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The current state of air travel, full of constant delays and cancellations, is stressful enough for even the average traveler. The WNBA—one of the few professional sports leagues whose teams fly commercially rather than on charter or private flights—has often struggled with travel issues over the past few seasons.
This season, however, that hot-button topic has come to the fore even more, occasionally stealing the spotlight. For players and teams across the league, the trials and tribulations of commercial flight pose an even bigger headache, with upcoming games, road trips and quick turnarounds constantly looming.
The WNBA said it was working to fix the problems and admitted it would consider charter flights in the coming years, the league said. It can cost up to $20 million a year.. Most recently, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the WNBA license Offer charter flights to teams playing in the WNBA Finals.
Although these initial steps are steps in the right direction, no real change has yet occurred. The WNBA still faces a major issue with travel for its 12 teams, and things that need to be improved have gotten worse—and may continue to do so going forward.
Travel issues
Back 2018, Las Vegas Aces He tried for more than 24 hours to travel to Washington DC., dealing with flight cancellations all day and even sleeping at the Dallas airport before they finally took off. A season ago, in 2021, New York decided to be independent Privately fund charter flights for the teamBut that would have been a violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, resulting in a free-for-all penalty.
During this period in May, commercial flights and traveling with the public put some players into health and safety protocols:One example is Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics.– Leads to missed games.
Those issues led to several players and coaches to publicly express their grievances with the league and the lack of travel issues. Las Vegas first year head coach Becky Hammon He said earlier this season The WNBA “needs to address the travel issue,” he said, adding that the travel situation “must be changed immediately.”
The public outcry has so far had little impact on the league’s turnaround, and travel issues continue into the second half of the 2022 season. Mid-July saw the cancellation of the Minnesota Lynx’s flight from Indiana to Washington, with the team arriving in the nation’s capital in the morning and expected to play the game 12 hours later.
“I have been a team leader in this league for over a decade. Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve said if you do this long enough, you’ll be in these situations. “When it comes to challenges, it’s all about leadership and your ability to work together in a situation. In our case, yes—being in that situation was challenging and frustrating.
The first of three videos of Cheryl Reeve’s answers to questions @BloodStrib, @seehafer_ And myself today about the latest MN pregame #Links Travel issues.
“From our perspective, there was no communication with the MN Links leadership. To me, this is a huge failure.” #WNBA pic.twitter.com/85U5BZdCoo
— Mitchell Hansen (@M_Hansen13) July 17, 2022
In addition to the delays and cancellations the Lynx faced during the trip, she said, “there was absolutely no communication with Minnesota Lynx management,” adding that it took several attempts by her and others at the Lynx to even reach anyone in the league office. The situation.
“Probably more disappointing was the lack of support we felt from the unresponsive messages to the league,” Reeve said. “For me, this is failure. It’s sad when you go through these things. No one blames anyone. But let’s work on it. Failure to do so is unacceptable. I thought we deserved more respect than that and I thought I deserved more respect than that. … We are not happy about the lack of consideration given to us.
Travel issues have long predated the 2022 season, but they’ve gotten worse this summer, and players and teams have had enough. Now they are voicing their frustration.
Performance while traveling
Traveling can be taxing enough — with jet lag, time zone shifts, layover schedules, or often short return times — but throw in these delays and cancellations, and even the most out-of-control aspects of life become out of control.
Players and coaches should focus on their games and try to provide the best product on the court. But trade travel and the headaches it presented to WNBA teams made that a difficult goal.
“You try to show up and do the right things and be ready, but the schedule is tough. It’s all about what it takes. It’s just part of the grind, we know that,” Lynx guard Kayla McBride said in July. “Hopefully the league can handle the logistics wisely.” We do, because if you want the best product on the court, you have to provide those resources. We know it’s part of our life and our journey, but it’s hard. I’m used to playing all year round, but this is really hard. Try and give it everything you have.”
There has been a trend towards sub-percentage for teams playing on certain days off or away from their home markets. That’s not unusual to see, as many teams often have better home records than away records (as well as better records with more days off), but when you throw travel issues into the mix, it makes things even more difficult.
Team statistics in road games
During the regular season, more than 80 percent of WNBA teams have a combined record of 92-88 in games played on zero days or one day off. In home and road games, the teams were 85-96 in road contests and 96-85 against their home field. There is also an expected difference in team statistics. Road games Compared to Home games This winter.
Team statistics in home games
Of course, charter flights may not significantly adjust or improve those stats, but changing the travel experience will at least limit extra pressure and stress for players pushing a tight schedule.
Increasing demand for charter flights
Although charter flights are desperately needed in the WNBA, introducing this change is a complex matter and will not happen in the blink of an eye.
First of all, it’s not cheap considering the league pays for those travel arrangements. The additional travel funding of up to $20 million is a significant expense for a league already trying to raise player salaries and make other improvements. Yes, the billionaire owners of each franchise can help – if they have them all of them Required To do this – this is one way that should be investigated in the near future.
“We discussed [charter flights]with [players association]” Engelbert said recently. I think we’re looking for other opportunities to do charters. People don’t know that we did a lot of charters in last year’s playoffs when we had West to East. [travel]As opposed to a day off or no day off at all, we will continue to look for those opportunities if our budget allows.
Regardless, it’s clear now more than ever that the transition from business travel to charter flights should be at the top of the WNBA’s to-do list. The league is starting to take steps, but that won’t be enough to move forward, and if permanent changes aren’t made, the league could see more issues down the road.
In the year In 2022, the league expanded the regular season schedule from 32 to 36 games, which will increase to 40 games starting in 2023. So is the WNBA. It starts the new postseason formatThat could increase to eight playoff appearances compared to previous seasons. This means that more games will be played in the same period, which means that teams will have faster turnaround times. Those road trips can’t be spent stuck in airports.
Doesn’t the WNBA want to put the best product on the court every night? In that case, the main way to help is to provide charter flights to these professional athletes. It’s been a problem for years, ramped up in 2022, and if the league doesn’t find a permanent solution to its travel issues, it could get worse moving forward.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are courtesy. WNBA statistics.
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