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WNBA All-Stars Make ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us’ Statement During Warmup 

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The WNBA All-Stars sent a message this Saturday during warmup rounds before the game. All of the players on Team Clark and Team Collier wore shirts that said “Pay us what you owe us.”

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“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. So we want a fair and reasonable percentage of that,” said Napheesa Collier.

The decision was also made after the players and the league failed to reach a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The WNBA’s fortune is tied up with the NBA, and while the relationship between both has grown over the years, there are many WNBA teams with no direct ties to the NBA. 

The league’s players opted out of their last CBA in October as they are looking for a better revenue-sharing model, increased salaries, improved benefits, and a softer salary cap, according to reports. 

After the last failed negotiations, many of the players stated that there was a large discrepancy between what they wanted and what was being offered to them from the league. Some players, including All-Stars Napheesa Collier and Angel Reese, have discussed a potential walkout if a new CBA is not reached by October. 

While the WNBA players aren’t suggesting that they should be paid the same as their NBA counterparts, they understand the high revenue they bring in. A WNBA rookie minimum is $66,000 compared to $1.27 million in the NBA. 

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Fans and supporters alike supported the players’ wishes at the end of the game with chants of “pay them!” and some even held up signs that read “pat the players” throughout the game. 

“We had no idea that they were in solidarity with our demonstration,” said Nneka Ogwumike, president of the WNBPA.

 “I’ve been hearing it all weekend at the fan events, supporting us and wanting us to get our fair share of the value.”

The players also recognized that this All-Stars game was potentially the last time that so many of them would be together in one place before the season ends, so they had to take advantage of the opportunity to get their message across. 

“This is a perfect opportunity to raise awareness for what we’re doing and do it together,” Collier stated.

The players have yet to decide if they’ll wear the shirts on their own teams throughout the second half of the season which begins this week. 

“You put it out there, and you stand on business, and we’re standing on business,” said Courtney Williams.

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WNBA Investigates Reports Of Racial Slurs From Fans

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The WNBA stated that they are currently investigating reports of racial slurs directed towards Angel Reese during Saturday’s Chicago Sky, Indiana Fever game. 

“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms – they have no place in our league or in society. We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter,” the league said in a statement. 

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The timing of the incident is currently unclear, however, the Fever released a statement that they are committed to their investigation.

“We are aware of the allegations of inappropriate fan conduct during yesterday’s game and we are working closely with the WNBA to complete their investigation. We stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players.”

In the third quarter of the game with 4 minutes and 38 seconds remaining, Fever was up 56-42. Reese was claiming an offensive rebound and moving towards the basket when Indiana’s 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark slammed into Reese with her right arm, knocking her into the ground. 

Reese immediately stood up and made an attempt to confront Clark, who then walked away with Indiana’s Aliyah Boston stepped between the two of them. Clark received an upgraded foul from personal to flagrant 1 and Reese and Boston received technical fouls. 

Both Reese and Clark lessened the situation after the fact. The alleged racial slurs are unknown to be related to the initial confrontation, and Chicago Sky President and CEO Adam Fox made it clear that they “welcome the WNBA’s investigation of the allegations of fan misconduct,” according to  the Associated Press. 

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“We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players,” Fox stated. 

The Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) stated that it was “aware of the reports of hateful comments and supports the WNBA’s investigation.”

In a statement, the players union said:

“Such behavior is unacceptable in our sport. Under the WNBA’s ‘No Space for Hate’ policy, we trust the league to thoroughly investigate and take swift, appropriate action to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all.”

The WNBA initially launched their “No Space for Hate” campaign ahead of the new season. The movement is set to target hate and promote respect in women’s basketball not only at the actual games, but online as well. 

“We believe that basketball can be a unifying force – a place where people from all walks of life come together not just to watch a game, but to connect,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. 

“We want our arenas, and our social platforms filled with energy and fandom – not hate and vitriol.”

Paralympics Bar All Fans From Attendance Due To Covid-19 Concerns

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Just as all fans were recently banned from the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, organizers for the Paralympics this year announced that all spectators will be barred from the event due to the coronavirus pandemic.

