Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Brittney Griner's return to the WNBA this summer after being traded in a dramatic prisoner swap in December with Russia has collided with free agency, creating potential travel complications for the league out of safety concerns for her.
If Griner, who is a free agent but has said she'll return to Phoenix, needs special travel accommodations -- such as chartered flights -- the league will have to come up with a plan for the 6-foot-9 star. Griner's safety when traveling will be a top priority for the team and the league.
"We are very cognizant of BG's unique situation," WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Associated Press. "We've been planning and we've been thinking it through with security experts. BG's side, our side. We'll find the right time to comment on it when she signs with a team."
That could come Wednesday, when free agents can officially sign.
While the Griner situation is unique, other marquee players raised the issue of charter flights, which teams have deemed too costly.
The current collective bargaining agreement requires that all teams fly commercial and doesn't allow teams to charter flights. Any change in that would have to be approved by both the union and the league.
"No one wants to make this work more than me," Engelbert said. "That's why we're working so hard to transform the economic business model. We've had positive changes over the last couple years, but we're not going to jeopardize the financial viability of the league. We are on the cusp of something big here."
Engelbert says it would cost the league about US$25 million each season for each of its 12 teams to charter flights to every game. That number has increased about US$5 million from previous estimates by the commissioner due the new 40-game WNBA schedule this season, fuel costs and other factors.
The estimated cost per franchise to charter flights would be approximately US$2 million. Air travel expenses currently for each team is about US$150,000, according to two people familiar with the costs. The people spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly address the issue.
"We did it last year for the Finals and we have experience on how much it costs for routes we need to fly," Engelbert said. "We are monitoring and updating our analysis. We are going to try and get an economic model to fund this as soon as we can."
If teams violate the current CBA they could be fined.
The New York Liberty were fined a WNBA record US$500,000 in 2021 for chartering flights to away games during the second half of that season.
Coveted free agent Breanna Stewart, who has narrowed her choices to a few teams including New York, started a social media campaign to try to help get chartered flights for the league. She tweeted, "I would love to be part of a deal that helps subsidize charter travel for the entire WNBA. I would contribute my NIL, posts + production hrs to ensure we all travel in a way that prioritizes player health + safety, which ultimately results in a better product. Who's with me?"
Many current and former WNBA and NBA players offered their support. Though any change to travel restrictions would have to be voted on by the union and the league.
"We would need a commitment to it in perpetuity," Engelbert said. "That's 250-300 million (U.S.) dollars. Look at the gate and media deal and sponsorship dollars. We're not close to being able to afford US$250 million over the next decade."
Stewart said on Wednesday that she knows it "won't go from zero to 100. Obviously we would love to have a charter company come in and get sponsors for the entire year. If we can be able to pick and choose the flights whether it's the East to West Coast trip or you know the worst back-to-back. ... Right now it's just a no. Maybe it can be a maybe or a yes sometimes. No is really hard to work with."
WNBA players are used to flying charter flights. That's how they traveled in college.
Title IX legislation requires universities to have equal opportunities for their men's and women's athletic programs. The NCAA flies both the men's and women's teams on charter flights for the tournament if they are more than 400 miles from the site of their game.
That legislation doesn't apply to the pros so NBA teams chartering between cities has no effect on what WNBA teams do.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.