WNBA adding charter flights for playoffs, back-to-back games

NEW YORK — The WNBA is adding charter flights for all the playoffs and back-to-back common season games this yr, the league introduced Monday.

The league can pay for the entire flights.

“It’s significant dollars,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert advised The Associated Press. “Now that we have best of three and five in the semifinals and finals. … You add it up it’s a lot of flights.”

The value is predicted to be round $4.5 million, consistent with an individual aware of the negotiations. The individual spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity as a result of main points have not been publicly launched.

Last yr, the league chartered for the WNBA Finals in addition to for the street workforce within the Commissioner’s Cup championship recreation. Since taking up in 2019, Engelbert has slowly added a couple of extra charter alternatives for groups. She allowed playoff groups that have been touring for a couple of time zone to fly charter if they just had an afternoon between games prior to now.

“It’s something I’ve been working on since I came into the league,” she mentioned. “It was never coming up with money for one year, but creating a sustainable model for the charter program to continue in perpetuity. Once you do it, you have to do it every year.”

Engelbert mentioned that there will likely be five charters needed during the regular season. Most of them are brief journeys between Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The longest one takes the Seattle Storm from Washington to Atlanta.

“As we continue to work on our growth as I’ve said we would chip away on this,” she mentioned.

Engelbert additionally mentioned that the league has had discussions with the Mercury and Brittney Griner about her go back and forth preparations.

Griner is again within the WNBA after her nine-month felony combat in Russia, throughout which she used to be detained when customs officers mentioned they discovered vape canisters with hashish oil in her baggage, then later arrested earlier than being released in a high-level prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia.

“We’ve been working with Brittney and Phoenix since she signed and our security experts,” the commissioner mentioned. “Working on a plan, but we want it to be confidential. She wants to travel with the team sometimes. Work as much as we can making sure we are following advice of our team. We have a very good plan, but I’m not going to share more specifics.”

Chartering flights for games on consecutive nights this season is more straightforward then subsequent yr. With no Olympic damage or condensed agenda for the World Cup this season there are much less groups taking part in on consecutive nights. Next season that may trade on account of the 2024 Paris Olympics and Engelbert mentioned that it’s going to be more difficult.

“Next year we can’t do all of them,” she mentioned.

The commissioner hopes that charters one day may also be funded partly through the following TV deal.

“Longer term, if we can get a really good media deal we can do something more fully for these players,” she mentioned.

WNBA groups have flown commercially throughout the common season because the league’s inception in 1997. The league generally doesn’t permit groups to charter as a result of it will create a aggressive benefit for groups who can have the funds for to pay for them.

The WNBA has come down onerous on groups prior to now that experience broken that rule and flown charter.

Engelbert has mentioned prior to now that it could value the league about $25 million every season for every of its 12 groups to charter flights to each recreation. That quantity has higher about $5 million from earlier estimates through the commissioner because of the brand new 40-game WNBA agenda this season, gasoline prices and different components.

To charter for the entire season the estimated value in line with franchise could be roughly $2 million. Air go back and forth bills lately for every workforce is ready $150,000, consistent with two folks aware of the prices. The folks spoke to the AP at the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to publicly deal with the problem.

The playoffs are the place there can be a main build up in spending with groups probably flying throughout nation pending the postseason seeding.