During the Olympics some fans were able to spectate from outlying areas away from Tokyo, however, for the Paralympics organizers are planning on barring all fans with the exception of some children for a couple of events. Organizers are also telling the public not to come out to view any road events. 

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International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons, organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa all met last week to finalize these decisions before announcing it to the public. 

The Paralympics begin on August 24th with about 4,400 athletes projected to participate. The Olympics this year had around 11,000 athletes, so the smaller scale should hopefully make it easier for organizers to manage health and safety procedures. 

The announcement also comes as Japan, and Tokyo specifically, sees a rise in Covid-19 case numbers. Parsons spoke at a news conference where he proclaimed that there was no room for complacency in the wake of the Olympics. 

“In light of the current case numbers in Tokyo and wider Japan, everyone attending these games must be vigilant.” 

New Covid-19 infections tripled in Tokyo throughout the 17-day period that the Olympics were occuring, however, local health expert’s haven’t directly linked the rise in cases to the Games themselves. Experts instead believe that the Olympic games caused a lot of the public to get distracted and put them into a false sense of security. 

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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced this week that a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas will be extended until September 12th; the current state of emergency has been in place since July 12th and was initially meant to end later this month. 

“The surge in infections is reaching alarming record highs,” Suga said.

This past Friday Tokyo logged around 5,800 new cases, and on Sunday it logged about 4,300 more. This rise in infections has put an extreme strain on Japan’s healthcare system and its workers.

Dr. Haruo Ozaki, president of the Tokyo Medical Association, said in an interview that “a significant number of people are still unvaccinated, and characterized the virus situation for the Paralympics as worse than it was during the Olympics.”

About 37% of the Japanese population is thought to be fully vaccinated at this point. Ozaki said the decision to not have fans at the Paralympics was a “minimum necessity, holding the event in general is a political decision, but the judgement by the medical side is that it will be difficult. 

“The Olympics is a festival and might have affected the people in ways to loosen up and served as an indirect cause of rising cases.”

Tokyo Olympics

Postponed Tokyo Summer Olympics Will Likely Not Allow Fans From Abroad To Attend 

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Tokyo Olympic organizing committee President Seiko Hashimoto recently hinted at the possibility that no foreign fans would be allowed at the Tokyo Games this year after talking with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and other Olympic executives. Hashimoto didn’t directly say that this rule would be enforced, however, it’s likely that in the coming months the announcement will be made official. 

Japanese newspaper Mainichi cited unnamed sources that were apparently “involved in the discussions” in which Olympic organizers claimed that foreign fans would be excluded from the Games this year due to safety concerns and the uncertainty surrounding where the world will be at with the Covid-19 pandemic by this summer. 

“If the situation is tough and it would make the (Japanese) consumers concerned, that is a situation we need to avoid from happening,” organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said after discussing how the decision on foreign fans will be officially made by the end of the month. She specifically is wanting one by March 25th, when the torch relay is projected to begin. 

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The Olympic Games are currently expected to open on July 23rd, and according to the Mainichi newspaper, “unnamed government officials already know that in the current situation it is impossible to bring in foreign spectators.”

80% of residents in Japan have claimed that they want the Games to be postponed again, or fully cancelled this year due to the pandemic and health and safety concerns. Japan has overall controlled the pandemic much better than most countries, however, they still experienced 8,000 deaths. 

The subject of fans was a key part of the five-party talks with Bach, International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa, according to Hashimoto. 

“We will focus on the essentials. That means mainly the competitions. This has to be the clear focus. In this respect we may have to set one or another priority.”

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The exclusion of fans is nothing new to the conversation surrounding the Olympics this year. The Japanese public has adamantly opposed the Games overall, claiming that allowing outsiders from dozens of countries to come into a small arena sounds like the last thing anyone should participate in during a global pandemic. 

