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October 20, 2025 48 mins

In the final episode of Naked Sports Season 4, you take a moment to look back and breathe it all in. Cari reflects on the journey — how the show evolved with the culture and the world’s events. Back when it was called Naked, it was all about the intimate, vulnerable stories from our guests. Now, it’s a space where bold voices meet big topics. Case in point? Today’s timely conversation on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl forthcoming appearance, which exemplifies how sports doesn’t just live on the field. It lives in the headlines, the halftime shows, the hidden political events, and/or in case it becomes a political event.

Naked, now "Naked Sports" has grown into something fearless: a platform where sports, politics, and culture collide in real-time.

We shift from the Super Bowl to the topic that led the season — women’s sports. Cari shines a light on the Las Vegas Aces, the tireless advocacy of WNBA players, and the battles still being fought against pay disparities, visibility gaps, and the push for real equity in a league full of stars. 

Women’s sports are having a moment — and we’re not just watching it.
We’re part of it, and thank you all for being a part of NAKED SPORTS! 

Special thanks to the Naked Sports team, our listeners, and everyone who’s been part of this evolution. 

This may be the end of a season, but it’s the beginning of something bigger.

Connect @CariChampion 

Subscribe Cari Champion's YOUTUBE Channel

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all. So what's happening
in women's basketball right now is what we've been trying
to get to for almost thirty years. From the stadiums
where athlete break barriers and set records. Caitlin Quark broke

(00:23):
the all time single game assists record. This is crazy
for rookies to be doing. Our discussions will uncover the
vital connections between these realms and the community we create.
In each episode, we'll sit down with athletes, political analysts,
and culture critics because at the core of it all,
how we see one issue shines the light on all others.

(00:45):
Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host, Carrie Champion. Hey everyone,
it is Carrie Champion, a Mistroll family. Welcome back to
Naked Sports. Little housekeeping off the top. I want to
say something, this is so bizarre. First and foremost, I
want to say that we are heading into season five

(01:06):
of Naked Sports, and I want to thank you all
for being here for five seasons. I remember what the
podcast started as and what it has evolved into and
now that we are approaching season five, I think that
the world has changed. Not only my podcast has changed,
it's adjusted to the world. And it got me to thinking,
I want to ask you all a question. Have you

(01:28):
ever started something, whether it be a relationship, a workship,
a job, a project, and in your mind it starts
off as something and then it ultimately changes because we
evolve as humans. And it made me feel like I
should share this message, the message of I think it's

(01:48):
okay for us to be able to change our minds
once we get new information that allows us to see
the project, the job, the person, the relationship differently. Hopefully
the different is good. Meaning if I'm in a relationship
and I feel this way about a person and then
I get more information that helps me understand why the

(02:11):
person behaves the way that they behave, that will allow
me I'm talking about me only to have empathy. And
so for Naked Sports, I started it off as just naked.
The idea of Naked was supposed to be me daring
it all, sharing my truth, interviewing people from different backgrounds
who wanted to have very intimate and honest conversations. And

(02:34):
the reality is is that when people come on your podcast.
They don't always want to have different conversations, and they
don't always want to be intimate, and they don't always
want to share all. You have to create an environment
for that, and we started Naked in the pandemic, so
you have to realize there was always this barrier. We
were zooming. Everything now riverside if you are a podcast
or everyone is a podcaster, But in that moment, we

(02:57):
were telling story without actually being in front of people
and communicating in a way for me is old school
but also very tangible that allows you to interact with
people and see their reactions face to face and feel
their body language and energy. We weren't doing that when
we first started Naked at a different producer, and as

(03:19):
the show evolved over years, I realized that I wanted
to be a little more focused, a little more narrow,
and that's why it came to Naked Sports. Obviously, sports
is how many people know me while working at ESPN,
now at CNN, that's how people know me. And the
idea was to take politics, culture and sport and put

(03:42):
it all together and talk about the way in which
it intersects, not hitting you over the head with it.
Guess what politics, sports culture intersect. Just making it really easy.
I'll give you an example of a story that that
meets those requirements. Bad Bunny at the super Bowl? Are
y'all kidding me? Bad Bunny at the super Bowl? And
the right is up in arms saying they want to

(04:04):
hear music. They can understand. They want to hear music
from Americans. You know, and I know listen. I know
many of you because I have a group of people
who listen to this podcast, and you're intelligent. You all
know that Bad Bunny is a US citizen. We all
know that Puerto Rico is a part of the United
States in terms of citizenship. I don't get why people

(04:27):
are up in arms things. Two things I'm going to
point out and I've talked about this. The super Bowl
does not demand that you be an American citizen and
or speak English. It's never been that way. Many performers
at the super Bowl have different backgrounds and different histories

(04:50):
and different ethnicities and citizenships. Rolling Stones, Cold Play, Kia, Rihanna,
Shall I go on? Are we kidding? Are we kidding?
And I get why everyone is trying to make this

(05:11):
an issue. We are in a very very polarizing time.
In America, ICE is coming into communities and arresting people.
They have been given the green light to arrest anyone
who they think may not be an American citizen. You know,
arrests now, ask questions later. And it's terrifying to see

(05:38):
this happening in real life. I don't recognize the country
that I live in, but what I do know is
that ICE has, without lack of a better word, literally
has declared war on minorities. Literally, what's happening in Chicago,
what happened in Los Angeles. It's terrorizing, it's chaos inducing,
it's it's scary. And when Bad Bunny to Me was

(06:03):
announced as the headliner for this year's Super Bowl, I
thought to myself, genius yet again, another clever but not
so obvious play, but obvious from Jay Z and company.
The super Bowl entertainers have always been the litmus test,
in my opinion, for how we feel culturally. They always

(06:27):
express the emotions of a community and or a collective,
and we learn more. Entertainers, creators, that's what they do.
That's what they do, Poets, writers, you name it, that's
what they do. They are the pulse of what's happening
in the world, and they talk about it, and they
put it in a song and or a poem and
or a book, and they let you decide if you

(06:48):
are interested, if you understand it, if you agree. But
there's a documentation that happens with creators. And so when
Jay Z and Company said bad Bunny would do it,
I thought to myself, Oh, this this is genius considering
the world that we live in right now. This is
genius because he is American citizen. This is genius because
he's unapologetic about his heritage and his culture. He refused

(07:12):
to tour in the United States because of ice. He said,
I do not want my fans harass. I do not
want the people who listen to my music to fear
for their lives and or have to make a decision
of am I going to go listen to some musical
role I end up in jail after I get done
listening to music and deported back to some other country.
The name of his residency, which was held in Puerto Rico,

(07:33):
This I believe it was a month and a half long.
Residency was like, I don't want to leave. I don't
want to leave home. Y'all come to me. He invited
the world to Puerto Rico. Come see what I do here.
Come to where I call home. Understand my language, the food,
the culture, the people. Hello, people pulled up. I have people.
I literally hello, people pulled up. I was at an

(07:55):
event the other day and the head of Threads. If
you're on Instagram and you follow Threads, the head of Threads,
to a man by the name of Connor Hayes, says
to me, Me and my family went to Puerto Rico
to listen to the to hear the concert, to attend
the concert. We took our kids. We wanted them to
be there. We were like, we should do it. This
is important. I saw lebron there in company. I saw

(08:15):
tons of celebrities there. There were pictures of Penelope Cruz
and her husband Eva Longoria. There were so many different
celebrities who showed up. Yes, I'll come. What that says
to me about Bad Bunny is that he is not
only a global superstar. He has done the work. He
has done the work so impressive. People are coming to

(08:39):
Puerto Rico to see him, which is what he said.
And then he does Saturday Night Live, which is the
biggest slice of Americana. We have. In my opinion, Saturday
Night Live has been around as long as I've been alive,
as long as You've been alive. And he comes on
and says, you got four months to learn Spanish. Unapologetic,

(09:01):
I'm doing the Super Bowl and I hear some people
are concerned. Don't worry, you have four months to learn Spanish.
I love it. Why must we be so ethnocentric? Why
must we act as if we can't learn another language?
Heaven forbid we invite another culture. That's my biggest problem
with Americans, like the lack of travel induces the lack

(09:21):
of education. If you don't travel and you don't go
to other places and see how people live, and I
don't care if it's in this country or outside of
this country, you cannot really understand and or empathize or
be curious about something else besides what you know. And
I know there are people who are like, look, I
haven't left my neighborhood. I like it. Like that, fine,
but you can't criticize others who enjoy new things, are

(09:44):
curious about new music. The Bad Bunny Story is quintessentially
what this podcast is. Living at that crossroads of sports
culture and entertainment and how they all intercept. Days after
Bad Bunny was announced as the Super Bowl headliner, a
trusted advisor of Donald Trump. President Donald Trump said, yes,

(10:08):
we will have ice there. Ice will be outside of
the super Bowl. Ice will be very present. What why? Okay,
I'm glad you told us. And for those who are
not here legally, don't go to the super Bowl, don't
try it, don't press it. I'm sure Bad Bunny would
say the same, but it's completely disturbing that what is

(10:35):
supposed to be entertainment, fun and excitement, a ritual for
many many people, now becomes something that we have to politicize,
which is why when people say just stick to sports,
I'm like, sports and politics are so intertwined They've never
not been. And this is what we do on this podcast.
And I'm honored to go into a fifth season telling

(10:57):
these stories, making the connection and hoping that if you
are listening, that you too feel connected, that you too
understand that our world is an isolated that we don't
live in silos, that we all are one, whether the
right or the left disagree on that. I'm not a Democrat,
nor am I a Republican. I live in the fact

(11:18):
that I see everyone's humanity. It is fair to see
everyone's humanity because we all get up, take showers, walk, talk, breathe, eat.
We all want the same things love, comfort, resources, money, access,
whatever it is, there's a commonality that brings this through

(11:38):
line that all humans have, no matter what their background is.
And with that being said, I so appreciate you for
being here for four seasons. People who have been lawyerful
four seasons, recommend this podcast to a friend. Please subscribe
season five. We're getting big names, big big big names.
Hopefully the interviews will be just as naked and honest,

(12:00):
and we're gonna keep doing what we do. We'll be
right back in just a few moments. Congratulations to the
Las Vegas aces. These ladies. These ladies are special, this
one particular lady, and I just don't want to highlight her,

(12:21):
even though she's team captain, and that is something special,
Asia Wilson, something special. I am surprised, which I shouldn't be.
I'm embarrassed to tell you, but I am surprised at
one the level of play, and the reason why I'm
surprised is because each year these ladies get bigger and

(12:43):
better in the sense that they understand what's on the line.
They are showing out for the new fans. Even among
all of the growing pains, they are showing out for
the new fans. So I'm gonna read a little bit
of this article that was in USA today about a
week ago by Nancy Armor. Shout out to Nancy Armor.
Don't know her, but I want to give her credit.

(13:04):
And she pointed out something that I don't believe. We
know the history of we know that we love the Aces,
and we know that they were able to beat the
Phoenix Mercury by you know, in straights four, right, they
just swept them. Bring out the Broom, the Houston Comments,
the Minnesota Links, and now the Las Vegas Aces. With
their third title in four years, the Aces have firmly

(13:27):
cemented themselves as one of the w NBA's dynasty, and
by completing a sweep of the Phoenix Mercury on Friday
night in the league's first best of seven finals, at
a time when the level of play in the WNBA
has never been higher, the Aces might just be the
best team ever. They have the best player on the

(13:50):
planet in Asia Wilson, the best facilitator in Chelsea Gray,
the best two way guard in Jackie Young, and the
best coach in Becky Hammond added in the bench Jewel
Lloyd and Dana Evans, you could say that these women
will win several more titles. Now that was from Nancy Armor.

(14:12):
A paraphrase that last part, but that was from Nancy Armor.
Consider what she's saying. Since the inception of the WNBA
in nineteen ninety seven, there haven't been that many dynasties.
But more importantly, there haven't been that many dynasties that
have been recognized because people have just started to watch.
She has said that aces now sit with the links
in the Houston comments. To me, that was really adequate

(14:37):
and on time. But further on in the article it
talks about Becky Hammond, they interviewed her and Becky said, look,
I stopped playing in twenty fourteen, and the level of
play is so much different. She described the physicality, She
described what these women look like in terms of how
they play, and their fierceness, like a level of competitiveness

(14:58):
that she says she hadn't seen and or known in
some time. And I have to say yes yes to
it all, Yes to it all. Now it's easy to
set records and break records when something is new, right.
ESPN said that this season, this finals rather was the

(15:23):
most watched ever does the most watched postseason finals ever
in the history of their network. To me, several things
are happening. It is October. What happens in October. We
have college football, we have professional football, we have baseball.

(15:46):
And you're telling me that the little old WNBA is
doing what they're supposed to do and break records. You're
telling me that sports fans are turning away from these
other sports considered major sports and watching these women play basketball.
I need you just sit with that for a minute.
If that is true, right conceptually, if that is true,

(16:10):
it means the fans are more loyal. It means the
product is there and entertaining, and it means these women
are playing for the love of basketball. All corny as
it may be. Love in basketball, you say it, but
they are playing for the love of basketball because you know,
they don't make no money. Asia Wilson talked about how
most folks did not think that they would win. You

(16:33):
know that motivates a competitor more than anything. So take
a listen to that.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
So I think We've had a transformative year of years
for us, and I think the biggest thing for us
is continue just to work hard and get what we
deserve and what we've earned. And we've been so vocal
in that because that's.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Just who we are.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
We're going to continue to be that way. But I'm
blessed to be a part of a league that is
so player forward. We're a unified front and we're continue
to do and say the things that we need to
say to get the job done because we know that
we work so hard to be in the situation. So
the future of the league is in good hands because
the players in it.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Again, I say congratulations to the Las Vegas Asis. Now
here is my hope. You know when teams get really
good and then they break apart, you know, I think
of Kobe and Shaq. I mean we I tell you
those were the good years and Eagles just could not
get together. They broke up. Shack went his way, he

(17:26):
ended up winning good Chip in Miami. Kobe stayed put
and won his own thing with Palgasol. But I sure
did love that duo. Name a better duo, You name
a better duo. I can't. But the questions have been
raised now that the Aces are at the top of
their game and they are considered a dynasty very similar
to the Golden State Warriors, who also broke up. Right,

(17:47):
it's like any good girl group, any good band. Now
y'all break up, y'all break up. Eagles get involved. I'm
the better singer, I'm the better dnswer, I'm the person
doing the things. The questions have been asked. We had
a collective bargaining agree that is happening currently. The CBA
expires October thirty first, which is around the corner. Can

(18:07):
these players stay together? If these women get huge raises
and other teams come to poach them, which they will,
can this team stay together? Going back to the article
from Nancy Armor, when Mark Davis bought the Aces in
twenty twenty one, he did so partly because he thought
the players were being shortchanged financially and he wanted to

(18:29):
change that. Now that the players are about to cash in,
referring to the CBA, Davis will be happy to pay
the tab if it means keeping this dynasty. Going his quote,
I'm going to keep everybody. We have to see how
this all shakes out. But yeah, obviously we want to
continue to do what we're doing. It would be tough
to break this up. It would be a shame as well.

