All WNBA players will enter the 2020 season victorious, whenever that may be. (The season was scheduled to begin May 15, but was postponed due to COVID-19.) The WNBA will hold a virtual draft on April 17, which will be broadcast on ESPN's main channel for the first time ever.) In January, the league's players association reached agreement with the WNBA on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), opening a bright future for a sport that has historically disregarded the rights of its players.

The progressive new agreement was ratified shortly after it received a 90 percent player vote. Says Nneka Ogwumike, 29, president of the Players' Association and a forward for the Los Angeles Sparks, "It's a great deal. The deal targets a litany of player grievances, many of which are rooted in the inequalities that plague women's sports. For example, like other WNBA players, Ogwumike takes commercial flights to get to tournaments. NBA players, on the other hand, take charter flights. One would think that the middle seat in economy class would be uncomfortable.

But the travel hassles are just the beginning: the average annual salary of a WNBA player is about $75,000, a whopping $7.6 million less than that of an NBA player (although the boys' figure is skewed by some very high earners). While not close to closing this gap, the new agreement will allow the WNBA's top players to earn more than $500,000, three times more than last year. And it's not just MVPs who will make money: for the first time in WNBA history, the average annual salary will exceed six figures. This is an incentive to prevent players from traveling abroad in the off-season to supplement their income, which Ogwumike says is "a sign of a lack of fairness and equality." Additionally, the players are going to get a substantial share of the broadcast revenue; the WNBA's TV ratings increased by 64% in 2019, so this is a potentially lucrative deal.

Point guard and CBA ally Skylar Diggins-Smith, who played until 14 weeks pregnant during the 2018 season for fear of backlash from the league, feels the agreement's revised parental leave policy means she finally feels listened to. in October, she tweeted that she felt little support from her former team, the Dallas Wings, after returning to the court nine weeks postpartum. She wanted to continue breastfeeding, but found that there was no private, dedicated space in the arena to pump breast milk. "After I told them about my needs," she said, "nothing happened.

Diggins-Smith, 29, negotiated to receive her full salary during her maternity leave, but many players receive only half their salary during that time. (They also serve suspensions for not playing actively.) ) "Being pregnant doesn't count against you," she says. Under the new contract, players will receive their full salary while on leave, plus up to $60,000 for veteran players (those who have played at least one season) for adoption, surrogacy, and IVF treatment. Childcare costs (such as hotel expenses for a sitter and airfare), which previously were paid for by the mother herself, will receive $5,000 under the new agreement. In addition, the CBA requires the players to provide a private ablution area.

Diggins Smith and Ogwumike are part of Team USA Basketball, which was supposed to compete as a prelude to the Tokyo Olympics to be held this July. Although the Olympics have been postponed, the team is still a favorite to win next summer: if they win, they will tie the most consecutive Olympic gold medals ever in a traditional team sport, male or female. Ogwumike doesn't expect much press. We are the winningest team," she says, "but people still don't care. It's not a competition, it's an investment." "To bolster its marketing initiatives, the CBA has brought in the WNBA Changemakers, a group that partners with organizations like Nike and AT&T to create attention-grabbing branding.

There is certainly more work to be done, but for now the players will get the CBA wins and foot traffic. The new contract allows them to fly premium economy.

This article originally appeared in the May 2020 issue of Marie Claire. At press time, the WNBA season was scheduled to begin on May 15, and both athletes were headed to the Olympics; both the season and the Olympics have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This version has been updated to reflect that news.

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