According to Bach, “the games will involve 11,000 Olympic athletes, and later 4,400 Paralympians, and tens of thousands of coaches, judges, sponsors, media and VIPs. I was encouraged at the number of national Olympic committees that were getting athletes vaccinated.”

It’s important to note that the IOC said it encourages vaccinations but will not require them. The general plan as of right now is to isolate athletes in an Olympic Village located along Tokyo Bay. Once they arrive they will be placed in a bubble until they leave the nation; kind of like the NBA bubble at Disney but at a much larger scale. 

“A decision on venue capacity will be made by the end of April. We need to look at the overall situation before we decide on any percentage rates. We believe we will not be accepted unless the citizens feel confident that sufficient countermeasures are taken. Having fewer fans will be costly. The organizing committee has budgeted income of $800 million from ticket sales. That shortfall will have to be made up by Japanese government entities,” Hashimoto explained. 

Only time will tell if and how the 2021 postponed Tokyo Summer Olympic Games will be possible. 

Soccer Stadium

Major League Soccer Welcomes Back Fans After Five Months

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This Tuesday Major League Soccer’s ‘MLS Is Back’ tournament will conclude in the Orlando, Florida bubble that MLS has been operating out of for the past month. Now, FC Dallas is taking on the hosting role to compete against Nashville at Toyota Stadium this Wednesday and Sunday, where they’re not only going to be gearing up for the return of a standard MLS season, but will also be welcoming fans back into the arena. 

There’s still major risk with attending any sporting event right now, as the Covid-19 pandemic is still very much an issue all across the globe but especially in the United States. However, all of those risks are explicitly written out in the 1,438-word legal waiver that fans will need to sign in order to enter the stadium. Essentially, the waiver states that you are aware you’re putting yourself at risk of exposure to Covid-19 if entering the arena, and MLS or any party connected to the games will not be held responsible for any new cases that appear as a result of attending a game. 

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Luis Dollar is the president of El Matador, a supporters group for the FC Dallas team, and he recently spoke with the media about his excitement to see his favorite team in person again, but is also fully prepared to adhere to any and all health and safety procedures put into place by MLS. 

“We’re going to be on our best, most safe behaviour, but if Wednesday night for some reason the protocols aren’t kept in place, or we don’t feel they’re being run in a way that we deem fit, we might not show up on Sunday. As of right now we’re confident.”

The NBA, NHL, and MLB are all currently operating in a “bubble-type” of environment; essential personnel only with no fans in the stadium. However, those three major sporting leagues have more prime time/lucrative television deals that allow them to make up any revenue through at-home viewership. The MLS is much more reliant on money they make from fans who are actually in the arena, buying the tickets and memorabilia. However, the fact that MLS is restarting their “regular season” in Texas, one of the most infected states in one of the most infected countries in the world, is raising a lot of red flags for experts.

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Texas in general has been under major scrutiny within the past month due to their severe strain on hospital staff, inadequate ability to contact trace/test everyone, and excessive spread of the virus in every community. Currently the state has a weekly average of 7,800 new cases. Zach Binney, an epidemiologist recently expressed his concern over MLS’s premature decision to move back into Texas. 

“I think MLS is showing a complete disregard for the health and safety of their fan-bases and the communities in which they play. I think it’s ridiculous that they’re talking about having fans.”

Binney is not alone in this, other epidemiologists throughout the country believe that opening stadium doors to fans is “irresponsible” and doesn’t hold any real value. MLS claims they will be consistently testing players and staff members as they return to competitive games, and responded to all the criticism by claiming that they’re being incredibly careful and have “consulted with state and local officials and their medical task forces to be committed to having the proper precautions in place,” according to Gina Miller, an FC Dallas spokesperson. 

Miller went on to claim that MLS staff in general is already very familiar with the health and safety protocols they have in place as they’ve been experiencing it for the past few weeks. However, the US’s general lack of response to the virus is sparking major debates about the future of all major businesses and industries within the country. Sports, universities, and public schooling systems in general being at the forefront of these debates, only time will tell how much worse it needs to get for our world leaders to make more of a severe change in the way we contain this virus.