The New York Liberty were fined a WNBA record $500,000 US for chartering flights to away games during the second half of the season last year and for other league rules violations, according to a person familiar with the fine.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Wednesday because no official announcement of the fine had been made.
Liberty owners Joe and Clara Tsai, who have been very vocal about trying to find better travel accommodations for WNBA teams, paid for the charters as well as for a trip to Napa Valley over Labour Day weekend. That trip was a benefit that vastly exceeded the allowable compensation to players.
Sports Illustrated was the first to report the story. The fine was levied last fall.
New York was winless on the road after the Olympic break.
The WNBA announced last month the completion of a $75 million capital raise campaign. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told the AP at the time that the new money wouldn’t be used for adding chartered flights. She has said that she supports the idea of teams chartering when it is financially feasible for every team.
Traveling commercially, which is in the league’s collective bargaining agreement, has been an issue in recent years. Players have drawn attention to travel problems that have led to games being cancelled and even forfeited. The WNBA has occasionally stepped in to pay for charters over multiple time zones in the postseason.
The Sports Illustrated story also reported that the league’s general counsel suggested a plethora of severe punishments for the Liberty, including “losing `every draft pick you have ever seen’ to suspending ownership, even `grounds for termination of the franchise.”
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