Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi to rest, skip WNBA season

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Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi to rest, skip WNBA season

Post by Fran » Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:26 pm

Not surprised considering how much money she is getting paid to play in Russia.

http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/1227 ... nba-season

Diana Taurasi has decided to sit out the 2015 WNBA season, opting to rest for the summer at the request of her Russian club team.

The Phoenix Mercury star accepted an offer from UMMC Ekaterinburg, which will pay her more than her 2014 WNBA salary not to play, sources told espnW. Taurasi made just under the WNBA league maximum of $107,000 last year.

Taurasi's contract with UMMC pays her nearly $1.5 million this winter. The team wants her rested and healthy for next season.

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Post by Sam Hill » Thu Feb 05, 2015 4:20 pm

First off, how Diana Taurasi doesn't make the league maximum is beyond me. She's incredible.

Secondly, this makes complete and total sense for her. Unfortunate for her stateside fans, but that's the breaks of the women's pro game in this country. She's gotta do what she's gotta do. She owes nobody a thing.
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Post by Pounder » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:35 am

This makes sense... as long as that $1.5 million actually exists in a country that's falling face first into an oil-busted economic downturn. Or downfall, depending on who you believe. It wouldn't be the first time a basketball player went to Europe and found themselves shorted.

BTW, Sam, $105,000 is the maximum salary.

(Which, as a Portland Thorns season ticket holder, makes me wonder what the USSF pays Alex Morgan to play here.)

Having said that, a couple other interesting points.

I noticed that Phoenix led the WNBA in attendance last year. The posted average was over 9,000. I believe they took hits on @EmptySeatsPics last summer, so it's fair to question that number. Meanwhile, the arena in Ekaterinburg SEATS 5,000.

How does this work, you ask? Lots of owners in Europe don't even expect an ROI.

OR

Someone's laundering money or taking a bath.

It's not like, in perusing Taurasi's google images of her Russian time to date, there were completely full seats in most shots.
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Sam Hill
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Post by Sam Hill » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:50 pm

[quote=""Pounder""]This makes sense... as long as that $1.5 million actually exists in a country that's falling face first into an oil-busted economic downturn. Or downfall, depending on who you believe. It wouldn't be the first time a basketball player went to Europe and found themselves shorted.[/quote]

That's true. I don't know how many of those clubs are funded by the government, but I think many of their sporting concerns are oil oligarch-dependent, yes?
BTW, Sam, $105,000 is the maximum salary.
I was going by this...
Taurasi made just under the WNBA league maximum of $107,000 last year.
If anyone should make league max, it's her.
(Which, as a Portland Thorns season ticket holder, makes me wonder what the USSF pays Alex Morgan to play here.)
They haven't made individual salaries public, have they? I would imagine the aggregate numbers are in USSF annual financial reports, though, aren't they?
How does this work, you ask? Lots of owners in Europe don't even expect an ROI.

OR

Someone's laundering money or taking a bath.
I'm sure there's part of both (or all three). Some people - and not just in Russia - get off on being a pro sports owner, though Americans seem to understand the profit motive a bit more. The stereotype would lend one to believe the clubs are all fronts for illicit activity (is it illicit if no one prosecutes anyone for it?). Someone's probably taking a bath, though.
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Post by Shootmaster_44 » Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:14 am

[quote=""Sam Hill""]I'm sure there's part of both (or all three). Some people - and not just in Russia - get off on being a pro sports owner, though Americans seem to understand the profit motive a bit more. The stereotype would lend one to believe the clubs are all fronts for illicit activity (is it illicit if no one prosecutes anyone for it?). Someone's probably taking a bath, though.[/quote]

I remember reading in Sports Illustrated an article exactly about this. In Russia, the team owners are (were?) so wealthy that winning the Championship was far more important than making money. The article said it was a way of saying my company is better than yours since all clubs are owned by large corporations.

Russia even pays very well in their pro women's hockey league. I have heard the level of play is awful which is why the top Canadian and Americans stay in the CWHL.

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