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Security On High Alert For Charlie Kirk's Memorial Service At State Farm Stadium; Poll Reveals Republicans Sour On America's Direction After Kirk Killing; Conspiracy Theories Multiply Online After Utah Shooting; Luigi Mangione's Lawyers Want Death Penalty Off the Table; Protesters Clash with ICE Agents Outside Illinois Facility; Palestinians Flee As Israel Intensifies Ground Offensive; Music Legends Sing For American Farmers At Festival; WNBA Shoots For Fair Pay As Popularity Soars. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 20, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Boris Sanchez starts right now.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, and thank you so much for joining us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Boris Sanchez in the nation's capital. My colleague Jessica Dean has the night off.
We start tonight with law enforcement facing a major test. Security for Charlie Kirk memorial service. It's set to take place tomorrow at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, with many prominent guests expected to be on hand, including President Donald Trump. Police say there could be more than 100,000 people attending the memorial, and that ramps up pressure on security during a time of heightened political tension.
Just yesterday, an armed man posing as a law enforcement official was taken into custody at the Kirk memorial site.
Let's go straight to the White House now with CNN's Betsy Klein.
Betsy, take us through who we're expecting to hear from tomorrow.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris. Officials from the highest levels of the Trump administration and Republican Party expected to converge in Arizona tomorrow to honor Charlie Kirk. And Kirk was a trusted adviser to the president and his White House. His Turning Point USA group really critical to propelling the president back to the Oval Office back in November.
And we are expecting a wide range of officials, from the Trump administration to speak, including the president, the vice president, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others.
And I spoke to a senior White House official who told me that as President Trump has been personally preparing his remarks for tomorrow, he is expected to talk about Charlie Kirk's life and the impact that he had on the MAGA movement. These remarks, this official said, are expected to be more personal than the typical presidential speech. But remember that when the president initially reacted to Charlie Kirk's death, he did lay bare some deep political divisions.
He placed blame on the radical left, and he also vowed to crack down on political violence. So it remains to be seen whether those kinds of themes will emerge tomorrow. But so many here at the White House grieving the loss of a close personal friend. It's also posing, as you mentioned, a major test for law enforcement, particularly the U.S. Secret Service, which has been under so much pressure and strain. To help with that we are expecting this event to receive the designation of a special event assessment rating level one. What that does is really unlock a number of resources to help bolster security.
According to a senior Department of Homeland Security official, quote, "This designation is reserved for events of the highest national significance and enables the federal government to provide the full range of law enforcement and security resources necessary to support local officials in ensuring a safe and successful event. Other events that have had designations like this include the Super Bowl, as well as the Kentucky Derby, and those resources include things like explosive detection canine teams as well as air support, things like drones, cyber risk assessments, as well as additional screening.
Attendees told to expect TSA-like screening procedures. There is also a strict no bag policy, really underscoring the security preparations in place -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it is going to be a huge event and of course we will cover it closely.
Betsy Klein at the White House, thank you so much.
We're joined now by CNN senior political analyst and opinion columnist at Bloomberg, Ron Brownstein.
Ron, thanks so much for sharing your weekend with us. I want to start with a new poll conducted soon after Kirk's assassination. It shows a significant drop in how Americans feel about the direction the country is headed especially Republicans. If you look at the numbers, it's more than a 20 percent decline between June and September.
What does this tell you about the electorate right now?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, there are a couple of things going on there. I mean, among Republicans, that poll was taken right in the aftermath of the assassination. So presumably you are seeing the effect of that politically. The fact that such a small share of independents say the country is moving in the right direction is obviously a warning light for the party in power.
I mean, you know, we're kind of where we have been for the last few years just with the chairs rearranged, where most Americans are dissatisfied, especially about the economy. And, you know, taking it out with negative ratings on the -- on the president. You know, in modern times, the single most important number in driving the outcome in midterm elections has been the approval rating of the incumbent president.
When Donald Trump was in office in 2018, he was at 45 percent approval in the exit poll, Republicans lost 40 seats that fall.
[16:05:05]
They may not have as many at risk in November '26, but the fact that he was at 39 percent approval in that same poll you're citing obviously gives a sense of the potential vulnerability.
SANCHEZ: It also gives you a sense of why so many Republicans across the country, especially in red states, are looking at potentially changing their congressional maps at the direction of President Trump.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes.
SANCHEZ: I wonder what you think we're going to hear tomorrow, specifically from President Trump at Charlie Kirk's memorial? You argue that the president should soothe tensions, not stoke them right now. President Trump, during his first administration, even going back to the last campaign, has had multiple opportunities to use rhetoric that unites the country, that shies away from pointing fingers. He is more often than not reticent to do that.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I mean, that's just not who he is. I mean, you know, obviously I think the president, the vice president, senior officials in the administration are personally moved by this terrible tragedy. I mean, there's just simply no excuse for anyone facing violence, for expressing their political views, but they are also moving to use the aftermath of this tragedy to do things that they have already, you know, very clearly signaled that they want to do, to suppress dissent and to go -- to weaken those they view as their political adversaries on multiple fronts.
