In the first sign that a WNBA player strike or lockout could be imminent, the league\u2019s union has created WNBPA Player Hubs across the U.S. and in Spain so that — in the event of a work stoppage — players \u201ccan train, recover, and protect their health regardless of league operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union made the announcement a day ahead of Friday\u2019s expiration of the league\u2019s collective bargaining agreement. Originally set to expire Oct. 31, the deadline had been pushed back 70 days without appreciable progress. The union\u2019s latest proposal in December included a request for roughly 30% of league and team revenue and a $10M-plus salary cap — an offer that has so far been met with silence from the WNBA league office.<\/p>\n
If no deal is reached by Friday night\u2019s deadline, the league and its players would enter a \u201cstatus quo\u201d period in which players could strike or the league could institute a lockout. As a precautionary measure, the union developed the Player Hubs, which they said in a statement today is a global conglomerate of training facilities that will grant players access to basketball courts, weight rooms, and recovery spaces throughout the offseason. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe reached out to facilities across the country and around the world, and the response has been overwhelming,\u201d said Jayne Appel Marinelli, SVP, Player Relations, WNBPA. \u201cWe\u2019ll be adding even more locations because so many have stepped up and said they want to help. These facilities are valuing our players, opening their doors, and saying, \u2018We\u2019ve got you.\u2019 That kind of support means everything to our members. These Hubs are about standing together and making sure every player has what they need to stay ready and keep doing what they love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top universities such as Stanford, Cal-Berkeley and UNLV are opening their facilities, along with the Bay Club Network, which has fitness centers in Oregon, Washington and California. Bay Club will also offer employment opportunities during any lockout\/strike period.<\/p>\n
On the East Coast, there will be training and recovery options at the WNBPA headquarters in New York, as well as in Brooklyn and at Manhattan University. Exos\u2019 human performance centers will be available in Alpharetta, Ga., Gulf Breeze, Fla., Phoenix and Plano, Texas.<\/p>\n
For international players, the union said there will be numerous hubs, including The Embassy, a high-end performance training facility in M\u00e1laga, Spain.<\/p>\n
The WNBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the first sign that a WNBA player strike or lockout could be imminent, the league\u2019s union has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630,56438],"class_list":{"0":"post-396987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba","12":"tag-wnbpa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}