By Cassandra Cousineau, LVSportsBiz.com WNBA/Aces Writer
A day after Las Vegas’ tourism promotion agency drew national attention for giving $100,000 to each of the Las Vegas Aces’ 12 players, the WNBA said it’s investigating whether the LVCVA’s “sponsorships” totaling $1.2 million is circumventing the league’s salary cap.
News of the WNBA investigation broke Saturday when the Aces defeated the Los Angeles Sparks, 89-82, behind 22 points each by A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young and another 17 points added by Kelsey Plum. The two-time defending title holders have won their first games of the young WNBA season.
After the game, Wilson responded to a question on the WNBA investigation into the LVCVA’s much-reported payments to the Aces players.
“We’re trying to make things better for franchises, for players, for teams. On the player side, I’m super grateful to be in a franchise in a city that wants more out of us,” Wilson said after the Aces’ win.
The Aces-Sparks game was nationally broadcast on ABC, which showed a LVCVA social media video post with public tourism agency head Steve Hill telling the Aces players that each of them will be receiving $100,000 in the form of a sponsorship.
In early 2023, the WNBA also checked out the Aces for allegations of under-the-table payments in the signing of recently-retired Candace Parker.
The Aces are chasing their third consecutive championship in 2024. Home games at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena are now a hot ticket.
The Aces have sold out 15 of their 20 home games—the most in WNBA history.
The Aces, in March, also were the first team to sell out its allotment of season tickets. The heightened interest means traffic and tight parking creating a madhouse getting into the venue off the Strip Saturday.
The team has come a long way since its inaugural season in Las Vegas in 2018 under the ownership of MGM Resorts International. The Aces’ first season in Las Vegas had attendance of 5,208 per game. Under the new regime of Raiders owner Mark Davis, significant investments have been made in the team, including a sparkling new Aces training center and HQ in Henderson next to the Raiders’ home base.
“These players have put a national spotlight on Las Vegas. There are no better representatives for Las Vegas than these champion athletes,” said Hill, the LVCVA president and CEO of the LVCVA.
He called the $1.2 million in sponsorships, “A first of its kind sponsorship deal with the players directly creates a win for them and a win for our destination. This partnership builds on the current momentum of sports tourism and the popularity of women’s professional sports.”
The impact of these sponsorships is particularly significant for rookies like Kate Martin, who played 26 minutes in the Aces win.
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As a standout from Iowa, Martin was initially set to earn just about the WNBA league minimum of $67,249 this season. According to data from Spotrac, six Aces player are playing on contracts worth less than $100,000: Martin, Megan Gustafson, Emma Cannon, Sydney Colson, Kierstan Bell, and Dyaisha Fair.
So, the LVCVA sponsorship for each player is literally more than what six of the team’s 12 players make.
The LVCVA worked with each of the players’ agents in secret and structured the deals similarly to the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals in college. Hill told local media the LVCVA has a roster of more than 100 influencers it pays on a regular basis.
This a is tricky deal to orchestrate the LVCVA payments around WNBA salary cap parameters.
The team didn’t issue its own press release on the dozen $100,000 sponsorship payments and offered no additional details around the LVCVA payments.
Dealing directly with player agents instead of the Aces could keep the money in player’s pockets without violating league rules. But the WNBA’s investigation, revealed in multiple media reports, will determine that.
It’s also a distinct possibility that the Aces will likely face some backlash within the league and the Las Vegas community of whether this is an appropriate use of public LVCVA dollars.
The Aces had a lackluster start to their game against the Sparks. They faced off against former team standout and Sixth Woman of The Year Dearica Hamby whose controversial exit was part of Las Vegas rescinding its 2025 first-round draft pick under a penalty imposed by the WNBA.
For her part, Hamby played very well today. She scored 29 points to lead the Sparks.
The Aces used a 17-1 run to end the first half to lead, 42-33, at halftime.
And the Sparks gave the Aces a tussle right to the end, trailing by only four points in the final minutes.
Aces held on for the 89-82 win and will return to their home court vs the Phoenix Mercury Tuesday at Mandalay Bay.
The Aces do have a new business partner who bought the jersey patch sponsorship. Ally Financial’s multi-million-dollar partnership is part of the company’s support of women’s sports.
Ally’s Chief Marketing and Public Relations Officer Andrea Brimmer: “Vegas is a hot sports town right now. If you’re going to be part of a WNBA team, I can’t think of a better place than Vegas to do that,” she said.”