Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

The longest-running league in women’s professional sports has, at best, reached a crossroads.

In its first six seasons, the WNBA functioned as a single entity under the financially stable wing of the NBA. But now the league is under new ownership -- each of its 14 franchises operating individually -- and is preparing to take flight into uncharted air space.

Since the Sparks punctuated last season with their second consecutive league championship, two WNBA teams -- Miami and Portland -- have folded. The Utah Starzz have become the San Antonio Silver Stars, and what was the Orlando Miracle has been purchased by an Indian tribe and become the Connecticut Sun.

And, if that hasn’t been unsettling enough during these fragile times, there is still no new labor deal between the players’ union and the owners.

The last deal between players and management expired in September, and with the scheduled start of the season less than four months away, union officials are threatening to hold players out of training camp unless there is an agreement.

“So far there’s been no progress toward a contract,” said Pam Wheeler, director of operations for the players’ association. “They asked us to tone down the strike talk and give them a proposal, which we did back in November. We still don’t have a counterproposal.

“We did meet last week to talk about a dispersal draft for the players [from Miami and Portland] without teams. But the last time we talked about actual issues was in November.”

As for those issues, the primary one is -- what else? -- money.

The league minimum salary for veteran players was $40,000 last season. The union would like to see that climb to the $60,000 range so players would not have to take second jobs. Many of them also play for European teams.

The players would also like some form of free agency -- because the league previously operated as one business, there was none -- and the freedom to individually market themselves and be able to negotiate their own promotional deals.

WNBA officials declined to discuss labor contract negotiations. Spokesman John Maxwell said only that the league “expects to get a deal done before the season.”

The union’s Wheeler is optimistic, although she expressed some concern that the league might choose to wait until the last minute and try to railroad players with a take-it-or-leave-it proposal.

“The players deserve better than that,” she said. “They’ve done everything the league has asked them to do.”

Spark guard Nicky McCrimmon said the players “aren’t asking for outlandish money,” only a reasonable offer.

“We just want to be compensated fairly,” she said. “You want to be rewarded for the hard work you put in.”

Labor problems aren’t the league’s only concern. WNBA President Val Ackerman has had to fend off persistent rumors of the league’s demise.

In addition to the recent upheaval, other franchises -- most notably Detroit, Charlotte and Seattle -- could be in trouble unless attendance or local support improve.

The first rumblings of change were heard last fall after league officials voted that, for the first time, franchises would be owned and operated independently. In its previous seasons, all 29 NBA owners shared in the WNBA’s costs -- and losses.

Owners of the NBA teams coexisting with WNBA franchises were given right of first refusal on purchasing the teams in their cities. Of the 16 teams in the WNBA last year, four -- Portland, Miami, Orlando and Utah -- had the option declined by NBA owners.

“It scared me when I’d hear in the media the league was going under,” said Johnny Buss, president of the Sparks and son of Laker owner Jerry Buss. “My dad and I have been involved with sports that didn’t work out, like the [Team Tennis] Strings, [Major Indoor Soccer League] Lazers and United Volleyball. When people [start to] give up then everyone else gets scared.

“What’s different this time is ... this is not a league that is about to fail. We believe that. There would be no reason for [the Buss family] to continue if we felt more people were going to drop out.”

Ackerman, while acknowledging the league may have expanded too quickly, said she believes the league is stronger for having gone through the shuffling and loss of two teams.

“We felt we struck when the iron was hot when we made decisions to grow,” she said. “Now we’re just making adjustments to get stronger.

“The analysis for the [surviving] teams is healthy and assures we will be in the right markets with most committed ownership.”

Johnny Buss supports the changes.

“We needed to be rid of some teams not really involved in our growth,” he said. “It is so much better for the league to have people who want to be in it 100%. So we should condense and eventually expand again to cities that are ready.”

Such sentiment seems to be consistent around the league.

“Any new sports league, women or men, is going to go through tough times,” said Kelly Krauskopf, chief operating officer of the Indiana Fever. “It’s the long-term endeavor you have to be committed to. Because we are changing how we operated, people wonder what’s wrong. From where I sit, we’ve addressed this as a serious piece of business. This gives us more autonomy.”

Judy Holland Burton, senior vice president of the Washington Mystics, also sees the WNBA on firmer ground.

“The business model we used before, of being part of the NBA, was to get the league off the ground,” she said. “This is better for long-term stability.”

The new arrangement has the guarded support of the union.

“With respect to contraction and ownership changes, we feel the pain and concern of losing jobs,” union spokesman Dan Wasserman said. “On the other hand, we are all for changing ownership structure.

“The teams who dropped out were weak links, dead wood. We’re left with a balance of teams that have a stronger commitment to go forward.”

The changeover is leaving owners with their hands full. Whereas the league was previously responsible for almost everything, from player contracts to sponsorship, that work is now left to the individual teams.

Local advertising revenue is expected to be a key component to the health of each franchise. Unlike national revenue secured by the league, the local money doesn’t have to be shared with the other teams.

“We have more flexibility with what we can sell,” said Mark Stornes, chief executive of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and WNBA Rockers. “It gives us the opportunity to capitalize. And it puts the burden on us to sell the teams the way we need to, to be successful.”

There seems to be some reason for optimism.

The league drew a record 2.36 million in attendance last season, and is increasing its regular-season schedule from 32 to 34 games in 2003. National sponsors such as Sears and American Express are continuing their advertising support, and the television package (with ABC as the prime carrier) has expanded to include 10 games on the Oxygen cable network and 10 more on the Spanish-language network Telemundo.

“The glass is half full,” Ackerman said. “Our challenge now is make the right business decisions so the league can control its destiny.”