Brittney Griner Says WNBA Hit 'Rock Bottom' After She Was Harassed at Airport: 'Playing with Fire'
"I think we should have already had the option to use a different airline, a more private airline, charter flights," to avoid incident, Griner explained
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Brittney Griner has broken her silence on the incident in which a YouTuber harassed the WNBA star earlier this month at a Dallas airport.
Griner, 32, was traveling through the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with her Phoenix Mercury team when the interaction occurred on June 10. YouTube user Alex Stein harassed Griner and later uploaded the footage to his channel.
Speaking with the media on Monday, Griner, who was detained in Russian prison for 10 months last year after getting arrested at a Moscow airport, said the incident was a "rock bottom" moment for the league, according to ESPN.
Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty
"I'll say this. I think we should have already had the option to use a different airline, a more private airline, charter flights," Griner explained. "It's a shame that it had to get to rock bottom, because I feel like waiting for something to happen and then making a change ... you don't know what that 'something's' gonna be."
The WNBA All-Star continued, "We've all seen what can happen in this world. And when you play the, 'Let's-wait-and-see-game' you're really playing with fire. You're playing with people's lives."
Related: Brittney Griner and WNBA Teammates Confronted by 'Provocateur' at Dallas Airport
Griner concluded that she was "glad" the league "finally got it together" to "allow" players to travel privately, but added that "it's just a shame that it took so damn long, honestly."
The WNBA and Mercury have kept the updates of Griner's travel arrangements confidential since the incident, which ESPN reported is due to "safety reasons."
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In January, the league began discussing the option of chartered flights for WNBA teams. In particular, New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart suggested contributing her own profits from brand partnership deals to fund chartered flights for all teams in the league.
Stewart, 28, said, "I would love to be part of a deal that helps subsidize charter travel for the entire WNBA," in a tweet on Jan. 22. She explained that she "would contribute" proceeds from her NIL deals to "ensure" that all WNBA teams travel in a way "that prioritizes player health and safety" moving forward.
Stewart added that this will "ultimately result in a better product" for the league.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told ESPN that the cost to charter flights for all teams during the season would be approximately $20 million.
Speaking to PEOPLE in May, Engelbert stressed how hard the league is working to accommodate higher salaries and more comfortable arrangements for players.
"You've got to build an economic model to fund all the things that they want. Higher pay, travel benefits and everything," which Engelbert says the league, decades younger than the NBA, is working hard to accommodate.
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