Charity League: Angel Reese and the WNBA want more money but where’s it coming from?

Angel Reese made headlines this weekend when she casually mentioned on her podcast that WNBA players could sit out if they don’t get more money in the next collective bargaining agreement.

This wasn’t some militant strike announcement. Reese even admitted she hasn’t been in the meetings. It was more of a passing thought in a conversation with her teammate, Dijona Carrington.

Charity League: Angel Reese and the WNBA want more money but where’s it coming from?

As always, the internet ran with it, and the response was predictable: “You guys lose money every year. Why the hell would you demand more?”

I never agree with the rats on the internet posting nonsense but in this specific situation, the internet actually has a point. From a pure dollars-and-cents perspective, asking for more money when your league literally bleeds money is laughable.

The League has never turned a profit. Not once in its history.

The league loses tens of millions of dollars annually and only exists because the NBA props it up like a failing restaurant on life support. The idea that players in a financially broken league would demand raises sounds insane.

If any other company lost money every single year for nearly three decades, it wouldn’t even exist anymore, let alone have employees asking for raises.

So, where exactly is this money supposed to come from?

Before we get into it, here’s a quick suggestion for Angel Reese:

The WNBA is a Charity Org and Angel Reese is a Make-A-Wish Basketball Player

Here’s the thing: The WNBA isn’t actually a business.

A business makes money. A business pays its employees based on revenue. A business turns a profit or gets shut down.

The WNBA doesn’t do any of those things.

Instead, it exists because the NBA wants it to exist. The league is essentially a charity project, a way for the NBA to say, “Look, we support women’s sports. We’re progressive. We’re growing the game.”

Somebody show Angel Reese this chart and help her read it:

That’s why the WNBA continues to run despite being a financial disaster.

The NBA can afford it because they’re making billions of dollars a year. It’s like when a rich person has a failing side project but keeps pouring money into it because they like the way it looks. That’s the WNBA—an expensive PR move.

Would a WNBA Holdout Actually Work?

Angel Reese suggested that if players don’t get what they want, they could sit out. But would a WNBA strike actually work?

No. Obviously Not.

Literally no one would care. I’m sorry for being so direct about it but it’s 100% true. Just follow the numbers. A labor strike only works if your absence hurts the people you’re negotiating with. If NBA players went on strike, the league would lose billions. Fans would riot. TV networks would panic. Owners would immediately feel the pain.

But if WNBA players sat out, what happens?

• The league still wouldn’t make money.
• The NBA would stop funding them.
• Nobody would notice.

The casual sports fan doesn’t care if the WNBA is playing or not. That’s just the truth. The NBA isn’t worried about losing TV ratings, because there aren’t any.

They’re not worried about losing ticket sales, because attendance is already bad. The people who would make the most noise wouldn’t even be WNBA fans—it would be people who don’t watch basketball at all but love outrage.

Reality Check: The NBA Isn’t a Bank

The WNBA exists because the NBA lets it. But let’s not pretend the NBA is a bottomless ATM.

Yes, the NBA makes billions. But that doesn’t mean they should just cut bigger checks for a league that already loses them money. If anything, they should be asking how to make the WNBA stop losing money, not increasing salaries in a broken system.

The NBA doesn’t need a WNBA strike to deal with. They don’t want bad press. But at the same time, even Adam Silver has to draw a line somewhere. The NBA could double WNBA salaries tomorrow and barely feel it financially. But if they do, where does it stop? If they keep giving in, what incentive does the WNBA ever have to actually start making money?

At some point, a business has to be self-sustaining. And if the WNBA still can’t figure out how to do that, that’s not the NBA’s problem.

Angel Reese and other WNBA players want more money. I get it. But wanting money and deserving it are two different things.

If the WNBA brought in billions of dollars and players weren’t seeing a fair share, that’s a different conversation. But this isn’t that. The league operates at a loss every year. There is no money for higher salaries unless the NBA donates it.

And the idea of striking for more money in a failing business? That’s laughable.

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