{"id":350009,"date":"2025-12-15T11:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/350009\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:54:07","slug":"wnba-player-businesses-grow-while-cba-stalemate-drags-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/350009\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Player Businesses Grow While CBA Stalemate Drags On"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAt first blush, the event space inside Fanatics<\/a>\u2018 New York headquarters could have been mistaken for a typical business school class last Wednesday, as a lecturer at the front of the room connected Christopher Booker\u2019s seven basic plots to social media marketing. Dozens of learners took notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis was not a typical group, however.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the lesson transitioned to an interactive session, Indiana Fever star Lexie Hull spoke to a Mitchell & Ness designer about her upcoming makeup brand, 2025 Sixth Player of the Year Naz Hillmon talked content strategy with a video expert and 2023 MVP Jewell Loyd discussed her investments, including the 160-acre farm she owns in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\n\tEleven WNBA<\/a> players attended the two-day business immersion program run by Fanatics and Boardroom, eager to seize the moment as their own industry grows and grows. An influx of NIL, media and marketing dollars has made players aware of the opportunities available to them\u2014and the need to handle them appropriately. Meanwhile, an ongoing CBA negotiation has offered a B-school level crash course on the economics of professional sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are a business in ourselves,\u201d New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we always think about ourselves in that light.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFanatics and Boardroom held their first immersion program over the summer, hosting more than two dozen NBA, NFL and NHL players during their respective offseasons. This time around, MLB, NWSL and WNBA players came to town for two days of conversation with business leaders, hands-on practice sessions, a personality assessment and business breakdowns, including a study of Fanatics\u2019 growth. USC professor Anthony Borquez came to lead a course specifically on using AI.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a certain archetype that chooses to do something like this in their offseason,\u201d Fanatics chief people officer Toretha McGuire said. \u201cThere\u2019s a very genuine interest in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent years, W players have launched merch lines, podcasts, restaurants and even their own basketball league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey all have an incredible understanding of how to build audience, maybe even better than NBA players,\u201d Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a hunger that they all have\u2026 a different type of hunger to take advantage of a lot of these opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHillmon was tipped off to the event by her agent. \u201cI want to learn as much as I can, especially as women\u2019s basketball is blowing up,\u201d she said. \u201cThe audience wants\u2014they have an appetite for it, and I want to be able to feed the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMore than a year of conversation around the WNBA\u2019s next CBA has only fueled business curiosity\u2014and knowledge\u2014among the players. Kleiman said he had four different conversations with players about the negotiations on the program\u2019s first day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two sides have appeared to make progress, with proposals going back and forth and a second deadline extension that allows talks to continue until early January. But plenty of frustration remains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWNBPA VP Kelsey Plum, speaking Friday at Team USA camp, said that the talks have been \u201ca little bit disheartening.\u201d She conceded that the league and union remained far apart. Even though a philosophical salary cap and revenue-sharing structure might be agreed to, the details of what revenue the players share in and how much they get requires further wrangling.<\/p>\n

\n\tCloud has been among the league\u2019s vocal critics, posting online last week about a reported proposal for teams to no longer handle player housing as their salaries increase. The agenda only strengthened her resolve, she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGreat CEOs and really just badass people [on stage have said], \u2018You know what? We\u2019re not anything without the product,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd\u00a0we\u00a0are\u00a0the product for the W. You don\u2019t go anywhere without your players. \u2026 Standing firm on our value and understanding how to leverage that is what really excites me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf and when a new deal is signed, players are in line for significant raises. Based on a recent reported proposal, the league\u2019s new minimum salary, expected to exceed $225,000, would be close to the top of last season\u2019s payscale.\u00a0There\u2019s already been an increased curiosity around finances among players over the last couple years, said Loyd, who earned the W\u2019s second highest salary in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPassing all the wisdom I have to my teammates and friends, it\u2019s been really nice,\u201d Loyd said. \u201cPeople have a lot of trouble with money. So understanding all those dynamics and how to actually make it work\u2014that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParts of the agenda covered how to handle that wealth, from detailed discussions of real estate investing to lessons on the importance of knowing where your money is going, even once you\u2019ve found yourself in a new tax bracket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSooner or later, women\u2019s basketball stars will return to WNBA courts. In the meantime, the business must go on.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At first blush, the event space inside Fanatics\u2018 New York headquarters could have been mistaken for a typical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[38933,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-350009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-fanatics","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}