When Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner expressed her intention to return to the court shortly after her release from Russian prison, reports quickly surfaced concerning her anticipated need for private flights due to security concerns. But the league didn’t make any changes to allow Griner to fly charter for the entire season, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert said that Griner’s travel plan would be “confidential,” and the elusive travel arrangements seemed to be going well. That changed Saturday, when she was verbally confronted by what the league called a “social media figure and provocateur” at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
The league is currently investigating the incident, which occurred as the Mercury headed to Indianapolis for a game Sunday. A YouTube personality named Alex Stein posted a video clip on Twitter in which he appears to shout political questions toward Griner as she walked with her teammates. This unfolded as a security guard attempted to stop him from recording and pushed him away.
Ahead of the team’s game with the Indiana Fever on Sunday, Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard opened the pregame news conference by reading a statement from her phone regarding the episode:
“As everyone by now likely knows, yesterday there was an incident with BG and our team at the Dallas airport. No one should be a victim of targeted harassment. I’m grateful that our team and our staff are physically OK. Most of all, I’m grateful that BG has been back here in the United States for 185 days now. If her being home makes some people mad, I think that obviously says more about them than it does about her.
“It’s also a reminder to all of us that the Mercury know that there are families whose loved ones are not home yet. And I’d like to urge everyone to visit bringourfamilieshome.org to learn more about wrongfully detained Americans and what we can do to support them and their families. As an organization, we will continue to bring their families to our games and say their names and amplify their message. As a coach, just what I want for our team is for us to be safe, and I want to be together. I want us to be safe and I want us to be together.”
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The Dallas game was another meaningful homecoming for Griner, who starred in college at Baylor University, about two hours away from the Wings’ home arena at the University of Texas-Arlington. Griner is also a Houston native.
The troublesome travel from Dallas to Indiana was only the Mercury’s second road trip since Griner made her emotional return to the league on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19.
Mercury forward Brianna Turner was vocal on Twitter after the incident, highlighting the importance of player safety. On Sunday, she was asked whether she felt the league failed Griner and the team.
“I would say yesterday was a huge disappointment,” Turner said. “I mean, I don’t blame the league. Like obviously, no one could have predicted this, but at the same time, I think more measures could have been in place. Absolutely.”
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What were the league’s travel guidelines for Griner?
On Sunday, Nygaard was asked why Griner was traveling with the team instead of taking a private flight.
“Phoenix as an organization, we follow the rules,” Nygaard said. “We were given guidelines of travel, and we followed the guidelines established by the League, which we always do.”
Her response comes after the league expanded its charter program this season to include private travel for back-to-back games in the regular season and the entire playoffs. Private travel outside of those circumstances remains prohibited, and the league takes violations very seriously.
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New York Liberty owner Joe Tsai was fined last year after he flew the team privately in 2021. The league even reportedly considered terminating the franchise over the issue.
The WNBA said in a statement Saturday that it worked with the Mercury “and BG’s team to ensure her safety during her travel, which included charter flights for WNBA games and assigned security personnel with her at all times.”
The league expanded on those comments, issuing a statement to Amy Bachman of The Wall Street Journal.
“We informed the Phoenix Mercury earlier this year to move ahead with any arrangements they felt were appropriate and needed including charter flights,” the league said.
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But Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, told Bachman the league didn’t approve charter flights for Griner for the entire 2023 season.
“They were there and faced harassment in the terminal because of a league plan that included a mix of charter and a select number of commercial flights with security protocols that failed,” she said.
Kagawa Colas is among many who have called the league to lift charter flight restrictions or allow team owners to finance private travel. Mercury owner Mat Ishbia is part of that group. As is Liberty star Breanna Stewart, who offered to subsidize the cause with her own NIL money.
In February, Engelbert reportedly told ESPN that charter flights for the regular season and playoffs would cost the league $25 million annually, a price she indicated the league couldn’t afford.
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Until something changes, the Mercury will work to continue operating under the team’s new normal.
“I think that’s the story of Phoenix. There’s always something going on,” Turner said. “But we know we have a 40-game schedule. We know we have 40 nights this summer that we need to come out hard, fast, aggressive, regardless of what’s happening outside.”
As the Mercury and Griner took the court in Indiana in search of their second win of the season, she was reportedly met with a resounding “WE LOVE YOU BG” from the crowd.
