{"id":2464601,"date":"2025-07-21T08:54:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wnba-players-wear-shirts-that-read-pay-us-what-you-owe-us-ahead-of-leagues-all-star-game\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T08:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:59:53","slug":"wnba-players-wear-shirts-that-read-pay-us-what-you-owe-us-ahead-of-leagues-all-star-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wnba-players-wear-shirts-that-read-pay-us-what-you-owe-us-ahead-of-leagues-all-star-game\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA players wear shirts that read \u2018Pay Us What You Owe Us\u2019 ahead of league\u2019s All-Star Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwnba-players-wear-shirts-that-read-pay-us-what-you-owe-us-ahead-of-leagues-all-star-game%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2464601&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>At the WNBA All-Star Game held in Indiana, players wore warmup shirts with the message &#8220;Pay Us What You Owe Us&#8221; to highlight ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/capitol-police-officers-issue-vote-of-no-confidence-for-top-leadership\/\" title=\"Capitol Police Officers Issue Vote Of No Confidence For Top Leadership\">collective bargaining agreement<\/a> (CBA) negotiations with league owners. The current CBA expires in October, and players are seeking higher pay linked to revenue-sharing, especially considering a new $2.<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >2 billion media deal boosting league revenues<\/a>.The main disagreement centers on whether salaries should be a fixed percentage of league revenue (owners&#8217; position) or grow flexibly along with the leagueS financial success (players&#8217; union position). Players&#8217; Association President Nneka Ogwumike emphasized the need for a growing salary structure reflecting league growth. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert expressed optimism for a fair agreement balancing increased player compensation and owner profitability.All-Star MVP Napheesa Collier and player kelsey plum underscored the importance of players receiving fair pay as key contributors to the league&#8217;s growth. The shirts aimed to unite players and raise awareness about their demands during the negotiations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">WNBA players wear shirts that read &lsquo;Pay Us What You Owe Us&rsquo; ahead of league&rsquo;s All-Star Game<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2177143\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Players at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/beltway-confidential\/3029005\/wnba-cant-afford-to-lose-fans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">WNBA<\/a> All-Star Game in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/indiana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Indiana<\/a> on Saturday sent a message to the league&rsquo;s owners, wearing shirts in warmups that read &ldquo;Pay Us What You Owe Us&rdquo; amid recent negotiations for the women&rsquo;s professional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/basketball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">basketball<\/a> league&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The league&rsquo;s current CBA expires at the end of October, and players are reportedly seeking an increase in pay through revenue-sharing opportunities. WNBA officials met with players&rsquo; union representatives on Thursday to resolve differences regarding the CBA. Currently, owners and the players&rsquo; union are divided over &ldquo;salary structure and revenue sharing,&rdquo; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/45778770\/wnba-all-stars-wear-pay-us-owe-us-warmup-shirts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ESPN<\/a>. At the center of the negotiations is the league&rsquo;s new media deal worth $2.2 billion, the largest in WNBA history.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3476961\/death-toll-rises-bangladesh-air-force-jet-crashes-dhaka-school\/\">Death toll rises to 16 after a Bangladesh Air Force jet crashes into Dhaka school<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/3476613\/trump-federal-government-rollback-blue-state-threats\/\">Trump muddles federal government rollback with blue-state threats<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3472647\/white-house-touts-fewer-leaks-civil-groups-warn-precedent\/\">White House touts fewer leaks as civil groups warn tactics set &#8216;dangerous precedent&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Players&rsquo; Association President Nneka Ogwumike discussed the differences with ESPN. She said the owners prefer that the league&rsquo;s salary structure be based on a fixed percentage of league revenue. In contrast, the players&rsquo; union wants a more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-directv-customers-may-need-workaround-to-watch-trump-harris-debate-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Why DirecTV customers may need workaround to watch Trump-Harris debate - Washington Examiner\">flexible agreement<\/a>, with salaries escalating with revenues as the league grows.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We see the growth of the league, and as it stands, the current salary system is not really paying us what we&rsquo;re owed,&rdquo; Ogwumike explained. &ldquo;And we want to be able to have that fair share moving forward, especially as we see all of the investment going in, and we want to be able to have our salaries reflected in a structure that makes sense for us.