And that's what really you have seen from the president in the aftermath. This mixture of genuine, I think, sense of personal loss and the attempt to kind of use this as a means to move forward on an agenda that is fundamentally about debilitating the ability of those in society who don't like his agenda to resist him. And so it is a very fraught moment, as we saw with the, you, Jimmy Kimmel suspension this week, and one where I think the president, whatever his tone tomorrow, his overall direction on this is to blame political violence solely on the left, which is obviously not supported by the evidence.
We have a problem with political violence from both ends. In fact, most studies have shown more of it has come from the right than the left in recent decades. And it is a moment where some of the civil liberties that we have assumed are bedrock in American society are probably going to be under serious risk.
SANCHEZ: I also wonder what you think is coming on Capitol Hill because the backdrop of all of this is a looming government shutdown. Democrats are going to play this high stakes game with President Trump. They're essentially calling Republicans' bluff on this. And they have about a week of recess before lawmakers get back. And then when they get back, it's going to be a matter of, what, two or three days before the budget is due.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. You know, as we talked about before, Democrats are really at a low ebb in the public perception of the party. Probably the worst position they've been in since the rise of Bill Clinton in the -- in the late '80s and early '90s. But one issue where the public still consistently say -- says they trust Democrats more than Republicans is health care and vaccines, for that matter. And this is a fight that is going to be centered fundamentally on health care.
I mean, the core Democratic demand, the one that they actually, you know, I think, believe they have a chance of trying to move forward is getting Republicans to agree to extend the subsidies, the enhanced subsidies for folks buying coverage under the Affordable Care Act that were passed under Biden, and that will expire at the end of this year. Four million people could lose coverage if that -- if those subsidies expire, and maybe 20 million or so will face higher premiums.
So they feel like they are fighting on what is probably the strongest ground, maybe the last remaining strong ground for the party at this moment, a fight about health care, particularly against the backdrop of all the chaos happening at HHS under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The problem they have, Omar, is historically, government shutdowns have really never worked to force the target to do what the other side wants.
I mean, there's just no history of that, going back to Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton or Ted Cruz and his efforts against the Affordable Care Act. So Democrats have an uphill fight in terms of getting what they want. But at least from their perspective, they will be focusing attention on an issue where they still do have a lot of trust from the public, and that is defending access to health care and controlling health care costs at a time when cost of living is still the foremost concern of most Americans.
SANCHEZ: Ron Brownstein, thanks so much for the analysis. Appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
So it's been just over a week since Charlie Kirk was brazenly killed while speaking on a college campus. Even though law enforcement had a suspect in custody in less than two days. conspiracy theories online are quickly multiplying.
CNN's Marshall Cohen has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: It is getting really ugly on social media. In the week after Charlie Kirk was killed, there were more than two million distinct posts on X, formerly Twitter, referencing conspiracy theories.
[16:10:07] That's according to the data analytics firm Peak Metrics. They found that this was actually twice as many conspiratorial posts as there were last year after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. Think about that for a second. One expert who tracks disinformation told me that this is the worst he's ever seen. And there are a few reasons for that. First, there was the extremely graphic close up footage of Kirk's death that instantly went viral, creating a visceral reaction.
Also, this tragedy came at a time when 71 percent of Americans think that our society itself is broken, according to a Reuters poll. This creates the opening for crazy conspiracy theories to flourish. So some left-wing figures promoted the unhinged idea that Donald Trump himself orchestrated the murder to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the Jeffrey Epstein files. Other liberal activists tried to connect the suspect to far-right white supremacist groups that had previously clashed with Kirk even though there is mounting evidence that the suspect disliked Kirk's conservative views.
And then on the right, Trump allies like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer have claimed that the suspect was part of a terror cell and that he was just a bit player in a national conspiracy that is being covered up. They're peddling this even as the authorities say that the suspect acted alone. Other right-wing influencers are leaning heavily into antisemitic tropes to blame Israel. They've claimed that Israeli spies took out Kirk because he was starting to waver from his long standing support for the Jewish state.
These ideas are uncorroborated, totally debunked, and some of them are just flat-out crazy. But as one disinformation expert told me, they don't actually need to make any sense because the incentives on the internet are totally backwards. The influencers and podcasters and grifters promoting these theories need to churn out inflammatory hot takes just like these to gain more followers, build their subscriber lists, and keep the money flowing.
Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Marshall for that report.
Coming up, lawyers for the man accused of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare are trying to keep the death penalty off the table. We have a live report coming up on their arguments. Plus 10 scenes near Chicago between protesters and federal agents near an ICE facility. And a big preview to a concert later tonight. We're going to take you live to Farm Aid's 40th anniversary concert.
