Nneka Ogwumike signs with new women's basketball league Project B as WNBA contract talks persist

While the financial specifics haven't been disclosed, the potential of more lucrative compensation comes at an important moment for women's professional basketball. As interest in the sport has soared in recent years, the WNBA and players union are locked in tense negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement with much of the dispute centered on salary and revenue sharing.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the 35-year-old Ogwumike said the compensation package was key to her signing with Project B.

“It’s not something that’s usually offered to us, and by us, I mean women athletes,” Ogwumike said. "So, for there to be an entry level of equity across the board was eye-catching. It’s something that I stand for, obviously.”

The 35-year-old Ogwumike hopes the equity stake will be the standard for leagues going forward. She’s currently involved in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA, serving as the union president. The WNBA and its players recently agreed to extend their CBA for another 30 days through November, but the sides remain far apart on terms for a new deal.

Project B plans to play the inaugural season through April 2027. That would not interfere with the typical WNBA calendar.

Project B would give Ogwumike the opportunity to essentially play year-round again, something she did before when she spent winters in Russia and Poland. She hasn’t played overseas since 2019.

“There’s so many different opportunities for players outside of (the WNBA) and that’s always been the case,” Ogwumike said. “This is just another one of those opportunities and I know that a lot of players are doing what they can to ensure that they can maximize on the short time that they have in their playing careers. This is my chance to be able to do that.”

Ogwumike stopped playing for most of the year after COVID disrupted the sports world.

Project B, which intends to stream its games, will see players competing on a traveling circuit just like golf, tennis and auto racing.

“We want premiere cities and our goal is to create an F1-style TV event,” said Alana Beard, Project B’s chief basketball officer. “There’s a tournament in each city and at the end of each tournament there is going to be a champion and that all leads up to us potentially crowning the champion of the world.”

Beard said that many top WNBA players have also signed on, though did not disclose any other names. There’s also talk of having a men’s league as part of Project B, but those details are not finalized.

Project B is the brainchild of Skype cofounder Geoff Prentice and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett. The two come from the tech world where people have equity in the company so that when the company succeeds, the worker succeed too.

It has an investor group that includes tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Sloane Stephens as well as former WNBA great Candace Parker.

“Basketball has never been just a game — it’s culture, community and connection,” Parker told the AP. “But for too long, players have carried the game without a real stake in its future and women especially have been asked to wait for change. Project B isn’t waiting. They’re building the future in a global league where athletes have equity, shape the direction of the sport, and bring fans everywhere into the movement.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports