On Player "Retirements"

Q McCall at Swish Appeal writes about Shannon "Pee Wee" Johnson's retirement from the WNBA...but not from basketball:

Since Johnson announced her retirement, I’ve heard multiple people express concern about players choosing to leave the WNBA to play basketball overseas because a) it shortens ones career to be playing professional basketball year-round and b) players make more money overseas.

There are already NBA players choosing to leave the U.S. mid-career to play overseas. As of yet, no all-star caliber player has done that at the peak of their career, but it’s difficult for a U.S. entity to compete with foreign entities given the current economy.

Johnson is certainly on the decline at this point in her career and this problem is by no means at crisis level. But you wonder what kinds of things the league is trying to do to address the problem.

This was such a good point that I wanted to write a blog post about it.

Actually, if this is news to the people expressing concern, they haven't been watching. I believe this has been going on for several years now. In particular, some foreign players who travelled to the WNBA between 1997 and 2000 returned to their home countries and played for several years.

Part of the problem is the paradox of lesser European leagues which pay better money. In Europe, from my understanding, teams are subsidized by both corporations and the respective European governments. Teams in Europe looking to win big in their respective national leagues or in Euroleague play will hire big WNBA stars for six figure salaries - a player can earn more overseas despite playing in front of smaller crowds.

This paradox doesn't exist in other major sports. For example, suppose a big-name baseball star has clearly hit his declining years to the point where he is a marginal talent at best. There's just no other league that's going to pay him the million-dollar salary to which he is accustomed. AAA isn't going to pay that. The player might be lucky and play in Japan, but most American baseball players aren't accustomed to playing overseas and learning a new language.

So they retire. Better to retire than play for lesser cash in a sub-standard league. Would Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams have played longer if there was an overseas winter baseball league which might have had lesser talent but which paid better? I think Teddy Ballgame probably would have played into his forties if there was such a thing.

Johnson's case is not the case of a player saying, "I have a few more productive years in the WNBA, but I'll just go to Europe and play for more money to preserve myself." Pro athletes just don't think like that. Every pro athlete thinks "I am one of the best in the world." And I believe that the WNBA is the best women's basketball league. Athletes - at least American athletes - are probably going to play there until it becomes obvious that they can't hang anymore. Then, and only then, they'll head for Europe full-time.

(Note the large number of ex-US college players that play full time in Europe. For those players, it's definitely not a case of "I can make more money in Europe." It's a case of "I can't get on a WNBA roster.")

When a major American college player - a potential first round WNBA draft pick - eschews the WNBA to play in Europe full time, then I'll be worried. But not until.

CSKA: It's Over

From the RebKell Message Board: a poster quotes an article from http://news.sportbox.ru - the Google translated version.

Women' s CSKA of removed of from of the of country' s of championship of because of of funding of problems, transmits of radio of " Mayak" , referring to of the Of president of of the Of russian Of federation Of sergei Of chernov of basketball. In the club itself information about the removal from the championship they did not confirm, but also they did not refute, after saying that the official solution thus far no one assumed. In of the of club of about of withdrawing of from of the of championship is of not of confirmed of nor of refuted, saying of that a of formal of decision of yet, no of one of has. In the federation of the basketball of Russia the information so remained unconfirmed; however, the representatives OF [RFB] were intended to soon meet with the management the TsSKA (Central Sports Club of the Army) and to discuss the future of command in the championship of Russia. In of the Of basketball Of federation of Of russia in of the of same of information of remains of unconfirmed, but of the RFB of intend of shortly to of meet of with of the of leaders CSKA and discuss of the of future of of the of team of championship in Of russia.

In short, CSKA Moscow is probably declaring bankruptcy. Hammon, McCarville, all of their stars will be released. Says "HotforHammon" at RebKell:

We had feeling it was comming yesterday. Some of our Russian members reported Becky and her parents went out after the game yesterday and she told them she would likely be leaving the club soon then gave over her signed shoes and posed for pics and signed autographs for the members of her Russian fan site that traveled to the game. It sounded like a goodbye.

Our Dream players in the Spanish, French, Polish, Turkish, Chinese and Greek leagues are all right.



So far.

Cardboard Belt Time

"You know who I used to be? Max Bialystock, king of Broadway. Six shows running at once! Lunch at Delmonico's, two-hundred-dollar suits...Look at me now. Look at me now! I'm wearing a cardboard belt! I used to have thousands of investors begging, pleading to put their money in a Max Bialystock production. Look at my investors now...Hundreds of little old ladies stopping off at Max Bialystock's office to grab a last thrill on the way to the cemetery."--Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) to Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), The Producers

This was recently posted at RebKell. It is a posting from a Becky Hammon fandom board, for Russian Becky fans. It discusses the financial situation of CSKA Moscow, Becky's current club.

Another article is here. One commenter writes "This is the beginning of the end. Our basketball threatens to collapse. And across the country. "

Rumors are that the club won't make it until the end of the Russian league season. Other clubs might be affected.

Granted, the financial model of the Russian league clubs has always been suspicious. The typical rumor is that at best the clubs are owned-operated by Russian oligarchs flush off oil money or the speculative economy at best, and at worst are operated by outright Russian Mafiosi. Owning a Russian league club has been a real vanity purchase, with Russian club owners throwing the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars at the best American players for their participation in the league, even though the clubs never made that much money back or had that much attendance. The owners absorbed the loss.

Now with the global recession/depression, this might not be the case anymore. Reality is setting in. I suspect some fortunes are collapsing overnight in Russia. Rumor has it that some players in Russia haven't been paid in over a month.

