|
|
Post by Vegas on Oct 19, 2023 1:22:44 GMT -5
Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup in June (the night before my 50th birthday) and tonight the Las Vegas Aces became the first team in 21 years to win back to back WNBA Championships. Las Vegas is having a good year in 2023 with 2 major championships.   |
|
|
|
Post by on_the_edge on Oct 19, 2023 3:25:06 GMT -5
Congrats. When I saw they won I knew you'd be happy. Enjoy it. That is the good news. Bad news is the Raiders will lose on MNF on Devil's Night.
|
|
|
|
Post by on_the_edge on May 18, 2024 16:31:13 GMT -5
Controversy brewing in Vegas. The Vegas tourism authority has given $100,000 sponsorship bonuses to all Aces players. That is outside of the WNBA so does not count against the salary cap. It is HUGE money for WNBA players as the top starts on the Aces only make $200,000 a year right now and one of their rookies is making just under $68,000 so her bonus is more than her salary. The authority says it is about them being good for the Vegas tourism business. Not sure what effect they have but winning back-to-back championships is big. WNBA will be investigating this. It seems to give Aces an advantage of recruiting free agents if this is going to be a regular thing and if other teams cannot do the same.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vegas on May 18, 2024 19:06:39 GMT -5
Controversy brewing in Vegas. The Vegas tourism authority has given $100,000 sponsorship bonuses to all Aces players. That is outside of the WNBA so does not count against the salary cap. It is HUGE money for WNBA players as the top starts on the Aces only make $200,000 a year right now and one of their rookies is making just under $68,000 so her bonus is more than her salary. The authority says it is about them being good for the Vegas tourism business. Not sure what effect they have but winning back-to-back championships is big. WNBA will be investigating this. It seems to give Aces an advantage of recruiting free agents if this is going to be a regular thing and if other teams cannot do the same. I am personally not that into the WNBA, but I really don't see where the Aces organization itself did anything wrong here as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) did not go through the Aces but instead went through the individual players and their agents and other players on other teams are also allowed to make such deals if offered to them. At worse, perhaps the WNBA nullifies these agreements but should not be punishing the Aces organization as my understanding is this does not specifically violate WNBA rules and the Aces were not involved with this independent decision by the LVCVA. But I am not really concerend about it either way. Sometimes in sports, some cities have advantages over others (i.e. cities in states with no income tax, etc) in player recruitment and Las Vegas is different than other cities as we have a group like the LVCVA that makes big sports sponsorship deals like our now annual Formula One race on the Strip and like its recent $5 million bid to outbid Minneapolis to bring in Wrestlemania 41 next year during Easter weekend as the LVCVA sees opportunities to make sound investments in bringing in big events for which our tourist-based economy depends. |
|
|
|
Post by on_the_edge on May 18, 2024 20:04:48 GMT -5
Controversy brewing in Vegas. The Vegas tourism authority has given $100,000 sponsorship bonuses to all Aces players. That is outside of the WNBA so does not count against the salary cap. It is HUGE money for WNBA players as the top starts on the Aces only make $200,000 a year right now and one of their rookies is making just under $68,000 so her bonus is more than her salary. The authority says it is about them being good for the Vegas tourism business. Not sure what effect they have but winning back-to-back championships is big. WNBA will be investigating this. It seems to give Aces an advantage of recruiting free agents if this is going to be a regular thing and if other teams cannot do the same. I am personally not that into the WNBA, but I really don't see where the Aces organization itself did anything wrong here as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) did not go through the Aces but instead went through the individual players and their agents and other players on other teams are also allowed to make such deals if offered to them. At worse, perhaps the WNBA nullifies these agreements but should not be punishing the Aces organization as my understanding is this does not specifically violate WNBA rules and the Aces were not involved with this independent decision by the LVCVA. But I am not really concerend about it either way. Sometimes in sports, some cities have advantages over others (i.e. cities in states with no income tax, etc) in player recruitment and Las Vegas is different than other cities as we have a group like the LVCVA that makes big sports sponsorship deals like our now annual Formula One race on the Strip and like its recent $5 million bid to outbid Minneapolis to bring in Wrestlemania 41 next year during Easter weekend as the LVCVA sees opportunities to make sound investments in bringing in big events for which our tourist-based economy depends. In general, I do not see an issue with this but in the situation of WNBA and salaries I can see why it might be an issue. No State Tax is a government issue and while nice it is only a small % of one's salary a player would save. I think if the LVCVA gave players $5K or $10K it would not be as big an issue. It is a slippery road to be going down. If backdoor deals are allowed it might be the final blow to small market teams. That or sports would become like wrestling. You would have a handful of top stars/franchises and the rest would be enhancement talent. Granted it is like that somewhat now, but it would be far worse. Big city teams could have outside companies offer money to players outside of the league to get around salary caps. If this was a one-time thing from the LVCVA and there are no issues from other cities doing something like it, then it will blow over. But something that not just the WNBA need to keep an eye on but all professional sport leagues. |
|
|
|
Post by tystates on May 18, 2024 20:47:27 GMT -5
It's at the very least something that's going to be watched. Whether the Aces did anything or not if players know going there might get them all this extra money it could be seen as a problem. It's the WNBA though not too many people are going to get upset about it.
|
|
|
|
Post by on_the_edge on May 19, 2024 0:45:18 GMT -5
Well more this year then last year. This is bad timing with the league starting to see growth.
