WNBA travel policy draws additional ire as Sparks players sleep in airport
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Travel issues have long plagued the WNBA, which has its players and staff fly commercial. Former Stanford star Nneka Ogwumike highlighted the difficulties of that this weekend.
Ogwumike, who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks, was part of a group of players stranded at a Washington, D.C., airport on Sunday following their game against the Mystics.
According to Ogwumike, the team flight was delayed multiple times before being canceled at 1 a.m. and then finally rescheduled for 9 a.m.
The Sparks are scheduled to face Connecticut at home Tuesday.
Ogwumike chronicled the issues on social media.
“This is my first time in 11 seasons that I’ve ever had to sleep in the airport,” Ogwumike, the president of the WNBA Players Association, said on a Twitter video.
“We are roaming the airport. Based on travel, it was only a matter of time. Half of us are sleeping at the airport, half of us are at a hotel — there weren’t enough rooms after our flight got delayed, delayed, delayed and then canceled at 1 a.m. It is now 1:44 and we’re here til 9 a.m.”
Brittney Sykes, Lexie Brown, and assistant coach Latricia Trammell also tweeted through the ordeal.
The WNBA requires all teams to fly commercial, it says, to avoid any competitive advantages that may come from one or a couple of teams chartering flights. The league supplied charter flights for the Commissioner’s Cup championship game and will do the same for the WNBA Finals, but players and league advocates have spoken up recently about the struggles of commercial travel.
In March, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said it would cost more than $20 million per season to charter flights, and told ESPN it would “jeopardize the financial health of the league.”
The New York Times reported in 2019 that the WNBA makes $25 million per season from its television deal with ESPN, which has brought it unprecedented notoriety in recent seasons.
Sports Illustrated reported before the season that the New York Liberty had been fined $500,000 for chartering flights in the second half last season. The WNBA refuted a claim from Liberty owner Joe Tsai that he had found a way to get charter flights compensated for every team in the league for three years.
After airlines dropped their mask mandates in April, more players began publicly talking about the WNBA’s commercial flight policy.
“Just want y’all to know we’re still flying comfort + even after the mask mandate has been lifted. So yes. On commercial flights, trying to have a Covid free season…while being surrounded by random people not wearing masks,” Washington’s Natasha Cloud tweeted in April.
Cloud missed time in May in the league’s health and safety protocol, when she brought up the issue again.
“Shoutout to the WNBA for flying us commercial during a pandemic. (And no mask mandates),” she wrote on Twitter.
“Fly commercial next to random a— people with no mask…COVID,” she added on Instagram at the time. “At what point do players’ safety come first? I’m doing my part.”
Liz Cambage, who recently had her contract ceased with the Sparks, told the Los Angeles Times in May that she often uses her own money to upgrade to first class.
Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum in May noted that travel days in the league can leave players fatigued and at a competitive disadvantage, and at times, it can become a safety issues.
“I think I’m the best conditioned player in this league, respectfully, and I feel like to play that type of game against Seattle (in May) then to get on a delayed flight for 5½ hours, fly across the country, wake up and play the next day — I mean, I was tired today,” Plum told reporters. “Let’s be real, I mean, I’m not here to blame a charter flight for the reason that we lost, but normally a team would fly out that night and have that whole day to rest and get your legs back under you and then go play the next day. So you know those little things make a difference. Hopefully we’re on our way.”
Marisa Ingemi is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: marisa.ingemi@sfchronicle.com
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