WNBA says all teams will charter by Tuesday, but rollout has been clunky

INDIANAPOLIS — A WNBA spokesperson confirmed Thursday that starting Tuesday, May 21, all teams will charter to and from each game. That's one week after the 2024 season opened.

The celebratory fever that swept through the league last week when commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced teams would begin chartering full-time has slightly abated. While players — particularly veterans who have been fighting to fly private for years — are happy about the upgrade, the rollout has been clunky. 

And that’s a generous description. 

On Thursday, also known as Caitlin Clark’s home debut, the New York Liberty play at the Indiana Fever. But the Liberty didn’t charter to Indianapolis, instead flying commercial on American Airlines. They’ve got a commercial flight home, too — with an early 5:30 a.m. wake-up call Friday. The Fever will also fly commercial Friday to New York for their Saturday game vs. the Liberty.

The league organized charters for the first week, but only some teams flew private. For opening day games, only Indiana (to Connecticut) and Minneapolis (to Seattle) chartered, while Phoenix and New York flew commercial to Las Vegas and D.C., respectively.

When Engelbert first shared the news last week, she said the plan was to start chartering just as soon "as we can get planes in place." Turns out, that's been a little challenging to schedule. Finding available flight crews has been an issue, too. And players, while extending their excitement about this step forward, have voiced their displeasure at teams being treated differently in the first week of the season.

The irony, of course, is that for years the league said chartering created a competitive advantage, and outlawed it. Even owners willing to pay for planes themselves were not allowed to do so. After New York chartered in 2021, the league fined the Liberty $500,000. Banning charters was even the case last season, when Phoenix All-Star Brittney Griner’s safety was at risk upon returning to America after nearly a year in the Russian prison system. Despite threats to Griner, the league initially did not allow her, or the Mercury, to charter. 

Now, hasn’t the league created the competitive advantage? 

“We ask the same questions,” said two-time MVP Breanna Stewart of the Liberty as a smile stretched across her face. “And we’re told to be patient.” 

New York coach Sandy Brondello, who played in the league from 1998-2003, said as an eternal optimist, she’s choosing to look at the glass as half full. 

“For me, in the end I’m just happy we’re getting charters,” Brondello said. “Not having them right now, it’s just a little more adversity, and we’re going to face adversity in the game right? Why waste energy on something that’s out of your hands? It’s going to be here sooner or later. It would have been nice for them to hold off probably so everybody did it (at the same time) but charters are here, players have been pushing for it for years and I think it’s going to elevate our league.”

There are a handful of trips where it makes more sense for teams to travel by bus, including Indiana-Chicago and New York-Connecticut. Those teams are expected to continue to travel to those destinations by bus.

Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell