Mercury players applaud WNBA's chartered flights decision
Less than one year after Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury dealt with a safety issue while traveling via commercial air, the WNBA will commit to providing full-time charter flight service for its teams during the season.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced on Tuesday that the league will commit $50 million over the next two years for the service.
For players like Griner, this change provides a sense of relief.
Griner traveled with security personnel the entire Mercury season following her nearly 10-month detainment in Russia. Even with security, Griner and her teammates were harassed in Dallas in June by what the WNBA called a "provocateur."
“Last year, we had somebody pull up on us and that situation could have went totally different. It wasn’t as aggressive as it could’ve been, but we’ve seen in times where that can go really bad really quickly,” Griner said. “The fact that we’re going to start having flights where we don’t have to worry about that. We can take that off our radar and focus on the game than getting there.”
Since 1997, the WNBA has had its players fly via commercial air, which has caused a lot of issues. Several teams have dealt with lengthy layovers, canceled flights, and being followed around. In 2022, the Los Angeles Sparks had to sleep in an airport after their flight was canceled.
“I don’t know why it hasn’t happened sooner. It shouldn’t. It’s kind of ridiculous it’s taken this long. You have fans who are sitting right by us saying, Why aren’t you guys flying charter? You guys deserve way more and the attention is on you guys," Sophie Cunningham said. "We finally got it done and we’re all super excited."
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With the rookie class featuring Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, and Angel Reese gaining more attention, the league shifted to more safety measures ahead of the 2024 season. Not long before the changes were announced, Clark and the Indiana Fever drew attention in a Dallas airport while traveling for a preseason game.
“I’m really excited that the younger players will not have to experience everything that we experienced and the ones before us had to experience,” Griner said. “I always said that safety is the number one key. Our safety should have always been a high priority. I understand we’re a league where we’re more accessible to our fans and that’s good to a certain extent. But I feel like we’ve hit the threshold now where it can be endangerment. There are threats that are present that people know about.”
Cunningham, the Mercury’s representative for the players’ union, has long been working on her teammates’ behalf for travel changes. The league went ahead with announcing the changes before meeting with the union.
“We’ve been fighting for it for quite some time and the fact that it came out of nowhere proves that we have the money to do it. We need to start treating us like the elite athletes that we are,” Cunningham said. “We are grateful that it finally happened. This draft class coming in from college had a lot to do with it and there’s a lot of eyes on the W right now. It’s a great time to be in the W. It’s a great time to be a fan of the W. With that, it’s time to level up.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Safety first for Mercury players with WNBA's chartered flight decision
