00:00All right, well, during an appearance on the Today Show, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said
00:03WNBA players would get a big pay increase in their ongoing labor dispute with the league,
00:08but he pointed to, quote, absolute numbers as the growth measurement as opposed to share of revenue.
00:14Silver said, quote, I think share isn't the right way to look at it because there's so much more
00:18revenue in the NBA. I think you should look at absolute numbers in terms of what they're making.
00:23Well, that comment didn't sit very well with the WNBA Players Association,
00:26who tagged Silver on an Instagram story with the caption, don't want to share?
00:31Baker, this was supposed to be an interview to generate excitement around the NBA's 80th season,
00:36especially with the new media deal with NBC. And leading up to the season opener Tuesday,
00:41instead, the question came up around the WNBA. And Craig Melvin asked a fantastic question that
00:46needed to be asked regarding what the WNBA is going to do. Adam Silver did not hold back. He
00:50deserves to be questioned. He does oversee Kathy Engelbert, the commissioner. The NBA does own
00:55about 42 percent of the WNBA. So with all these CDA negotiations with the end of the month coming
01:00up so quickly for that deadline, that is still the big question. The players, as we saw from the
01:05exit interview for Nafisa Collier to all throughout, they've been adamant about wanting more revenue
01:09sharing because that 9 percent they're getting in comparison to what the NBA players get around 50
01:14percent, a massive gap. But I think Adam Silver may have spoken a bit too soon. I think so too.
01:19Given the fact that our anti-costal says that the highest max salary right now that's being offered
01:24is $850,000. Players want a lot more than that.
Comments