Her Game Her Voice

WNBA Fight Club, Reffing in Real Time, & Valkyries Value

• Kaari Peterson • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Guess what? The Indiana Fever came to Ballhalla… and left with an L.

In this episode of Her Game Her Voice, host Kaari Peterson breaks down the Golden State Valkyries’ electric win over the Fever, the escalating physicality in the WNBA (hello, Fever vs. Sun skirmish), and what the Commissioner’s Cup prize money really looks like for players. Spoiler: crypto’s involved.

Plus, we head back to the classroom with Coach Tara VanDerveer for a masterclass in officiating from legendary ref Violet Palmer — and Kaari tries to make a charge/block call in real time (it does not go well).

Stick around for the buzzer beater, airball, and flagrant foul awards:

Who’s the most valuable WNBA franchise now?

Who needs a serious lesson about merch and branding?

Who's in foul trouble? Again...

It’s big stories, little episodes, and a whole lot of love for women’s hoops.

“Big stories, little episodes—amplifying the voices shaping the game on and off the court." - Her Game Her Voice Podcast by Kaari Peterson

Kaari:

Howdy, Hoop Heads, and welcome to the Her Game, Her Voice podcast. I'm your host, Kaari Peterson, bringing you another episode that's big on stories and little on time, because I get it. We are all super busy.

Kaari:

I'm going to start this episode with a Golden State Valkyries update. Then I'll talk about last week's, what should we call it? — "skirmish" during the Indiana Fever versus Connecticut Sun game. Next, we'll go back into the classroom with Coach Tar Vanderveer, and then I'll wrap it up with the Awards segment.

Kaari:

Let's tip it off!

Kaari:

This just in, turns out there's a simple cure for the fever, and it's called the Valkyries. Last Thursday night, the Valkyries hosted Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at home in Ballhalla, a.k.a. Chase Center. It was absolutely electric. Final score, Valkyries 88, Fever 77.

Kaari:

And being there in person, pure joy. I was so amped up after the game, I couldn't fall asleep Thursday night. Worth it!

Kaari:

Now, Valkyries fans are always loud, but Thursday night, oh my god, we turned it up to 11. Yes, that's a "This Is Spinal Tap" reference for you kiddos out there. If you know, you know, and if not, pause and Google it. I'll wait.

Kaari:

You might remember in a previous episode, I said that the early Valkyries home games felt kind of awkward, like we were still finding our rhythm as fans, but Thursday night, I think we arrived. Valkyries Nation made it crystal clear we are the sixth man. Why is that hard to say? We are the sixth man, correction, sixth person, and we are here for this team.

Kaari:

From tip-off to the final buzzer, the energy did not let up. And at one point during the painfully long play under review break, we started doing the wave and it just kept going and going and going. And I lost count after like the seventh time around.

Kaari:

And the best part, besides the win, of course, Balhalla finally feels like home.

Kaari:

This week's listener question comes from Andy in Los Angeles. "I know there's a $500,000 prize for the team that wins the Commissioner's Cup. How is that distributed?"

Kaari:

Excellent and timely question, Andy.

Kaari:

Short answer, the winning team splits the cash. Long answer, buckle up.

Kaari:

Here's the backstory. The WNBA wanted to add some stakes to early season games, you know, make them matter more. Enter the Commissioner's Cup. The WNBA launched the Cup in 2021, and it was originally planned for 2020, but, you know, that pesky pandemic got in the way.

Kaari:

The format? Select regular season games double as Cup games. Five for Eastern Conference teams and six for Western, and the top squad from each conference meets in a winner-take-all showdown.

Kaari:

So what's the prize? $500,000 is up for grabs. Players on the winning team can earn around $40,000 each. Coinbase also tossed in $120,000 in crypto. That's about $5,000 in digital coin per player in the final, which might be worth like $10,000 next week or $2 in a stick of gum. Crypto's wild like that.

Kaari:

There's also a good karma piece. Each team partners with a local nonprofit during the cup. Every cup game win equals $2,000 for the team's chosen nonprofit and $500 going to the losing team's nonprofit. With a big championship game, the WNBA kicks in $10,000 to the winner's charity and $5,000 to the runner-ups.

Kaari:

This year's cup championship game features 2024 cup champions, Minnesota Lynx, and the Indiana Fever.

Kaari:

By the end of the cup, the league has to sign a big old stack of checks for local groups doing great work, and the players have earned a little extra money for themselves, too. It's a win-win.

Kaari:

Thanks for the question, Andy, and don't forget, The Commissioner's Cup Championship game is July 1st. It's going to be a blast, so don't miss it!

Kaari:

Here's a little segment I'm calling "WNBA Fight Club?" That's Fight Club with a question mark after it.

Kaari:

So Tuesday night's Fever vs. Sun game had it all. Rivalries, retaliation, and refs — who were not doing enough. We saw flagrant fouls, double technicals, and Sophie Cunningham fully embracing her new role as the enforcer for the Fever.

Kaari:

Physicality isn't new in the W, but it feels like the temperature is rising and not in a good way. So when does "let them play" become "let them fight?"

Kaari:

Case in point, Tuesday, June 17th, six WNBA games. Six!

Kaari:

I didn't watch every second of every game. I'm dedicated, not immortal. But I did catch three of them, including, of course, the headliner, Fever vs. Sun.

Kaari:

And no, we're not talking about that game because Caitlin Clark scored a gazillion points. We're talking about it because of the "skirmish."

Kaari:

So the game was physical from the start, and it looked like the refs were letting them play. And that can be a good thing because it keeps the game moving. But when refs don't start drawing boundaries, chaos creeps in, and a game can turn into WrestleMania. Fast.

Kaari:

Quick sidebar. I've seen games grind to a halt because refs blew the whistle on every tiny little bump. Looking at you, former Pac-12 ref, Melissa B. That kind of officiating is like streaming a banger of a song on Wi-Fi and it keeps cutting out. Just as you're getting into the groove — shout out to Madonna — it skips.

Kaari:

Back to the Fever Sun game. So early on, Jacy Sheldon of Connecticut catches Clark across the face. Clark was trying to work the offense. Sheldon was pressing her. And Clark ends up getting popped. So Clark kind of backs up and then Sheldon goes and bumps Clark. And Clark shoves Sheldon away. And then tempers are really flaring at this point. And out of nowhere, Connecticut's Marina Mabrey blindsides Clark and shoves her to the ground — hard.

Kaari:

So then the action stops and the refs huddle for ages, reviewing the play. At one point, I wondered if they were actually talking about their dinner plans instead of the game. Finally, they came back with a really confusing cocktail of fouls. There's a flagrant foul on Sheldon, technical fouls for Caitlin Clark and Tina Charles, and also a plain old technical foul for Mabrey, which had everyone scratching their heads because it really looked like a flagrant foul.

Kaari:

A side note about flagrant fouls. There are two flavors of flagrant fouls. (How do you like that for alliteration?) Anyway, both involve unnecessary contact, but a flagrant two foul is deemed both "unnecessary" and "excessive."

Kaari:

Based on the definition of flagrant fouls, Mabrey should have been ejected from the game. Pushing Caitlyn Clark to the floor was definitely a Flagrant 2 foul.

Kaari:

And there were no ejections, so there were no messages sent about cooling it. So tensions between the Fever and the Sun continued to escalate.

Kaari:

Fast forward to the fourth quarter. Jacy Sheldon is driving to a basket for a layup. Sophie Cunningham from the Fever wraps her arms around Sheldon's neck and kind of yanks her down. And Sheldon pops up and Connecticut's Lindsay Allen steps in. And now we're on our way to a full-on brawl.

Kaari:

Security folks step in, refs review. The result?

Kaari:

Cunningham gets a Flagrant 2 and she's ejected. Sheldon and Allen both get technical fouls for fighting. They're ejected.

Kaari:

And the game?

Kaari:

Well, the Fevers still win 88-71 and clinch a spot in the Commissioner's Cup final, which I talked about earlier.

Kaari:

But the game ends with more bruises than highlights.

Kaari:

So where does the league go from here?

Kaari:

They want to maintain the edge and intensity that makes watching the W fun, but without turning it into a fight club.

Kaari:

I did some research and I learned that actually more fouls are being called this season than last. And the refs can't whistle everything or fans are going to complain that they're ruining the flow of the games.

Kaari:

The Fever's coach Stephanie White has been raising concerns for weeks, not about bias, but about inconsistency. And the fact that the refs are missing extracurricular stuff, like flying elbows and off-ball shoves.

Kaari:

And look, these are strong athletic women. They can handle physical play. That's not the problem. The problem is when physicality turns into harm, when the game becomes dangerous.

Kaari:

We need balance, where coaches, refs, and players agree. Play tough, but don't hurt each other. Also, is this the coverage we want for the W? No.

Kaari:

Caitlyn Clark is a physical player. She's an emotional player. And I feel like such a mom saying this, but I really worry that someone is going to get seriously hurt.

Kaari:

I love the passion in the WNBA, but I don't want people tuning in to watch a fight. I want them tuning in to watch extraordinary women playing extraordinary basketball.

Kaari:

Let's take a minute now to go back to my basketball class with Coach Tara Vanderveer. After watching Tuesday night's WNBA Chaos and Questionable Officiating, I kept thinking back to a specific class where we got a behind-the-scenes look at what it's really like to be an official. Spoiler, it's way harder than it looks.