(18:51):
It's hard to win one title, let alone three and
four years. Are y'all kidding me? Three and four years
unheard of? Unheard of? And if we're honest, I mean,
if we're going to keep it a buck, Some would
say that they were cheated out of that title. They
didn't win against the New York Liberty. We're not going

(19:13):
to go there. That's a podcast for another time, but
some would say that. With that being said, understand, the
current CBA doesn't pay these players much. Maybe if you're
a rookie, you start somewhere and I always reiterate this
so people know, somewhere around seventy five thousansand dollars, maybe

(19:34):
maybe a little more, maybe a little less, I approximate
so I don't get offended. And then the max is
somewhere around hovers around two fifty two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. So when I say these women play for
the love of the game, they do so. Thank God
for marketing agreements. Thank God that they are starting to
get paid on the side now in other ways, Thank

(19:54):
God for that. But when we come back, how much
money are they asking for? How do we get to
this place where players are so frustrated with the leadership
in the WNBA that they don't mind telling the truth
in a press conference with receipts and say, how dare
you if you think I'm lying? How dare you? I

(20:16):
have the receipts when we come back? What happened with
an Iffisa Collier? What is currently going on with this
current CBA? And how much can these women expect to
get paid? We'll be right back in just a few moments.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
The league has a buzzword that they've rolled out as
talking points for the CBA as to why they can't
pay the player is what we're worth. That word is sustainability.
But what's truly unsustainable is keeping a good product on
the floor while allowing officials to lose control of games.
Fancy it every night coaches both winning and losing, pointed
out every night in pregame at post game media. Yet

(21:01):
leadership just issues finds and looks the other way. They
ignore the issues that everyone inside the game is begging
to be fixed. That is negligence at unarrival. This past February,
I sat across from Kathy and asked how she planned
to address the officiating issues in our league. Her response was,
will only the losers complain about the refs? I also
asked how she planned to fix the fact that players

(21:23):
like Caitlin Angel and Page, who are clearly driving massive
revenue for the league, are making so little for their
first four years. Her response was, Caitlyn should be grateful
she makes sixty million off the court, because without the
platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn't make anything.
And in that same conversation, she told me players should
be on their knees thanking they're lucky stars for the

(21:44):
media right steal that I got them. That's mentality driving
our league from the top. We go to battle every
day to protect a shield that doesn't value us. The
league believes its succeeds despite its players, not because of them.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
That is an a Fista collier of the Minnesota Lane.
She is now a household name. Memes have been created
with her, suggesting that she basically is Kendrick and Kathy Ingelbert.
The commissioner of the WNBA is Drake. No one will
let that die. Drake can't get away from that. That's
cold blooded man. Y'all can't let that man live. He acquiesced,

(22:19):
He realized he lost the battle. He picked the wrong one.
Kendrick had time. Not only is that song a international hit.
Y'all see that video from Brazil, crowded stadium, people are singing.
They not like us. I enough's enough. Drake gets it.
He's in hiding. He had to go do his tour
in Australia. He didn't even come to the States. He

(22:41):
tied to y'all. He gets it. He lost, and very
much is the same case for Kathy Ingelbert. They have
a commissioner problem in the WNBA. They've had a commissioner
problem for a very long time. But the reason why,
and I'm going to give both sides, people will push
back on this. Kathy Ingelbert came from Deloitte. She was

(23:05):
a businesswoman in a top Forbes company. She played sports
in college. She is savvy at what she does, good
at what she does. She has overseen incredible growth and payment.
The players now have chartered flights. They have a huge
media rides deal that she was able to broke her

(23:27):
They are expanding in an incredible way and so many
people could credit her for what is happening. However, I'm
not going to give her all the credit. I'm going
to give the credit to a really good product that
just needed to sit in simmer and when it got
to the right moment with the right eyes, people would

(23:47):
catch on. When the NBA, the NBA as it currently
is now, first started, I always give this as a history.
It took them about twenty five years to really get going.
The finals were on tape delay, and if it wasn't
for somebody by the name of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird,
they would have never gone live. They had to go
live because people wanted to see the results and wanted

(24:09):
to see these two players interact a Lah Caitlin Clark
and Angel Reese. So Kathy Engelbert not only did something
special in overseeing this growth and its growing pains. She
had the benefit of a Kitlyn Clark, she had the
benefit of an Angel Reese. She had the benefit of

(24:30):
nil and college athletes demanding more. And when those college
athletes left college, they went to the WNBA and they
demanded more again, and they brought their fans with them,
and the fans demanded more. She is the recipient. In
my opinion of yes, good negotiations, but also good luck.
Quite frankly so, when the FISA collier, who is well

(24:52):
respected and also a part of the players union, says
that we have the worst leadership in the world, she
may not own only be referring to that commissioner currently,
Kathy Kleberg, but she's also talking about what they've been
through over the years that she's been in the league.

(25:13):
The WNBA and the WNBA Players Association are negotiating a
new CBA, a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement
expires October thirty first, twenty twenty five. Y'all, it's around
the corner on Halloween. Here are the issues. Players want
a larger share of league revenue, which they argue is

(25:36):
growing significantly, and it is true in contrast to the
current fixed salary cap and modest increased structure that's already
in play. If a new agreement isn't reached, a lockout
or a work stoppage could delay or cancel the twenty
twenty six season. Peep Peep, bp BP take a listen

(25:58):
to Angelies. I think it's will be right now.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Obviously, what was basketball is Scott rocketing, and it's important
for us to get who we want now, but not
just now, but for.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
The future as well.

Speaker 5 (26:08):
And it's really nice to have that may not be
playing for ten more years, but they are speaking for
us because they know how important it is right now.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
So listen now, y'all not going want to hear this.
You're not definitely not going to hear this from me,
for sure, for sure, for sure. I gotta be honest
with you. If the players decide to walk away right now,
it could be detrimental to the growth that they have

(26:37):
experienced thus far. And I hate to have a scary
house mentality. I do not. I'm thinking business wise. I'm
thinking momentum. When you have momentum and you stop, it's
hard to find that same momentum that pushes you forward.
I'm speaking from experience. I'm speaking from watching it happen
in the past, from previous lockouts that happened in the
NBA where players who were projected to go, you know,

(27:02):
top five in the draft didn't get the money they
were supposed to get because they were in a lockout,
and then they had to wait, and then there were
other players that were more exciting than them, it's happened.
I don't believe a lockout is the answer. I really
truly don't. We hear players say like, you know, angels like, look,
we're not afraid to walk away. They hope they better

(27:22):
not get a lockout. Players are not afraid. These women
are not afraid. That's also encouraging. Right, women are fearless,
very different than men. They really are in the sense of,
I really don't have anything to lose, so why not
fight for what I have? Right now? That's the mentality
a lot of these players have. Look, I'm making how
much money am I making? I make this, I make
more salary wise, I make more than in shooting a

(27:46):
commercial than I do from my actual salary where I
do my job job. When I do my job job,
my real job, it pays me less than my marketing deal.
It pays me less than the commercial that I just shot.
It pays me less than my shoe deal. So why
not go balls to the wall, right? Why not be
like yo, I'm gonna let it all hang out. Give
us our money. And when you say give us our money,

(28:09):
and this argument, I mean, this argument is far and wide.
I have this argument with a lot of players. Draymond
Green and I go back and forth. He's like, look,
the league ain't making no money. True, the league is
not a profitable league as of yet. Teams are valued,
you know, upwards up three hundred to four hundred to
five hundred million dollars. But is the league turning a

(28:30):
profit yet? No, it's not. But that does not mean
the players should not benefit. There are plenty of businesses
outside of the WNBA that aren't turning a profit. That
don't mean you don't pay your employees. Your employees still
got to get paid, and they should be paid their
worth and their value. If you want to continue to
watch this growth, this momentum, pay them. I don't. And

(28:57):
this is and this is for the men who listen
to the podcast. I don't think the women should be
getting forty million a year, like y'all like, come on,
it's a truncated season, it's different, it doesn't have the
same history, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But they
do need to get paid. Now. This article that I
am getting ready to share with you in terms of
assessing the WNBACBA negotiations from salaries, from salaries to salary cap.

(29:21):
It was written by a guy named Kevin Pelton, and
this is from ESPN. So Kevin says the headline for
any new CBA will undoubtedly be increased salaries for the players.
The last renegotiation boosted the maximum salary for stars from
one hundred and seventeen thousand a year in twenty nineteen

(29:44):
to two hundred and fifteen thousand and twenty twenty. So
essentially MAC salary is one hundred and seventeen thousand to
two hundred and fifteen thousand now was in twenty twenty,
with the cap jumping by more than thirty percent, from
nine hundred and ninety six one thousand per team to
one point three million per team. Right, so that's a

(30:06):
lot of money. That's a lot of money for a
team to pay out all of its players, considering what
some people would say a sport that wasn't paying anybody.
But everyone's tired of that, and the women want to
make more money. One team source has said, and I'm
going to paraphrase this, MAC salaries for players could reach

(30:26):
up to a million dollars. These ladies can make a
million dollars a year now, which would simply increase this
salary cap three hundred percent. That means each team could
possibly be spending four to five million dollars per roster. Right,
four to five million dollars in a roster. That doesn't
seem like a lot of money to me, It really doesn't.

(30:50):
You mean to tell me you have the Las Vegas
Aces and four of their players are getting mac salary,
which is a million dollars each. So that's four million dollars. Well,
what about the rest of the players? Right, they don't
get any money. That's why a million dollars doesn't seem
like a lot of money to me. It is a
lot of money, yes it is, but in comparison, I

(31:11):
don't want to hear these people say, you make a
million dollars a year, you should be happy. That's what
they deserve. That's what these say. Does Angel Wilson deserve
a million dollars a year? I think so. Does Stewie
deserve a million dollars a year? I think so? Does
Caitlin Clark deserve a million dollars a year? Does Angel

(31:33):
Rees deserve a million dollars a year? When I put
it in those terms, it makes perfect sense, it really does.
And that's what these players are asking for, and then
they're saying the league minimum would jump from that seventy
five thousand. We're hovers around seventy five thousand dollars a year,
it would hover to about two fifty. So if I'm
a rookie and I come into the league and I'm

(31:54):
coming out of college and I make two fifty, I
feel good. That's that feels fair to me. I like
to see these women win in the more money, the
more power, the more access, the more the more that
they are able to be more confident about who they
are because they know their value. Now they're not making

(32:15):
you will never see what what does Steph get two
hundred and fifty million? At one point, I don't know
in my lifetime if I'll see a moment where women
will be paid two hundred and fifty million dollars. And
the reason why that that's it's going to take some
time is because they don't. They do not, I repeat,
do not turn a profit the way that the NBA does.
They will eventually, but give them what they're worth right

(32:38):
now at least give them some incentive to play harder,
make more, create little WNBA stars who are at home
watching them, who want to grow up and say, Mommy,
I want to be a WNBA player. That's what's happening
right now. Little girls are watching them on television saying
I want to be a WNBA player, and I salute that.
I really truly salute that we're getting ready. And a

(32:59):
part of me here comes the feminists in me. There's
a part in my spirit that feels the reason why
we get so much pushback and the reason why we
hear so many people say they don't deserve more money,
and they use the excuse of the WNBA. Isn't turning
a prophet, no one's watching, it's not the same, etc. Etc.

(33:19):
Insert whatever excuse you want. Is because most people know.
Once women know they're worth and their power, they're really unstoppable.
They turn into superheroes. And by that I mean they're advocates.
They fight for what's right, they speak up, they're not
afraid to say what's wrong. They want to change the world.
Women just do that naturally. That's just who we are instinctively.

(33:41):
That's that mothering spirit that God has given us to
birth children to raise them right and to also see
a better world for the children that we have. Like
it just happens that way. It just does, whether you
have children or not. We just lean that way. That's
what women do. And they don't want to see these
women have the power. That's what I think. I think silently,
if you get inside someone psyche, we give them all

(34:04):
this money, they don't have too much power ring to
be able to shut them up, and they gonna think
they run the world. Men think like that. They'm gonna
tell you that out loud. A lot of men do
think like that, especially men in power. I'm not anti man.
I love my man, but I'm telling you so. With
that being said, these women are now looking at a
base salary that could hover at two hundred thousand dollars
somewhere upwards of two hundred thousand dollars a year to

(34:26):
a max of a million dollars. And I say, good
on you. You deserve. Still a long way to go,
but you deserve. And when I name players like Asia Wilson,
Chelsea Gray, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, it's hard to argue
that these women do not deserve max salaries. It really

(34:47):
truly is. It's insane. Yeah, Asia Wilson will go down
as one of the greatest of all time, not only
in this actual sport of basketball, but as an athlete,
because how superior she is. And if you tell me
she retires and the most she ever made was half

(35:08):
a million dollars, I want you to be appalled. I
want you to be offended. We should pay for that
greatness when we come back. What is next for women's sports.
I have a lot to say about that, not a lot,
but enough back in a moment. I'm curious, champion, and

(35:29):
welcome back to atlous In. Why see and what we're
gonna do for you right now is you know, I'm
going to try to calm my nerves. Serena. You know,
I know I get to often interview you, but it's
a highlight of the career. I was thinking this when
you were giving Shelley Anne Fraser Price or Crown. I
thought to myself, I wonder what it feels like for

(35:50):
her to be in this moment. I'm curious when Alexis
came to you and said I'm thinking of doing this
one of a kind invitational and I really want to
highlight track and field. What was your input and or suggestions.

Speaker 5 (36:03):
Well, I've learned don't doubt Alexis because he builds businesses.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
And he makes a great and so we've seen what
he did with.

Speaker 5 (36:13):
Soccer and so many other people that he believed in
and how it just changed their trajectory. And so when
he told me about wanting to build something in track
and field, I of course loved it. I supported it,
and then I thought, Wow, why hasn't this been done before?

Speaker 1 (36:30):
So last week, by the time you hear this podcast,
two weeks ago, right two weeks ago, I was able
to host anchor on a live broadcast. Aflos NYC. Aflosh
In YC is a track and field invitational. It's a

(36:54):
live event that streamed on ESPN Air on Ion Network,
was streamed on YouTube and x and you name it.
And the event is to highlight the women of track
and field. It's sponsored and or created by Alexis Ohanian.

(37:16):
He is Serena Williams's husband, and Alexis shared he was
on a media tour, a blitz if you will, the
reason why he came up with this idea and why
he felt it was important to honor the women of
track and field. Take a listen, tell me about this vision.
To make it even more grand than what we've been

(37:38):
able to do here tonight.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
You know, look, Carrie, the plan was always to build
a league. The plan was always let's build a Formula
One of track and field. I love Formula One.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
You know.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
It is a bunch of guys going around as fast
as they can from point at a point, be in cars.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
That is awesome.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
It's a great sport. What we're offering here is human
beings going as fast as they can from point at
a point, be jumping as far as they can from
point at eight point b. If that can't be as
big or bigger, I don't believe it. We see how
captivating the sport is during the Olympics. I want to
see what happens in between. I want to see Team
Nike versus Team Adidas, versus Team New Balance versus Team Puma.

(38:17):
And that's what we hope to bring the life next
year for our league.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
The reason that I am highlighting this particular event not
only because obviously I was a part of it and
it was a great event to honor. It's the second annual.
The first year we did it, which was last year.
The first year we did it, it was beautiful. Gabby
Thomas was coming off of her Olympic year where she
won three gold medals and she was a superstar and

(38:41):
everyone wanted to have her attention. And she ran in
the event and she won, and she got a big
person a Tiffany crown. That's his thing. Each each winner
gets a Tiffany crown, literally from Tiffany. It's a crown,
a big crown they place on your head. I don't
know the value of the crown. I know it's expensive,
and I was trying to still them. They don't allow
you to do that. Side note, But what he is

(39:05):
doing is saying, I see your value. I think that
you women of track and field should be honored year round,
not just every four years when the Olympics come around.
And the investment in women's sports is so important because
we are on a bubble right now. Side note. Alexis
o'hanian was a co founder of Reddit, co founder of

(39:28):
Reddit okay, And so if he sees a value, if
he sees value in something, I trust and believe that
he knows that it's a billion dollar business, but it's
important to value it. I trust that so Athlos NYC.
Is just one of many franchises that we are starting

(39:51):
to see develop that suggests that we need more investment
in women's sports, because not only are the dollars there,
the fans are there. It's see I'm if you have money.
Anybody listened to this podcast, you had extra ten twenty
thirty thousand dollars line around. Give it to me. No
invest in women's sports in any possible way. That would
be a solid investment. You know how people give you
stock tips. My tip would be women's sports. He did

(40:14):
this huge, one of a kind invitational tera Davis Woodhall,
who is obviously a superstar in track and field in
the jump long jump, and she is amazing. She was there.
She was the headliner. This year. We had Shelley Ann
Fraser Price, who is Jamaican Royalty, the sprinter. I don't

(40:38):
know if you guys saw that meme that when viral.
She went to her kid's school and she ran against
the other parents and left them in the dust. She
is royalty track and field royalty Sonya Richards Ross is
on the broadcast with me. She's another olympian who is royalty.
He put together an all star event with people with
big names, and he invited big players to come and
sit and watch these women and then he had Sierra perform.

(41:01):
It was huge. I don't know how many millions of
dollars he has invested. He hasn't invested in this, but
it's paying off because we're starting to see people talk
about track and field in a way that we've never
done before. The future of women's sports is huge. And
there are people who will roll their eyes and be like,
I'm tired of talking about women. It's boring. I don't care.
That's fine. You're on a late train. You are on

(41:23):
the late train. You're gonna wish that you could have
been like one of these owners who bought a WNBA
team for three hundred thousand dollars and now it's worth
fifteen million dollars upwards of two hundred million dollars. Fifteen
is low evaluation, right Can you imagine buying a team
for a million dollars an how it's worth, however much,
five hundred million dollars. I'm about to get the numbers

(41:43):
for the New York Liberty because it's crazy. The story
about let the New York Liberty is just a side note.
Has been evaluated cost in the beginning has been valuated
for so much. I mean I don't know if it's
four hundred million now, But when the New York Liberty
was actually purchased, they bought that for oh gosh, oh

(42:08):
my goodness. I'm not even gonna put you the numbers
on here. This is disgusting. This is disgusting to think
how much they about the New York Liberty. For one second, here,
just making sure I get it all right. The cost
to purchase the New York Liberty in the beginning not
necessarily public, but the estimate was somewhere between twelve and
fourteen million dollars when they bought the team in twenty seventeen.

(42:30):
That's still a lot of money, right to spend on
a team and have an investment. But fast forward to
twenty twenty five. How much is the New York Liberty worth?

