Diary of a WNBA negotiator
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What is the background of Alysha Clark and her journey in the WNBA?
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There's this player in the WNBA, her name is Alicia Clark, who has kind of a reputation.
I think my teammates would describe me as a tough, gritty, winning, like a winner. Can you go into winner a little bit? Like, what does that mean? I'm going to be in the right position at the right time. I'm going to be prepared. Yeah, I just want to win at all costs. And whatever that looks like, whatever I need to do is what I'll do. And I have a track record of winning.
Yeah, she's understating it a little bit. Actually, when we were talking to her, the only time she seemed kind of bored was when she was listing her accomplishments.
Going back to high school, like I won a state championship. She went on to win championships in college and in overseas leagues.
Then in the WNBA, winning three championships with three of the, how many teams have I played for?
So just to be clear, we're talking to a three-time WNBA champion. Yes. Awesome. But recently, she took part in a competition that had higher stakes than any game she's ever played.
Alicia knows long, grueling workouts. She's learned dozens of defensive schemes and offensive plays. She's used to practicing, preparing, strategizing. But this was a totally different kind of endurance challenge.
Because instead of running drills, she was studying contracts and labor law.
You know, taking the time to sit down and go through this 300-page document and read, and if it was something I didn't understand, I Googled it. And I'm like, okay, what does X, Y, and Z mean? Oh, okay, got it. And so then I would go back and reread a section. And then if there were questions, hey, I saw this. What exactly does this mean?
She was doing all of this studying because for the first time in her life, she was going to be negotiating the contract for all the players in the WNBA.
And... Look, it's normal for players to be involved in collective bargaining. When union workers sign a new contract with their employers, some of the actual workers have to be part of the negotiations. So Alicia was going to be one of the players negotiating over things like parental leave, 401k matching, housing stipends, and most importantly, paychecks.
What was not normal was how potentially historic this new contract could be. The WNBA has seen astronomical growth since the players got their last contract six years ago. And the players were saying, wait a minute, this is our moment. We want our fair share.
Our share should grow as the business grows because we're the reason the business is growing.
All Alicia and the other negotiators had to do was get the league to agree. Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Erica Barris.
And I'm Emma Peasley. Alicia Clark and the other players had a once in a generation opportunity to change the future for all of women's basketball and maybe all of women's sports.
And it came right down to the buzzer. Today on the show, we go courtside to one of the most important union negotiations in professional sports history and learn what it's like to be a rookie doing high stakes bargaining. From bluffs and puffs to strategic silence and something called BATNA. And the ringer? Economics. Swish!
On the court, Alicia Clark is a forward for the Dallas Wings. But over her time with the WNBA, she has been in pretty much every position. Being cut from her team twice, being a bench player, getting the minimum WNBA salary.
Being the, like, middleman in terms of I'm not the superstar, but I'm not a rookie.
then being a starter, winning all those championships. She says that's why she stepped up a couple years ago to help negotiate this contract.
I just knew that my lived experience would be so crucial and beneficial to this negotiation.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the background of Alysha Clark and her journey in the WNBA?
0:00–5:39
2
How did the WNBA players' contract negotiations begin?
5:39–11:45
3
What role did Claudia Golden play in the negotiations?
11:45–18:00
4
What were the initial demands of the WNBA players during negotiations?
18:00–22:43
5
How did the league respond to the players' proposals?
22:43–28:22
6
What negotiation tactics did Alysha and her team use?
28:22–29:29