YouTuber Highlights 2025 WNBA MVP Favorite’s Challenges Amidst League Attendance Rise, Lockout Rumors

When Unrivaled co-founder and WNBPA vice president Napheesa Collier saw the accusations swirling around her involvement in both leagues, she didn’t skip a beat. “While everyone else was enjoying fireworks, you were thinking about how me & Stewie of all people are conspiring to force a lockout that would result in less money year-round for WNBA players??” she quipped on X, making her stance crystal clear. Yet as August winds down, the WNBPA’s ongoing discussions with the league continue to simmer with tension. And just when it seemed things couldn’t get any hotter, Rachel DeMita chimed in with yet another take, one that Phee might soon have to confront.

“We’re not asking for the same salaries as the men, we’re asking for the same revenue shares,” the 2025 MVP frontrunner has stressed repeatedly. However, after the All-Star meeting, it emerged that the league offered a deal that could quadruple the salary cap and maximum base salaries—potentially up to $1 million from $249,244—while keeping the same revenue-sharing model. Of course, the players rejected it. “It feels like it’s kind of same old, same old, we’re not making a lot of progress… It’s unfortunate, we obviously want to get a deal done, and it feels like the league doesn’t have that same urgency, and the deadline is quickly approaching, I feel like we’re not close right now,” Collier then said recently, reigniting old lockout rumors. Now, as the playoffs approach, that stance isn’t sitting well with DeMita, especially after reviewing attendance and viewership numbers.

Surprising but true. The W just ended up recording 2,501,609 fans in attendance with 13 teams over 226 games—enough to surpass the previous mark set in 2002 with 16 teams. A major contribution has been made by the newest team, the Golden State Valkyries, who sold out all 17 home games at Chase Center until last month, bringing in the league-best average of 18,064 fans. And then there’s the Indiana Fever, obviously, who averaged 16,747 despite CC’s being sidelined to just 13 games. Following them were the NY Liberty, Aces, Wings, and Mystics. However, the Minnesota Lynx—with their 30-8 record, No. 1 ranking in the W, and playoff berth already clinched—are nowhere to be seen in the top 9.

So, while Collier—also among the best players this season and a frontrunner for the MVP title—is fighting for equal pay, according to Rachel, the team’s not giving as much as other teams are. “Continue to run up the viewership numbers, get b—- in seats when it comes to attendance, show everyone how great you are and what you actually deserve,” she added later in the video. “And then in 3 years when you get back to the table, you will have much more leverage than you do now. Unfortunately, it’s still just such a short period of time that we’ve seen this boom in the W. And I just think that a lockout or a player strike at this point in time with where the WNBA is at would be so so bad. It would be really bad for the league. And I just hope that everyone at the table understands that”. 

But here are a few things to ponder upon after listening to DeMita-

• Attendance isn’t the only, or even primary, revenue driver for player pay.
• Is attendance = merit for pay? Because, as David Berri said, an economist studying sports labor, “The NBA is bad at negotiating for women. The women end up being throw-ins to their deals.” In other words, the WNBA’s pay structure is handicapped by NBA oversight, not just fan turnout. So, does cherry-picking the Lynx’s attendance ignore league-wide growth and contextual Factors?
• The “Pay Us What You Owe Us” campaign during the 2025 All-Star Game wasn’t about handouts—it’s about equitable revenue sharing amid growth. Could dismissing pay demands as unjustified overlook systemic inequities and player advocacy?

However, that’s not all DeMita said. She also called out Satou Sabally.

Did Satou Sabally not know already?

Ahead of the Mercury-Sparks matchup, Satou Sabally was asked about the WNBA’s offseason policies that limit players from joining overseas leagues. Her response was direct: “I wasn’t aware that they already publicly announced that. That’s wrong. I made more money at Unrivaled than any year in my entire WNBA career.” These comments also drew attention from analyst Rachel DeMita.

On her Courtside Club podcast, DeMita scrutinized Sabally’s statement, pointing out a contradiction. “The thing that stood out to me the most about this was that Satou said, ‘I wasn’t aware that was made public yet.’ Well, Satou was the one who made that information public on her TikTok,” she explained. The TikTok post by Sabally that DeMita mentioned included the caption: “I could go on a whole rant… And we still make more money at Unrivaled or overseas, which they want us to stop playing in too.”

DeMita also challenged Sabally’s claims about earnings. “If you are going to be making the big bucks playing in the WNBA, the owners are not going to allow you to risk your body and risk injury and go play for a competitor’s league [Unrivaled] during the offseason. And if you don’t want to play in the WNBA and you make more money elsewhere, then the WNBA is not holding you hostage,” DeMita added.

But here’s a pointed take by Gabby Williams that has some perspective to offer: “It would make sense if they were paying us more here but it still isn’t the case, even with the new proposal. And it’s very clear now that they want to push Unrivaled out, push [Athletes Unlimited] out…so I think now more than ever it’s important to push against these kinds of issues”.

It doesn’t seem like these CBA talks are getting resolved anytime soon. The October 31 deadline is looming. What are your thoughts on DeMita’s take?