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Now?

Speaker 1 (42:37):
How much is the New York Liberty worth? Now? I
bought that team in twenty seventeen, and eight years later,
the team is worth four hundred million dollars. Tell me
that's not an investment. Tell me that's not an investment.
I dare you to tell me you should invest in
women's sports. And I'm sure that twelve million dollars and
that's approximate, could be less, could be a little bit more.

(43:00):
Wasn't just all their money. They probably got a bunch
of people put some money together. We got twelve million dollars.
Let's go ahead and buy this team. Eight years later,
it's worth four hundred million dollars. That's what alexis Ohanian
is doing with track and field. He's investing in that sport.
He has a vision to expand it. Now it's a

(43:22):
once a year event held in New York. He wants
to go to different cities and have different track and
field teams with different Olympians, so that these women can
get paid one and that they can also see their
value two and three. He can expand the sport. He
said his wife. I don't know if you ever heard
of her, Serena Williams, as I said earlier, she was
the first ever, the first ever to make tennis a

(43:44):
household name. Her and her sister made tennis a household name,
much like Tiger may golf a household name, meaning I
want to golf. I want to play tennis here in America.
I'm talking about here in America. Yes, we've had our grades,
we've had our Andrea Agassi's We've had our pizza zampresses.
When it comes to tennis, we've had a lot of
stars in tennis, but in terms of reach changing the

(44:08):
face of tennis, Serena and Venus no questions asked. I'll
fight you. I'll take your wig off and fight you.
Tiger Woods. I remember it like it was yesterday. I
was in high school. My teachers were watching golf in
the lunch room because this kid named Tiger Woods was unbelievable,

(44:30):
and they just they let us sit up there and
read a book until they came back to see if
he was going to win the Open. Tiger Woods have
my uncle playing golf. Uncle don't know how to play golf,
literally changing the face of golf, making sure that everybody
understands they too can be a part of it. And

(44:52):
so when you marry someone like that, of course and
you have two little girls, of course you want to
be involved in sports. And I say all that to say,
we're going a very long way in women's sports. This
whole podcast. I'm wrapping up season four with this because
I do understand that the future of women's sports is
big and bright. We have a few question marks with

(45:14):
the CBA agreement I hope the women do not strike,
but if they decide to lock out, that's their choice.
But moving forward, understand that we are on an upward
trajectory and what is happening is history, and if you
don't stop and pay attention to it, you'll miss it.
It'll pass you by. And it's so important. It's so
important because, as I started the podcast, sports is connected

(45:36):
to politics, is connected to culture, is connected to entertainment.
It's a through line. What happens on the court will
eventually affect what happens off the court and how we
live and how we move, especially for women. And if
you're a man listening and you you're like, I don't care,
I don't care. You have you get to have a daughter,
don't change your mind, change your mind. You're gonna want

(45:57):
her to have all the opportunities in the world and
the respect in the world, and not to be othered
and seeing just like everyone else and get fair chances.
That happens when we start to respect women in every field.
And it's happening right now. It's so exciting, it's so exciting,
it's so exciting, it's so exciting. As a journalist, I'm

(46:19):
honored I'm honored to say I remember when I remember
when people talked about women's sports and it would be
like the hottest ten athletes. You know, a blonde chick
was like waft skinny, and everyone thought that she was it.
No one talked about anyone's ability. It would be the
top ten hottest chicks in sports. Maybe every now and

(46:40):
again some athleticism was mixed in the conversation, but not
all the time. Congratulations to these ladies who are doing
the work. Congratulations to the fans who still support. Congratulations
to you all for being a part of the conversation
because we do need to have different dynamics. We really
truly do. Please continue to subscribe, I please keep listening.

(47:01):
That is the only way we can do what we do.
I have to give many thanks to all of the
guests who've been on this season. Everyone was my favorite.
I can't even single out one. I want to give
thanks to my producers, Dwayne Jaquis. I want to give
thanks to my engineer, Bahid who sits here and hangs
out with me all day, Peaceful Kind. And to the group,

(47:25):
the special group that helped put together the making of
a Rivalry where we documented Angel Reese and Caitline Clark,
Arlene Santana, Olu again, Dwayne and Jacqueis and Dolly, thank you,
Dolly at Black Effect and Charlotmgne, Thank you, guys, charloat
Mane and God, thank you all for participating in helping
us and making sure that this was successful. Shout out

(47:46):
to Chanelle as well. I'm just really grateful that people believed,
because it's hard to have a passion and then tell
someone you believe and then have them get on board
and believe with you. I honor that. I understand that
does not happen often, and I am truly truly grateful.
All Right, you all again, thanks for listening, and I'll
see y'all next season. Naked Sports written and executive produced

(48:15):
by me Kerry Champion, produced by jacqueses Thomas, Sound designed
and mastered by Dwayne Crawford. Naked Sports is a part
of the Black Effect podcast network in iHeartMedia
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