrong, but they have a legitimate gripe, and they're not just being delusional/greedy.

3

u/yourmomsnutsarehuge Jul 21 '25

I believe fever, Liberty, storm, and aces were profitable last year. I could be wrong.

10

u/totaleclipseoflefart Jul 21 '25

The teams have like 10x’d in valuation overnight - using their current leverage to get more money makes massive sense.

-6

u/randomguy84321 Jul 21 '25

which makes sense, but they negotiate their salaries. They get paid the amount they agree to get paid. And I know their contract is up in October, and they will probably be able to negotiate more then, but I don't really care. What is the point of wearing them now

10

u/totaleclipseoflefart Jul 21 '25

Weird take. It’s effective PR before what will be a fairly public negotiation where public pressure will help them.

10

u/rabbitSC Jul 21 '25

"Less than three months before your contract is up for renewal is not an appropriate time to advocate for a better contract" people are being deranged about this whole thing jfc

3

u/jimmy_three_shoes Detroit Red Wings Jul 21 '25

Sure, you guys can have a 50/50 split of all basketball related revenues, not counting the money the NBA pumps in to keep the lights on.

Suddenly their game checks go down.

1

u/MilkTruthLog Jul 21 '25

this is how misinformation spreads, shame on you.

1

u/dalmathus Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

The teams specifically don't turn a profit because under US tax law you can write off gains/income by claiming the value of the team has massively appreciated while the revenue is tanking.

The owners of these teams are making billions. They are extremely profitable lol.

1

u/Malvania Jul 21 '25

That *should* change with the next media rights deal. There's also the CC effect, which is still selling out NBA stadiums

2

u/moch1 Jul 21 '25

With the way the NBA+WNBA media rights are sold together it’s basically impossible to actually know what the WNBA’s media rights are worth. The NBA decides what percent of the overall deal to assign to the WNBA.

Some argue the 2.2 billion the NBA assigned to the WNBA in the next deal is too high, others say it’s too low but either way it’s not the actual market value.

1

u/Rance_Mulliniks Jul 21 '25

The NBA would much rather save $ on NBA salaries than WNBA salaries so if anything WNBA would be over allocated. WNBA rights are probably worth a fraction of that.

0

u/Raoul_Duke9 Jul 21 '25

True. But they aren't there yet. And they're still generations away from getting anywhere close to equal pay. Let's just be real.

-2

u/Whyamibeautiful Jul 21 '25

Someone laid out the numbers here. With the new tv deal teams will begin turning a profit once it kicks in and a pretty healthy one. Not super crazy to ask for a better rev split. Idk if it’s 50% rev split like the nba yet but 30% is probably fair

1

u/cXs808 Green Bay Packers Jul 21 '25

Meh even cc wearing the "pay us like the men" shirt was insane.

If there is anyone in the league who can wear that shirt, it's her. She has brought in massive money for the WNBA, she is the sole person who should be getting paychecks.

-4

u/manwithyellowhat15 Jul 21 '25

lmao thank you! Every time I tune into a WNBA game, it’s the most basic, high-school level play I’ve ever seen. Nobody is paying y’all like the men when the performance is so poor. I’m glad the younger players seem to be keeping their acumen from college, but it’s gonna be a while before the pay is equalized across the two leagues and unfortunately these women did it to themselves

6

u/pm-me-nice-lips Jul 21 '25

tons of people don’t realize that the top 20% of boys HS basketball teams in the US (I’m really trying to be conservative and respectful here) would easily handle any wnba team lol.

10

u/Rance_Mulliniks Jul 21 '25

This isn't even unique to basketball. 16 year old boys totally destroy the best women's hockey teams in the world.

WNBA uses a smaller ball and shorter 3pt line than men's leagues.

1

u/KCSportsFan7 Kansas City Royals Jul 21 '25

Intuitive Machines’ CEO earned compensation north of 4.9M last year and that company fails to turn a profit.

Why is it expected tech companies pay exuberant salaries and not the WNBA?

2

u/Due_Size_9870 Jul 21 '25

They would have all gotten in to the club with no issue if CC was with them.