WNBA, REDUX

Athletes apparently are smarter than movie stars. Rather than shut down their league, the WNBA’s players agreed to a new contract. Considering that, after seven years of existence, the league is still losing money, that was a wise move.

Why the NBA is willing to continue losing $12 million a year on it is another question. Sally Jenkins says it is being propped up by little more than the will of NBA Commissioner David Stern, who believes the league could make money in the long term and that anything that grows interest in basketball is good for the NBA. Perhaps. But, surely, players in such a league shouldn’t expect to be paid like superstars. The players in the first couple of decades of the NBA’s existence certainly didn’t.

FILED UNDER: Sports,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.