Ladies Court - Women’s Basketball News and Analysis

The Dream begins

by Joe on January 24th, 2008

So as I told you before, it’s official. The newest WNBA franchise finally has a name, colors and logo.

I was thinking it’d be a blue similar to the Atlanta Hawks, but alas, it’s sky blue with red (lightish red for any of you RedVsBlue fans).

If we dig a little deeper into today’s announcement, though, we find some info (not much, but some) about the collective bargaining disagreements.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

“We are prepared for the expansion draft,” Meadors said. “It comes from being in the league for so long. I know the players backwards and forwards. I know whether they want to turn right shoulder or left shoulder, whether they want to go left or right.”

Each of the 13 other teams will submit a list of six protected players. Then Meadors will choose one player per team from among the rest. She will likely add a free agent or two from a pool of 41 unrestricted free agents. Then in April, the Dream will draft three players from college, starting with the No. 4 pick overall.

In training camp, the roster will be narrowed to between 11-13 players, depending on how close the team is to the salary cap.

“We’re definitely in a time crunch,” Meadors said. “I’m ready.”

Team owner Ron Terwilliger said he’s confident a new deal will be in place soon, possibly the end of the month.

He said the sticking points center on more than just salaries, which range from a $32,400 minimum for rookies to a maximum of $93,000.

“We’re not talking about they want to double the salary cap,” Terwilliger said. “That’s not the nature of the discussion. Everybody I think is in this together to build a successful women’s league, and until we have more revenue, we can’t pay the players more. …

“What the players want aren’t always to improve their pay, but a question of how they’re treated on the road, what kind of benefits they get here. Generally we provide housing and a car for them. They’re trying to make sure they have the best accommodations they can. And that’s good.”

Considering how piss-poor some of the facilities are for some WNBA teams (you know where I live, you do the figuring), I’m guessing a Kia Sportage and a three-bedroom apartment for four women might be what the players are asking for.

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