WNBA’s detailed response to the charter flight issue

It was Engelbert, the league commissioner who came out to provide a detailed and reasonable opinion on the issue of charter flights.

Travel has been an issue in WNBA ever since its inception, but has been brought to attention over the last few years. There is a clear divide between teams that can provide the said flights and those that cannot. This was evident in 2021 when the New York Liberty was fined $500,000 for chartering flights during the season.

In a whole-hearted interview with ESPN, Cathy Engelbert discussed the possibility of issuing charter flights and what it would need to make it a norm for the league.

What did the Commissioner have to say?

Cathy began by saying, “the thing some people are missing is that this isn’t one-year funding. This is something you’ve got to fund—I want to say in perpetuity—but let’s say you have to make sure you have a business model to fund it for at least a decade.”

Engelbert was quick to point out the lack of media and sponsorship deals compared to that of the men’s league.

“The way that all the leagues that do have charters get funded is through enormous media rights deals,” Engelbert said. “This is why we’re working so hard to transform the economics of our league… I’m obviously very vocal about the fact that there’s a huge undervaluation in women’s sports of our media rights. We’ve got to right-size that in our next round of media negotiations.”

In March 2022, it was Liberty who comped in to provide charter flights to the league for three years. However, Sports Illustrated reported that the idea was turned down by the WNBA. In a more recent discussion, Breanna Stewart came out to declare that she was interested to be “part of a deal that helps subsidize charter travel for the entire WNBA.”

However, Engelbert is in favor of the idea herself and pledges to make charter flights a reality in the next few years.

“There is no one that wants charter travel for these players more than Cathy Engelbert,” she said. “That’s why we’re working so hard on the transformation. I learned from my 33 years in business before I came here. I know how to grow a business, give me some time. We’re going to get there.”

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