The WNBA's All-Star Weekend was about all the usual things—celebrating the league's talent in the game Saturday, as well as in a skills competition and a 3-point contest. But with the collective bargaining agreement ending at the end of the season, the weekend also was about negotiations. The league and the players association met during the Indianapolis gathering for a session that players said afterward did not go well, USA Today reports. So Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the rest of the stars boiled their position down and took the court for warmups Saturday wearing black T-shirts reading: Pay Us What You Owe Us.
More than 40 players attended the meeting, a turnout that Clark—who sat out the game with an injury—described as a "great balance of young stars, but also vets" who understand the importance of the next deal and sent a message to the league she described as powerful. Napheesa Collier said the meeting drew "the most participation in league history." But players said the session was a wasted opportunity. "I want to call it constructive," Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, per the Washington Post. "We had candid dialogue."
The players say they should receive more than their current 25% share of revenue, especially given the WNBA's new $2.2 billion media rights deal and the addition of five expansion teams that paid fees of as much as $250 million. The contract issue carried through to the presentation of the MVP trophy to Collier, who had a record 36 points as her team beat Team Clark 151-131, per ESPN. The full house at Gainbridge Fieldhouse chanted: "Pay them! Pay them!" with Engelbert at the microphone. "That gave me chills," Collier said.
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