WNBA will add charter flights on full-time basis this season

The WNBA plans to start a full-time charter flights program beginning this season, commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Tuesday.

“This is a pretty historic moment for the league,” she told the Associated Press Sports Editors in New York. “I think players will be thrilled.”

The new travel program will launch “as soon as we can logistically get planes in places,” Engelbert said. She said funding an entire season of charter travel will cost about $25 million per year for the next two years.

News of a full charter program is momentous for the WNBA, which will begin its 28th season on May 14 as viewership numbers are skyrocketing and a new crop of stars are entering the league. However, Engelbert’s comments also came as a surprise, at least to some around the sport. As of mid-afternoon on Tuesday, multiple general managers, who are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, told The Athletic they were not made aware of changes to the travel plans prior to Engelbert’s announcement.

“I think everybody’s immediate response is great. What it all looks like, we’re still gathering information. We don’t know,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “But I think it’s definitely a good thing for our players in our league. and Everybody’s very happy, they’re not going to have to stand in security lines as much or as long.” Fever coach Christie Sides called the move a “turning point” on social media.

Incredible TURNING POINT in our league! Extremely happy for the players! They deserve this! #GoFever https://t.co/92sgGa0fgr

— Christie Sides (@ChristieSides) May 7, 2024

Travel accommodations have long been a source of consternation for players around the league, which primarily uses commercial flights to travel to road games. The CBA requires teams to book economy-plus tickets for players, and players must pay out of pocket for first-class accommodations. The WNBPA has previously maintained that existing travel conditions pose health and safety issues. A full charter program would eliminate the possibility of unwanted interactions, similar to what Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner encountered last June, when she was harassed in Dallas Fort Worth Airport while on a road trip by a social media provocateur.

Players have also dealt with delays and cancellations through the years, and frequent coach travel isn’t ideal for tall athletes.

Tuesday’s announcement comes in the wake of the league making smaller changes to travel accommodations in recent years. Last season, the WNBA expanded its charter policy and allowed private flights for the entirety of the postseason and select regular-season games, such as back-to-back contests, at a cost of $4 million. Engelbert said that with the league operating on a condensed schedule due to the mid-season Olympic break, there will be 14 back-to-back games this season where charter flights will be utilized.

Prior to April’s WNBA Draft, Engelbert reiterated that the WNBA was not going to “jeopardize the financial viability of this league” to implement a season-long, league-wide charter program. She had stressed the importance of the upcoming media rights negotiations (and in turn an expected significant revenue boost) as a way to achieve this. Its current deal with ESPN runs through 2025.

“Given we have teams moving to bigger arenas, they’re selling out bigger arenas. Given the momentum and business is booming at the team level — also at the league level — could only lead to our corporate partnership sales. We’re seeing a lot of uptick there,” she said in explaining the timing of why the league was planning to put on a full-charter program now. “You need a long-term economic model to fund something as expensive as charter for a whole season, for 12, soon to be 13, 16 teams. You need that long-term revenue model, and we haven’t had it.”

WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson, however, had previously argued that the league did not have to wait for all teams to be able to fly charter for it to go into effect. The New York Liberty had been fined a league-record $500,000 for violating the collective bargaining agreement after their repeated use of charter planes during the second half of the 2021 season. Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis has also advocated for teams to have the option to use charter travel.

The upcoming WNBA season appears to be its most anticipated in years. April’s Draft averaged a record 2.446 million viewers, a 307 percent increase in viewership over last year, and was the most-viewed WNBA telecast since 2000. A ratings boost is expected to follow into the regular season, where Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese have further bridged the connection between the college game and professional level. South Carolina’s 87-75 win over Clark and Iowa on April 7 averaged 18.9 million viewers, the most-viewed women’s college basketball game ever and the most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) on record for an ESPN platform. The 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four was the most-viewed on record, and the tournament as a whole was up 121 percent from 2023.

WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike released a statement, saying: “I am thrilled to see a significant change in policy that will permit and provide charter travel across all teams throughout the 2024 season and going forward. On behalf of the players, I express my appreciation and support for a bold move by the Commissioner & team governors that in turn shows that they understand and value the health and safety of the players. It is time to be transformational. It’s time to bet on women!”

— The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.

(Photo of Cathy Engelbert: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)