WASHINGTON — Brianna Stewart has long advocated for charter flights in the WNBA.
The league announced plans for league-wide charter flights this month, but she was sitting on the Liberty bus Monday afternoon en route to the season opener in Washington.
“Two of the five WNBA teams on the road today are participating in the WNBA Charter. This is a win,” she wrote on X Monday. “The W-League could become something bigger if it allows teams that haven’t been offered a league charter to secure their own league charter until a full 12-team solution is ready. @WNBA ”
Before Tuesday’s win over the Mystics at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, Stewart immediately told the Post that the Liberty was flying commercially to Indiana for Thursday’s game against the Fever.
“So we were on the bus for about five hours. You know, if you leave New York in the afternoon, you’re going to run into traffic from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.,” Stewart said. “As I said in a tweet, I think charters are great. I think they’ll be a little bit of a pain as a rollout. The thing that can help the league the most is to leave it up to the owners who can do it. [arrange the charter flights], please do that too. … but [commissioner] kathy [Engelbert] We preach that we should be patient, and we do. We just want to make sure everyone has access to the Charter as soon as possible. ”
Engelbert told a group of sports editors on May 7 that a full charter plan would begin “as soon as the plane is in place.”
They also added in a press release announcing the plans that charter flights will be “phased in” starting with the 2024 season.
“So a 4 ¹/₂ hour bus ride is never ideal, but it is what it is,” Sabrina Ionescu said. “I’m excited to see some changes in the near future and I’m excited to know it’s going to be better for our overall performance and ability to perform nightly.”
Stewart said the Liberty plans to take a chartered flight to Chicago for its first preseason game, but it turns out they will have to wait to hear from the league as to when that will be possible.
The Fever and Lynx were the only traveling teams to take private flights to Connecticut and Seattle, respectively, for the season opener.
Videos and photos of Caitlin Clark were shared on social media, spreading fever throughout the flight as she relaxed, unwinded and enjoyed her charter flight for the start of the season.
However, according to ESPN, plans for future charter flights have not been determined as even the Fever and Lynx are waiting to hear from the league whether they will fly privately to upcoming away games.
“Hopefully we can get chartered quickly,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “I know some teams do that, but I hope we can get there soon because it will be a nice bonus.” Sleeping in or getting to your next destination means longer recovery time.”
The league’s charter plan would cost $25 million each of the next two seasons and would be an alternative to allowing charters only for teams that play back-to-back games in the postseason and regular season.