One thing I have been thinking about and far as I know no one has touched on is it is possible that Clark and Angel could be this generation's Bird and Magic. They battles for an NCAA title, they brought a lot of attention to the college game and seem to be bringing attention to the pro game hopefully pushing both levels up in viewership.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vegas on May 19, 2024 2:01:13 GMT -5
I am personally not that into the WNBA, but I really don't see where the Aces organization itself did anything wrong here as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) did not go through the Aces but instead went through the individual players and their agents and other players on other teams are also allowed to make such deals if offered to them. At worse, perhaps the WNBA nullifies these agreements but should not be punishing the Aces organization as my understanding is this does not specifically violate WNBA rules and the Aces were not involved with this independent decision by the LVCVA. But I am not really concerend about it either way. Sometimes in sports, some cities have advantages over others (i.e. cities in states with no income tax, etc) in player recruitment and Las Vegas is different than other cities as we have a group like the LVCVA that makes big sports sponsorship deals like our now annual Formula One race on the Strip and like its recent $5 million bid to outbid Minneapolis to bring in Wrestlemania 41 next year during Easter weekend as the LVCVA sees opportunities to make sound investments in bringing in big events for which our tourist-based economy depends. In general, I do not see an issue with this but in the situation of WNBA and salaries I can see why it might be an issue. No State Tax is a government issue and while nice it is only a small % of one's salary a player would save. I think if the LVCVA gave players $5K or $10K it would not be as big an issue. It is a slippery road to be going down. If backdoor deals are allowed it might be the final blow to small market teams. That or sports would become like wrestling. You would have a handful of top stars/franchises and the rest would be enhancement talent. Granted it is like that somewhat now, but it would be far worse. Big city teams could have outside companies offer money to players outside of the league to get around salary caps. If this was a one-time thing from the LVCVA and there are no issues from other cities doing something like it, then it will blow over. But something that not just the WNBA need to keep an eye on but all professional sport leagues. the no state income tax was not meant to be a direct comparison but just an example of how certain locatons have various advantages nobody complains in MLB when the Yankees and Dodgers due to their markets can more easily retain their players and sign other free agents than teams like the Pirates due to no salary cap. This year the Mets have a $305 million payroll and the As have a $60 million payroll and yet there is concern over a $100,000 per player investment for the Aces? nobody complains in NCAA Football when some teams can more feasibly attract players with 6 to 7 figure NIL deals (that is why my school Washington State lost their QB Cam Ward last year to the transfer portal) the Aces happen to play in a city that has an aggressive entitiy in the LVCVA that traditionally spends money investing in sports to support the vital tourist industry, if it is not against WNBA rules then I do not understand the problem |
|
|
|
Post by on_the_edge on May 19, 2024 3:55:10 GMT -5
MLB has no hard ceiling salary cap but they do have a soft one and if they cross it they pay a penalty. Imagine if they Yankees stay under it and players got money from other sources.
$100,000 is nothing to men players but it is to WNBA as pointed out. It would be like NFL players being given $10M to $15M each. While I do not think this was done to skirt the WNBA salary cap, I feel it was done in good faith to reward people who do good for Vegas, but it can become a loophole if leagues are not careful.
As far as NIL in college, it's part of the reason I hardly watch college sports anymore. I am a huge U of M fan but did not watch either of their playoff games this past season.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vegas on May 19, 2024 14:54:50 GMT -5
MLB has no hard ceiling salary cap but they do have a soft one and if they cross it they pay a penalty. Imagine if they Yankees stay under it and players got money from other sources. $100,000 is nothing to men players but it is to WNBA as pointed out. It would be like NFL players being given $10M to $15M each. While I do not think this was done to skirt the WNBA salary cap, I feel it was done in good faith to reward people who do good for Vegas, but it can become a loophole if leagues are not careful. As far as NIL in college, it's part of the reason I hardly watch college sports anymore. I am a huge U of M fan but did not watch either of their playoff games this past season. the way that is written makes it look like the Yankees would be complicit in that scenario and the LVCVA is giving these bonuses independently from the Aces who have the 5th highest payroll in the WNBA according to this link www.spotrac.com/wnba/cap/_/year/2024/sort/cap_maximum_space and the soft MLB salary cap penalties do nothing to deter teams like the Mets and Yankees despite both teams missing the playoffs last year and the NIL's in college are far worse than this situation as here we have some players getting their salaries doubled but in the NCAA with the NILs you go from no salary (you can't double nothing) to much higher six-figure or seven-figure deals and not all schools have an even playing surface there. I don't begrudge the players from getting those deals but that is an even bigger imbalance than this WNBA situation. To me, instead of investigating the Aces, the WNBA should be investigating why their teams pay their players so little in salaries. The WNBA is the top women's basketball fed in the country and most of the players are making less than I do as a teacher (granted I started at the Masters +32 scale and the only higher scale was for those having a PHD) and I live paycheck to paycheck (although that is due to debt and recent medical bills.) |
|