Kaari:

During this particular class meeting, Tara brought in a guest speaker. She brought in the amazing Violet Palmer. The first woman to officiate an NBA game and an absolute trailblazer in professional sports.

Kaari:

She's in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as an official, which, by the way, is about as elite as it gets for someone who wears stripes.

Kaari:

Here's a little background on Violet. She was a baller herself. She played point guard on two NCAA D2 championship teams while at Cal Poly Pomona. She started officiating in the WNBA, then moved to the NBA in 1997, where she spent 12 seasons. Violet was the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game in 2006.

Kaari:

These days, she oversees and assigns officials across several conferences, including the West Coast Conference.

Kaari:

Violet shared her officiating philosophy with the class, and it is beautifully simple. "The job of the officials and coaches is to make the game fair, safe, and fun."

Kaari:

Then Coach Tara went into full professor mode and made us earn our keep. She queued up a series of video clips and challenged us to make real-time calls. And let me tell you, it was freaking hard. Ouch.

Kaari:

There was one play where we had to decide if it was a charge or a block, and the room was totally split. And remember, we were sitting comfortably in class, rewinding, replaying.

Kaari:

Imagine having to make that call live on a basketball court with players staring at you expectantly and thousands of fans screaming.

Kaari:

Then Violet told us something that really stuck with me. She said, "you might be 50% right and 50% wrong, but you have to be 100% certain.

Kaari:

I mean, talk about pressure!

Kaari:

Refs have to make instant decisions with zero timeouts to second guess themselves. No wonder they sometimes miss things. No wonder some games get out of control.

Kaari:

Now that doesn't excuse what happened at the last Fever Sun game. Absolutely not.

Kaari:

But hopefully it does give you a new level of empathy for what the refs are up against.

Kaari:

Also, after trying to make those calls myself, I vowed that I will never yell, bad call, at my TV again.

Kaari:

Wait a minute!

Kaari:

Okay, let's be real. I probably will.

Kaari:

But I will definitely do it with empathy now.

Kaari:

And now it's time for the awards section of our podcast. First up, the Buzzer Beater Award. This week, the buzzer-beater award goes to the Golden State Valkyries.

Kaari:

Sportico just dropped their annual team valuations, and guess who's sitting pretty at the top? That's right, the expansion team, the Valkyries. They are now the most valuable team in the WNBA with a jaw-dropping valuation of $500 million. Yes!

Kaari:

Sportico also reported that the average WNBA team is now valued at $260 million. That's up 180% from last year.

Kaari:

Now let's talk revenue. Last year, Indiana topped the league at $33.8 million in revenue. Not bad. Sportico projects the Valkyries to pull in over $70 million in 2025. And get this, the Valkyries have already set the WNBA's single game revenue record. They made $3 million in one night.

Kaari:

These numbers are extraordinary, especially for an expansion team.

Kaari:

And that's why the Golden State Valkyries win this week's Buzzer Beater Award.

Kaari:

This week's Airball Award goes to the Golden State Valkyries Swag.

Kaari:

The Valkyries are selling a new shirt this month for Pride. It's the Valkyries V logo done in rainbow colors.

Kaari:

Awesome.

Kaari:

Sort of.

Kaari:

I can't help but feel like this is also an airball.

Kaari:

Why?

Kaari:

Because the shirt doesn't say Valkyries on it. It's just the logo in rainbow colors.

Kaari:

This is a pride shirt, marketing people. Show your pride and put the friggin' team name on it.

Kaari:

Heads up, I'm going to sound like an old timer now.

Kaari:

I spent a lot of time working with marketers during my years in the tech world. I learned a lot about establishing and building brands. And one of the key aspects of brand building is getting your name out there.

Kaari:

It's too early in the life cycle of the Valkyries brand to just put out a those-who-know-no shirt. You have to remind people who that logo belongs to.

Kaari:

And that's why the Valkyries pride swag gets an airball award.

Kaari:

This week's flagrant foul award goes to WNBA officiating.

Kaari:

We've already talked about the officiating during the Fever Sun game, but let's make it official with an award.

Kaari:

There were missed calls, hard fouls, and it was a flat-out ugly game. Player safety matters. Consistency matters. And when the refs lose control of the game, the entire league feels the impact.

Kaari:

So yeah, flagrant foul.

Kaari:

I'm Kaari Peterson, and you've been listening to Her Game, Her Voice.

Kaari:

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Kaari:

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Kaari:

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Kaari:

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Kaari:

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Kaari:

Thanks again for listening and happy hooping!

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Kaari Peterson

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