The WNBA fined the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury teams $5,000 dollars each, and pulled $500 from every player that participated in wearing black.
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In issuing the fines, the WNBA said the league’s uniform code states “uniforms may not be altered in any way”. Nothing concrete was decided.
As a general rule, we often brush off fines that we hear players or coaches getting – after all, in most professional sports their salaries are so far above what most of us can imagine that even fines in the tens of thousands of dollars can only really mean a drop in the bucket.
“We appreciate like insane the support we’ve gotten, particularly from the league”, Reeve said. The players have an open invitation with the league. “We’re still advocating for it and just more of a change in the system of what’s going on right now”. We believe in them. “So this is something that directly affects us, and we want to use our voices”. The highest salaries paid in the WNBA are just slightly over six figures while rookie salaries are around $40,000.
Right now, the players aren’t happy.
The New York Liberty followed suit whuch prompted the WNBA to send a memo to teams, warning them that violations of the official uniform policy could result in fines. The top two teams get byes to the semifinals while the three and four seeds don’t play until the second round. The players were not fined for their actions.
Liberty center Tina Charles responded to the fine by tweeting “I refuse to be silent” along with a pic of her wearing the black shirt.
A precedent was set when the National Basketball Association let players wear socially-aware clothing, and the WNBA broke it.
The league will go on a monthlong Olympic hiatus beginning Saturday. They also held a press conference.
League uniform guidelines huh?
“The Adidas black shirts are not regulation”, Borders said. Borders warned the WNBA in a memo, and when the Libs and other teams still donned the shirts, she couldn’t simply close her eyes because she appreciated the statement.
The players union said that they are in the process of preparing to file a grievance over the fines for the players. They were just disappointed.
“A bunch of teams did it”, Anthony told the New York Post. “They don’t want this to die out”.
However, the WNBA’s apparent pride in its players’ activism and media attention is up against a stiff and unsettling adherence to the rule book. “That was declined by the league”.
“I don’t see no reason to fine them”.
Charles was the lone player to still wear a plain black shirt Thursday morning against the Fever at Madison Square Garden.
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Auriemma said if players take actions at the Olympics it would be a hard balancing act. The timing of them releasing the statement and giving us the papers was very timely on their part.. She mentioned the blackout was a group decision. She missed the call on July 11 when the shirts initially were discussed. “You also can support both things, but at the same time this issue is important to us and that’s where we stand on things”.