My wonder is how much of the shrinking economy will affect the rest of European basketball as well as the United States. When times get tough, the sports dollar is one of the first "dollars" to take a hit. European leagues might shrink. Some European clubs, usually the ones who keep a (non-competitive) team alive because, well, because the town's had a basketball team for the last thirty years might make the tough decision to move on.

Would such a problem affect the United States? If it affects the WNBA, or NASCAR, or MLS, then the big leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) better start quaking in their boots. Does the WNBA need to expand? (More on that, later.) Probably not right now - maybe contraction would be a good idea. For those interested in the pulse of women's basketball, any little quiver or quake can cause a whole lot of people to shiver.

Four Hours by Van Equals One Pizza

Extrugasa is hard at work in practice.

This is an article in a Spanish newspaper by somenoe close to the Extrugasa team. ("A. G.") The writer states that last year, the team had wonderful moments like a plane malfunctioning on a flight from Moscow when they were already in the air for an hour. This time, the story is about traveling by van through the Pyrenees mountains to get to Zaragoza. Rain. Sleet. And when getting to the hotel...the kitchen is closed.

Just remember...you earn every dime you make while playing in Europe.

Two Continents, One Ball

I recently read an article by Ethan Johnson, in his "Closing Comments" post at ethmar.com. It's a great article with a great lead paragraph.

First and foremost, it's worth mentioning that the WNBA is something of a matinée feature while - take your pick - a) the NBA is between seasons, or b) the international women's basketball leagues are between seasons. What the NBA is for the men, the international leagues are for the women. The WNBA gives domestic audiences an opportunity to see top female players like Candace Parker or Becky Hammon without a passport. Therefore, I think the WNBA will be constrained by this arrangement for the foreseeable future, which means enjoy what they're offering, but keep expectations low about taking it to the "next level".

This inspired me to write about the life of female pro basketball players, particularly the salary aspects.

Average salary as of 2008 for Euroball is 5,000-6,000 Euros a month. This is for the players with no WNBA experience. If you're in Russia, you can go as high as 10,000 Euros a month to start. If you're in France or Turkey, probably less. This is an average of about $6,700-$8,000 a month at the current exchange rate. Once again, this is for players with no American pro experience.

The advantage is that this money is usually tax-free and wired directly into an off-shore account. Sometimes teams will provide apartments rent free. Mind you, in some parts of the world apartments are not up to the American standards of luxury. Crystal Langhorne is still trying to figure out how to make her combination washer/dryer work. One season, Diana Taurasi lived in a Russian apartment where the plumbing couldn't handle the flushing of toilet paper down the commode; used TP had to be collected in a can and disposed of separately.

The European season can start anywhere from September to November and end anywhere from February to April. It's maybe about five months of the year of ball. A WNBA player can expect to make about $35,000 and up in the off-season playing in Europe. If you're playing for one of the Russian teams, that salary can go up to $500,000, but you'd better be a Diana Taurasi player to earn it and the owner of your club has to be in the Russian Mafia.

However, let's assume that you're a WNBA player and you figure you can make it till age 35 in "the game" when your knees start to go and your body rebels from the fatigue and not even the European teams want you. (Note: this assumption is optimistic.) Suppose you want to retire at age 35 and never work again a day in your life.

If you could earn $35,000 a year off an annuity with 6 percent interest - assuming you can find one - you have to stock away around $380,000 to pay for it. And remember, this is the money you don't spend. Assuming that living expenses cost about $20,000 a year in a no-frills, Spartan lifestyle, you will have to earn about $650,000 over a 13-year career. You have to earn at least $50,000 a year and spend that money rather frugally to have any chance of having a financial cushion. And let's not even talk about raising children.

The elite ball players like Bird, Leslie, Parker, and Taurasi - the "name players" - have a shot of making that kind of money. Everyone else will have to work year round, playing in the WNBA and then playing overseas in the off-season to make even an outside chance of that kind of money. Whereas an NBA player could make that $380K in a year if he doesn't buy a fleet of Fiats with it.

You can almost be guaranteed a job on some European club if you have WNBA experience. The WNBA is the glamour league - it draws the biggest crowds even though it doesn't pay the most money, and crowds are the springboard to becoming a Nancy Lieberman-type player with some name recognition outside of the closed world of women's basketball. You can play in the Russian Leagues or the European Superleague for even more money but by God, you'll pay for it in fatigue, in language difficulties, and an increased level of stress, anxiety and aggravation. I suspect that European players want to play in the WNBA more than the reverse due to the small crowds in Euroball.

If you're a European player that can't make it in the WNBA, then you have to get a real job over the off-season. And it's hard to find a real job, even in Europe, where they'll let you take five months off every year. European players are a lot like American baseball players from the 1950s - a 1950s salary for most baseball players meant you spent the off season working in a factory, or selling refrigerators, or whatever you did to meet your financial goals.

So what does the above have to do with Ethan's post? Well, if player salaries reach the $400K mark in the WNBA for the best players, those players will actually have the option of not having to play elsewhere in the off-season, just like the NBA players. (As a matter of fact, you'd probably have to sign an exclusivity contract to protect the club against you being injured playing for another league.) Players with that kind of money have the option to play where they want, and when they want. If a league is willing to pay that kind of salary, you'd be a fool not to play there.

So until women's basketball players make the kind of salaries where they can retire after a few good years if they so chose, the current system will remain in place. The only advantage of such a system - we get to see our favorite players year round, if we have a good internet connection.

Teresa Edwards once wrote that she would like to be an NBA player in the respect that she could go to her parents and say something like, "You want a new house? It's yours." Unfortunately, it looks like those days are a long way off.