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ogwumike&rsquo;s explanation of the union&rsquo;s desired payment structure was the impetus for the players wearing the shirts on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert expressed optimism that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ben-affleck-my-search-for-humility-means-i-have-to-recognize-that-we-have-our-own-governance-issues-in-this-country-before-we-cast-aspersions-on-the-governance-of-others\/\" title=\"Ben Affleck: My \u2018Search For Humility\u2019 Means \u2018I Have To Recognize That We Have Our Own Governance Issues In This Country Before We Cast Aspersions On The Governance Of Others\u2019\">fair deal<\/a> would be reached by both sides, according to ESPN. She believed the players would be compensated with a more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wnba-players-wear-shirts-that-read-pay-us-what-you-owe-us-ahead-of-leagues-all-star-game-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"... that ... \u2018... Us What You Owe Us\u2019 ahead of league\u2019s All... - Washington Examiner\">lucrative payment structure based<\/a> on the significant increase in league revenue.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We want the same things as the players want,&rdquo; Engelbert <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/45779462\/wnba-cathy-engelbert-optimistic-fair-cba-reached\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;We want to significantly increase their salary and benefits while balancing with our owners their ability to have a path to profitability as well as continued investment. You see tens of millions of dollars being invested in practice facilities and other player experience by teams.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And we want to strike the right balance between those two so that can continue, because that&rsquo;s helped our hypergrowth,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s helped our free agency. It&rsquo;s helped our players play in places where they&rsquo;re getting a great player experience. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So that&rsquo;s going to continue, I think, no matter what we do here, but it&rsquo;s a balance between those two. But there is a proposal on both sides around revenue sharing,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Ogwumike, meanwhile, was not as convinced. She emphasized her preference for the players to have a revenue-sharing model that grew over time, not just a fixed percentage, ESPN reported.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Based on what we saw and based on what we&rsquo;re proposing, it&rsquo;s two fundamentally different systems, and one that leans more towards a fixed percentage is what the league is responding to us with,&rdquo; Ogwumike said. &ldquo;And we want to have a better share where our salaries grow with the business, and not just a fixed percentage over time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx was the All-Star Game&rsquo;s most valuable player. She discussed the team&rsquo;s shirts during a press conference after the game. Collier said their purpose was to send a message to the league&rsquo;s owners that they want to get paid what they feel they are worth.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The players are what is building this brand and this league. There is no league without the players,&rdquo; Collier <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/onsi\/womens-fastbreak\/news\/napheesa-collier-explains-pay-us-what-you-owe-us-message-amid-wnba-cba-negotiations-01k0n2xc979t\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;Past, present, the ones coming up, they&rsquo;re the ones that have put in the blood, sweat, and tears for the new money that&rsquo;s coming in.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And so we feel like we are owed a piece of that pie that we helped to create,&rdquo; Collier added. &ldquo;So that&rsquo;s basically what that is.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Kelsey Plum, an All-Star guard from the Los Angeles Sparks, discussed the thought process behind wearing the shirts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3476806\/desantis-cuomo-on-alert-moving-to-florida-dont-new-york-our-florida\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>DESANTIS PUTS CUOMO ON ALERT ABOUT MOVING TO FLORIDA: &lsquo;DON&rsquo;T NEW YORK OUR FLORIDA&rsquo;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We wanted to do something that was united as a collective, and I thought that it&rsquo;s a very powerful moment and got the point across,&rdquo; Plum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/45778770\/wnba-all-stars-wear-pay-us-owe-us-warmup-shirts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;Sometimes, you don&rsquo;t have to say anything.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The mission was accomplished because we built an incredible amount of awareness this weekend,&rdquo; she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2177143\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2177143\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WNBA players wear shirts saying &#8216;Pay Us What You Owe Us&#8217; before All-Star Game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2464602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/WNBA-players-shirts-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[59138,59537,59550,7188],"class_list":["post-2464601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-all-star-game","tag-pay-equity","tag-player-protest","tag-wnba"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/WNBA-players-shirts-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2464601"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464605,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464601\/revisions\/2464605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2464602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2464601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2464601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2464601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}