Former WNBA MVP and current top free agent Breanna Stewart has made charter flights a key factor in her decision-making, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Sunday.
The issue has become a focal point in free agency discussions around the WNBA, league sources told ESPN. Across the last several seasons, players have called for change to the WNBA’s travel policy, which does not allow charter flights.
People connected to the league expect Brittney Griner will need to fly privately for the 2023 season due to security concerns. The free agent was imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months before the U.S. government secured her release in December. She has made clear her plans to play again for the Phoenix Mercury, though she has not yet asked for any travel accommodations, ESPN reported.
If Griner is allowed to fly privately, would the exception extend to the rest of her team? And if the Mercury are allowed to fly privately, what would that mean for the rest of the league?
Under the current collective bargaining agreement, teams are not allowed to charter private flights. In 2021, the New York Liberty were fined $500,000 by the league for chartering flights in the second half of the season.
Stewart took to Twitter on Sunday to raise the…
