I feel like I’m missing something here. This past Saturday, the ladies of the WNBA held their annual All-Star festivities at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, where we saw Team Napheesa Collier take on Team Caitlin Clark in a high-scoring/low defense battle between the league’s best.

It was an intense affair with a lot of memorable moments. But it was what happened before the game during warm-ups that ended up setting the world ablaze…

Both teams wearing shirts that read “Pay Us What You Owe Us” #WNBA pic.twitter.com/LB4LBAbPNr

— Aliyah Funschelle (@AliyahFun) July 20, 2025

That’s right, sports fans; “pay us what you owe us.” That is the phrase that was printed in white across the chests of the players’ black t-shirts this past Saturday. This was obviously in reference to the on-going negotiations that the PA and the league have been in when it comes to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The players want more money. They want a pay-raise. As of 2024, the average salary of a player in this league was about $147,745; a bit of a jump from the estimated $113,000 in 2023. But with the league’s 11-year $2.2 billion media rights deal that is set to kick in next season? The players’ union is looking for that number to jump EXPONENTIALLY!

But the question that I have is…..why do the players feel like they’re “owed” something? Why do they feel like they have been “wronged” in some way, to the point where they need to wear matching shirts on the court? To the point where they had the fans chanting “pay them” during the All-Star game, as if it was a “rallying cry” for a cause…

“PAY THEM!”

Fans letting the league know after the WNBA All-Star Game 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/fjk4M5yWLP

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 20, 2025

I ask, because me personally……I feel like they’ve been fairly compensated based on the money that the league has been (or has not been) bringing in. Just think about it; since the WNBA’s inception in 1997, they have NEVER generated a profit. They have NEVER posted a season in the ‘green,’ and even finished the 2024 campaign roughly $40-$50 million in the hole. They have been an entity that operates at a deficit, but the players……believe that they’re being underpaid? They think that they should have the same “revenue share” as the men?

That seems a bit outrageous, don’t you think? The NBA, who raked in a reported $11.3 billion in total revenue last season, has the money to offer it’s players a 50% share in the revenue. They are a global entity that makes money hand-over-fist on a yearly basis, and isn’t subsidized by a much larger entity.

They are a fully functioning business. The NBA HAS THE MONEY to hand players $50 million-$250 million deals, and not bat an eye at it. They’re not scraping together funds to try and keep the league afloat, so the players SHOULD BE reaping the benefits of the league’s success.

Now for the record, am I trying to say that the ladies don’t deserve to be paid more? Absolutely not! The aforementioned media rights deal that is coming next season should be divvied up accordingly. The players should get a piece of that, now that the entire league has a rocket ship strapped to it’s ass.

But for the players to wear these shirts, like they’ve been “taken advantage of” for so many years? That’s a joke in itself, that can be proven false with a simple economics lesson. If there’s no money, then there’s no raises. Bottom line! It’s that simple!

Hopefully things go smoothly with their negotiations, and the players don’t get too greedy. The LAST THING they need is a lockout/strike to diminish all of the positive strides that have been taken the past couple of years. But in the end, as always….what do I know? I’m just a guy from the Midwest, with a beer and a laptop, trying to make sense of this world.