The Migration of WNBA Players to Overseas Basketball Teams
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2015 Women on the Move: The Migration of WNBA Players to Overseas Basketball Teams Barbra Nalani Butler University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Butler, Barbra Nalani, "Women on the Move: The Migration of WNBA Players to Overseas Basketball Teams. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2015. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3494 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Barbra Nalani Butler entitled "Women on the Move: The Migration of WNBA Players to Overseas Basketball Teams." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Sport Studies. Lars Dzikus, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Joy DeSensi, Leslee Fisher, Ronald Taylor Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Women on the Move: The Migration of WNBA Players to Overseas Basketball Teams A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Barbra Nalani Butler August 2015 ii Copyright © 2015 by Barbra Nalani Butler All rights reserved. iii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the people who have had the greatest impact on my life and who have always had my best interest at heart. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my family including: My mother, my father, my brother, my grandma (Ma), my Tutu, my Oma, my niece, my Babu, and my Opa. I would not have pursued my doctorate if it were not for these people. iv Acknowledgements I want to thank my amazing friends and family for being with me through this long and often challenging journey. I want to express my deepest appreciation to my mother Rosalind Harris and my father Cecil Butler. I am thankful for the sacrifices they have made throughout this whole entire process and the constant support they have given me. They are the best parents anyone could every hope to have and I am truly blessed. I would also like to thank my dear grandmother Tutu, who has been one of the most influential people in my life. She is a strong woman who has helped to empower me and inspire me to accomplish my dreams. Without her love and guidance I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I would also like to thank my Godparents Uncle Bruce and Auntie Barbara. They reflect the true definition of Godparents and have taken the role of always being there for me no matter what very seriously. Without them I would not have been able to make this journey. I would also like to thank my Auntie B, my Uncle Neville, and Auntie Elaine who were my family away from home for over the last five years. Thank you for your calls, the delicious meals, and taking care of me. You are truly my family and you mean the world to me. I would like to thank my father’s side of the family including my Auntie Dian, Lorna, Brenda, Rholda, and Sylvia for the beautiful prayer you all created and sent to the rest of the family. Also, thank you to my dear friends Mary Clair and Aileen, for being my motivators and cheerleaders through this journey, I am so lucky to have friends like you. I would like to thank my advisor, mentor, and friend Dr. Lars Dzikus for his guidance and patience with me as I completed the program. His words of encouragement have helped me finish and complete one of the biggest tasks of my life and I thank him for all of the support. I thank Dr. Joy DeSensi, if it was not for her I would not be at the University of Tennessee. I am v blessed to know her and call her my friend, colleague, and mentor. She has set the standard for who I aspire to be as a person and as a professional and I thank her for guiding me through this journey on so many different levels. I am thankful for my committee members Dr. Leslee Fisher and Dr. Ronald Taylor, each has contributed greatly to supporting my growth into a researcher and scholar. I would also like to thank Dr. Trena Paulus for introducing me to the tools that I need for conducting quality research and also for being a mentor and friend from afar. I thank Dr. Jeffery Fairbrother for being my advocate and encouraging me to finish my dissertation and pursue my career in teaching. I thank Dr. Waller and Dr. Hardin for their expertise in the area of sport management and for continuously challenging me in my work. I want to express my gratitude to the rest of the faculty and staff in KRSS, particularly Carrie Trexler, Sarah Bicknell, Jane Johns, and Lynnetta Holbrook for their support and assistance throughout this process. I want to thank the Graduate School at UTK for helping me to move through the program and always working with me to succeed. A big thanks goes to Dean Hodges, Associate Dean Brothers, Pam Newlon, and Sylvia Miller, I really appreciate all of their help in making sure that I graduate on time and that I have had the resources to do so. My deepest appreciation to Dr. Abrahams and Tammy Wright at the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Their dedication to the SREB and its mission has helped to produce amazing teachers and scholars and I am thankful and blessed that I am able to be a part of such a great group of individuals. Finally, I want to thank my peers and colleagues at the University of Tennessee who provided support at all times. To all my unicorns: Sarah Swauger, Hollie Nawrocki, Jennifer Lubke, Ann Bennett, Jen Kilpatrick, Jackie Kerr, Rachel Saulsberry, Christy vi Evans, Natalia Ward, Amanda Vinings, Rhonda DeJournett, and last but not least Journey Swafford, without her I would not have had a bed to sleep in and a place to rest when the dissertation process became especially demanding and challenging. You are an amazing person Journey and I am so thankful for you. To everyone in KRSS: Alicia Johnson, Hal Wilson, Jonathon Evans, Cheryl Rode, Lequez Spearman, Landon Huffman, Sarah Stowkowski, and Tim Maribito, you all are amazing friends and colleagues and I look forward to what the future holds for all of us. My sincere appreciation goes beyond this brief acknowledgement and I will forever be thankful for everyone who has been on this journey with me. vii Abstract Through this study, I investigated the migration of American Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players to professional club teams overseas. International migration of professional women athletes has been occurring for decades, yet little is known about the experiences of these labor migrants apart from women’s soccer (Agergaard & Tiesler, 2014). Research examining sport labor migration has largely focused on the experiences of men (Maguire, 2008). The study has filled in gaps in the literature, giving voice to women’s experiences as sport labor migrants, specifically in reference to women’s professional basketball players. Historically, many WNBA players have chosen to play two seasons in the course of a year because they have been able to make more money overseas, even though they have gained more media attention in the WNBA (Woods, 2012). Men playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), however, tend to play in only one season. Findings from this current study have contributed to the development of a typology characterizing the motivations of WNBA transnational sport labor migrants. Also, results from this study provide insight and context for how WNBA players experienced professional basketball overseas on and off the court. Specifically I found that the majority of WNBA transnational sport labor migrants preferred to play overseas versus playing in the WNBA, the majority had a better quality of life playing in Europe in comparison to playing in Asia, and the agent of the athlete played a significant role in their career path. A qualitative exploratory case study methodology was employed (Yin, 2009), which included semi-structured interviews with 10 WNBA players who had played consecutively in the WNBA and overseas for at least one viii year. The theory of transnationalism (Carter, 2007) was used as a framework for inquiring about and understanding the experiences and motivations of the participants from their grounded perspectives. Keywords: sport labor migration, case study, WNBA, women and sport labor migration, transnationalism, qualitative exploratory case study ix Preface This dissertation came about because of my love for sport and my desire to explore sport through a more critical lens. This dissertation sheds light on some of the world’s best athletes. By this I do not mean best women athletes, but best athletes in general. I was able to include testimonials from WNBA rookies as well as WNBA legends about their experiences as sport labor migrants. I explored the lives of professional WNBA players who had traveled overseas, far away from family and friends, to pursue career opportunities and experiences that would not have been accessible to them within the U.S.