During RISE Women’s Sports last fall, WNBPA Executive Director Terri Carmichael Jackson outlined a vision for a transformational future for the WNBA. A future where player compensation, investment and working conditions finally reflected the league’s explosive growth.

Nearly a year later, with a landmark new collective bargaining agreement, record-setting media rights and continued expansion reshaping the business of women’s basketball, Carmichael Jackson will return to the RISE stage on Sept. 10 to continue one of the industry’s most important conversations.

Jessica Caggiano, Partner at Willig, Wilson & Davidson, will join Terri on stage this year to discuss the 15-month bargaining stretch and 150-hour marathon negotiation that led to the largest salary increase in the history of professional sports CBAs. Caggiano was an integral part of the team that fought tirelessy to get this deal done, just a few years after negotiating the NWSL’s first-ever CBA.

“This isn’t about recovering the past. It’s about building a model that ensures players grow alongside the business they’re creating,” Carmichael Jackson says. “This business is on track, and it’s thriving. Not only that, it’s doing well in a sustainable way … There is a pipeline of superstars headed this way toward the W. That’s the sustainability we’re seeing.”

Carmichael Jackson and Caggiano will be among the executives, team owners, athletes and investors speaking at RISE on topics ranging from the Olympics to Adweek, emerging women’s golf and basketball leagues to capital investment in major sports. The event will take place at Second NYC.

Register today at this link here.

As the WNBAPA executive director points out, maintaining the momentum women’s sports has seen in recent years is a key priority. “It’s time for women’s sports to take that leap … We have to position the players so that two or three years down the road they aren’t falling behind again. We can’t keep perpetuating that.”

“This CBA is about looking forward… The players who are driving this business should have a meaningful stake. Their salary system should be based on the business and the revenue that they are driving at the team and league level.”

Full Panel here: https://youtu.be/GDmK_CAINCM?si=wr3NscUSCpQxkgTh