The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recently announced it had reached $100,000 sponsorship deals with each player on the Las Vegas Aces. Almost immediately, the WNBA announced it was investigating the deals.
Aces owner Mark Davis spoke on the subject and believes the WNBA has a double standard when deciding who to investigate and why. For example, Davis owns the Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL, but they cannot sponsor the Aces. However, Nike, which is an investor in the WNBA, can sponsor players.
“Nike is an owner of the WNBA and they’re allowed to sponsor Caitlin Clark for $28 million on one player and nobody’s complaining or investigating,” Davis said. “And I think it’s great that Nike’s doing that. But let’s give credit to where credit’s due: Las Vegas Convention Authority is stepping up and recognizing these women.”
When the sponsorship of the Aces’ players was announced, the language used seemed like less a sponsorship and more another way to pay the players a salary. However, the words used will be less important than what is written in the contracts and how the services from the players to the LVCVA are performed.
Sponsorship deals must align with WNBA collective bargaining agreement language. The issue with this sponsorship could be with the CBA language that forbids teams or team affiliates from coordinating with third parties to “agree to pay compensation for basketball services (even if such compensation is ostensibly designated as being for non-basketball services) to a player under contract to the team.” In recent years, the league has investigated the Aces multiple times.
“There was absolutely nothing done wrong,” Davis said. “And I think it’s sad that they used the word investigation instead of something a little softer to say, ‘Hey, we might look into it’ or whatever. But they’re going to find there’s nothing wrong.”
Davis also believes the language used by the league could deter other sponsors from investing in teams and players for fear of violating WNBA rules. With more money flowing into the league, there will be more situations the WNBA will need to be comfortable with.
“When you say ‘investigation,’ other organizations that are in our community might say, ‘Hey, we may want to sit back and wait. Maybe this is illegal’ or this or that,” Davis said. “And I think that’s the wrong approach.”
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