WNBA President Val Ackerman was interviewed at halftime
of NBC's coverage of Game Two of the WNBA Championship
Series. Ackerman, on the proposed players union: "We have
always supported the right of the players to unionize, to
speak to us in a collective voice, if you will. It's our
hope that whoever is involved in that process recognizes the
realities of our business. We're a bit differently situated
than the NBA, than the other major league sports, although
that's what we're trying to aspire to be. And it's our hope
that whoever is involved is reasonable and recognizes those
realities" ("WNBA on NBC," 8/29).
TIME RIGHT FOR UNION? Lifetime TV analyst Mary Murphy
said she doesn't feel the "time is right" for WNBA players
to unionize: "We're only in our second year as a league, the
ABL just folded a franchise [Long Beach]. We've had some
attendance problems with some of our franchises. TV ratings
aren't where we want them to be. To me, the time just is
not there. We've got to get some credibility going first."
But former WNBA player Fran Harris countered, "You've got to
get some things in place, like health care, some equity with
the players' salaries" ("WNBA on Lifetime," 8/27).
COMPAQ-ED: Game Two of the Mercury-Comets WNBA
Championship Series on Saturday drew a sold-out crowd of
16,285 at Houston's Compaq Center (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/30).
MERGER? In Sacramento, Ailene Voisin wrote that the
WNBA "is here to stay and sure to expand, a grand experiment
no longer. The [ABL]? Doomed." Voisin: "For the good of
the game, it's time to merge" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 8/29).
FEELING FIT: In N.Y., Neal Travis reports that WNBA
officials "are likely to get their knickers in a knot when
they see" Comets G Cynthia Cooper's pictorial in the new
issue of Women's Sport & Fitness. Travis hears that Cooper
was "supposed to do the shoot in her regulation uniform,"
but when her "minders departed," she "doffed her top and
posed in all her glory" (Neal Travis, N.Y. POST, 8/31).
