Something very interesting happened last week in the WNBA. The Las Vegas Aces-Washington Mystics game was cancelled, even though both teams were in Washington. The reason? Because the Aces, who'd had a travel nightmare and only got into DC a few hours before game time, refused to play, citing health and safety concerns after 26 hours of travelling.
This was the first time in WNBA history that a game has been outright cancelled, so the league wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. After a few days, they eventually decided that the game would be forfeited to Washington. That's 100 percent the right decision. The Mystics were at the arena ready to play and the Aces simply chose not to, which is certainly grounds for forfeiture. They knew that was a possibility and they took it into consideration, but still decided it wasn't worth it to play. As a result, the Aces were willing to take the automatic loss. It was a bold decision to be sure.
Las Vegas didn't take the forfeiture lightly, either. The WNBA operates in a straight league system where eight of the 12 teams make the playoffs. The Aces are in ninth, two games behind eighth-place Dallas. There's only about a week left in the WNBA regular season, so they certainly could've used the win. But the fact that they determined player health was more important speaks volumes.
The Aces' travel nightmare started on Thursday afternoon. They were supposed to leave Las Vegas at 1:00, but had to endure several hours of flight delays. Since the WNBA requires teams to fly commercial, all they could to was wait. They eventually split up and got on four different flights to Dallas between 12:30-1:30 a,m. Then there were more delays in Dallas and they didn't land in Washington until 2:30 p.m., a little more than four hours before the scheduled tip-off.
Theoretically, they would've been able to play. However, they would've had to go right to the arena (while dealing with DC rush hour traffic) and play almost immediately. The WNBA pushed the start time back from 7:00 to 8:00, but even that wasn't enough to appease the Aces. The players, who hadn't slept in a bed since Tuesday night, took a vote and decided that was unacceptable. Hence their decision not to play.
I'm not saying the Aces did the right thing. But I don't necessarily disagree with it, either. I've traveled with many a team that had travel issues and either came out flat or just went through the motions in the next game as a result, so I get their plight. And I applaud them for letting the players make the call. After all, the players were going to be the ones who had to go out there and take the court.
What this illustrates, though, is the tremendous disparity between the WNBA and its male counterparts. I get why the WNBA makes teams fly commercial. Cost-wise it makes sense, and by having a rule it means teams that can afford to fly charter don't have a competitive advantage.
But it's also, in part, because WNBA teams fly commercial that this situation occurred. The Aces were just like the rest of us, waiting at the airport for hours hoping to take off before making a last-minute change just to get where they were going. If they flew charter, that wouldn't happen. They'd be bused directly to the tarmac and have a direct flight.
As for the rest thing that they cited, that's a completely reasonable concern. How often does a baseball team fly its next-day starting pitcher to the next city ahead of time so that he's not getting to the hotel at 3/4 a.m. when the rest of the team does? How many NFL teams spend Saturday night in a hotel even before a home game? And why do the players hate Thursday night games so much? It's all because of rest.
So I get the Aces' concern. They're professional athletes, just like MLB/NFL/NBA players. And as professional athletes, they didn't feel comfortable playing after the travel situation they'd endured. Plenty of people disagree, which is reasonable and completely fine. But the Aces knew the potential consequences of their decision and were willing to accept them.
After the cancellation was announced, Mystics Head Coach Mike Thibault was one of the most critical. He told the story of one time (I think when he was coaching Connecticut) that they arrived late for a game in Cleveland and got to the arena less than an hour before game time, but they still played...and won! But when you're traveling on a bus, it's a little different. On a bus, you can still get up and walk around. You can stretch out, the trainer can tape ankles, etc. On a plane (especially a commercial flight), all you can do is sit there. And Las Vegas to Washington (with a stopover in Dallas) isn't exactly the shortest trip, either.
One other problem that led to the game's cancellation was their inability to reschedule it. Ordinarily, that would be an option. Had rescheduling for Saturday afternoon been possible, I'm sure they would've done it. But, the Mystics had a game in Dallas on Sunday and the Aces were going right from DC to Connecticut, then Atlanta, before heading home for three straight. So, with rescheduling off the table (and teams that aren't exactly close to each other), the WNBA had no choice but to cancel the game.
Making the Aces forfeit was also the right call. Las Vegas Head Coach Bill Laimbeer voiced his displeasure, but it was either that or both teams finishing the season one game short, so the Aces would've ended up a half-game back in the final standings if it wasn't declared a forfeit. It was the only fair result for the Mystics, though. Washington was at the arena ready to play and lost a home game (plus ticket revenue from another since, in addition to issuing refunds, they gave fans free tickets to another game).
Sure, the forfeit is a bad look for both the team and the league. But maybe some good will come from it. Maybe we'll see some changes to the WNBA schedule and team travel next season. Because these are professional athletes, too. They deserve to be treated like it.
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