Mystics fans eager to celebrate the team’s first-ever WNBA title, will have to wait on the parade. The Mystics will hold the parade in the Spring of 2020.
Unfortunately, that’s the underlining of the WNBA. Because players make subpar pay compared to the NBA players, that majority of the WNBA players make their biggest money overseas in other professional women’s league.
WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman has to leave DC Saturday. Others shortly after.
Instead the team held a celebration rally at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southeast DC, giving fans short notice.
Plans are not finalized, but it appears the Mystics will kick off the 2020 season with a parade as well as the raising of their championship banner.
Having a parade nearly a year later does damper the enthusiasm of casual fans, however, for the faithful they will get the opportunity to celebrate with the team, eventually.
Those plans could be hampered as the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire on Oct. 31, 2019 as the players union elected to opt out of the current deal. At the height of their issues with the league is better pay and accommodations that fall well short of the NBA. There could be a work stoppage if negotiations sour.
The average salary of WNBA players is roughly around $70,000. Meesseman was the team’s highest-paid player at $117,500 nudging out WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne, who is at $117,000, according to Spotrac.
The Mystics have six players who made less than $70,000 this season.
That indirectly is a large reason why a parade will have to wait until 2020.