You're in the CNN newsroom. We'll be back in just a moment.
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SANCHEZ: New tonight lawyers for the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO want a judge to take the death penalty off the table. Luigi Mangione's team argues the case against him has been politicized and that officials prejudiced the case by making him look like a, quote, "monster out of a Marvel movie." They argue that Attorney General Pam Bondi and others violated their client's constitutional rights.
Leigh Waldman is live for us in New York.
Leigh, walk us through the defense's argument.
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris. Luigi Mangione's attorneys are hoping to build on that momentum after a legal victory this week in their state case, when a judge ordered that the terrorism charges he was facing be dropped. Now they're asking the judge to order the federal prosecutors to stop seeking the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
This 114-page filing that was issued today argues that authorities are infringing on his constitutional rights and have turned all of this into a, quote, "Marvel movie spectacle" and by publicly saying they want to see him executed.
You'll remember last December when he was arrested initially in Pennsylvania, Mangione was taken by a helicopter to Manhattan. He was led by a large group of law enforcement and by New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, to the courthouse to face those charges. Prior to even being indicted, U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi, she had made a statement saying capital punishment was warranted for, quote, "premeditated, cold blooded assassination" that shocked America.
She followed that up with an Instagram posts and also TV appearances. That is what the defense team is capitalizing on in their filing today, stating, quote, "The perp walk and Pam Bondi's statements have violated Mr. Mangione's constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced his death penalty case.
The filing is also seeking to humanize Mangione ahead of his next court appearance. The very first lines in that filing state, Luigi Mangione is a 27-year-old Italian American dual citizen whose promising life has been derailed. Born in Maryland into a large, close, loving family, he is now fighting for his life against a government that seeks to execute him.
Now, prosecutors have until the end of October to issue a response back to this filing and to remind everyone Mangione is facing a slew of charges, state and federal charges. Those federal charges include two counts of stalking, one count of gun offenses, and one count of murder through use of a firearm.
And, Boris, that is the charge that is linked to this death penalty case. And that is what the defense team is trying to fight. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges.
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SANCHEZ: And notably, Leigh, the terrorism charge in the state murder case that he was facing was thrown out by a judge. Why?
WALDMAN: Well, the judge simply stated that the prosecution and that did not meet their burden of proof, saying that there was no evidence presented of a desire to terrorize the public, incite widespread fear, engage in broader campaigns of violence, or conspire with organized terrorist groups. They said these ideological goals of killing Thompson were not sufficient to meet that definition of terrorism. That's why we're seeing those charges related to terrorism dropped.
But keep in mind, he's still facing numerous other charges related to the state's case, including a second-degree murder charge that could result in a sentence of 25 years to life.
SANCHEZ: Leigh Waldman in New York for us. Thank you so much for the update.
Near Chicago, a tense confrontation outside an ICE facility. Ten people arrested while protesting against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The mayor of nearby Evanston, Illinois, who is currently running for Congress, says that he was hit with tear gas. Also, a former journalist, notably also running for Congress, was seen being tossed to the ground. An attorney with the National Lawyers Guild confirms to the AP that some demonstrators were injured and taken to the hospital.
Let's get the latest from CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones.
Julia, what is ICE saying about these protests?
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are calling these protesters, quote, "violent rioters that threaten the safety of ICE officers," Boris. That was from a statement from the Department of Homeland Security who oversees ICE. And then on a post on X, the department also said, quote, "Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers and violent criminals. You will not stop ICE and DHS law enforcement from enforcing our immigration laws."
Along with that post, they also had the video of that former journalist running for office, as you mentioned, being pushed and shoved onto the ground. There we have her there. Her name is Kat Abughazaleh. She spoke to CNN and she said that officers also threw pepper balls at her. She said also in a post on X that what ICE did to her was, quote, "a violent abuse of power, but still nothing compared to what they're doing to the immigrant communities," adding that she was there to protest the conditions inside that detention facility -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Julia, do we know how many people were protesting there yesterday?
JONES: Well, it was a small protest as far as they go. About 100 people there. Some people have been going for weeks, like Abughazaleh. But on Friday there was a handful of local leaders there, including the lieutenant governor of Illinois, Juliana Stratton. And this is why she said that they were all there on Friday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GOV. JULIANA STRATTON (D), ILLINOIS: People are here to peacefully protest. Look what we've been seeing over the last several weeks right here in Chicago. People being snatched off the streets, stuffed into unmarked vans and with no due process. We are seeing the Constitution being stomped upon. And just this week, again, attacks on First Amendment Rights. And all of us need to be speaking with moral clarity and saying this is not right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And Boris, for days now as we've been reporting officers in the metro area have been picking up suspected undocumented immigrants as part of the Operation Midway Blitz. And at this point, ICE is saying that about 550 people have been arrested since the beginning of the operation.
SANCHEZ: Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for that reporting.
Still ahead, a U.N. commission is concluding that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. A humanitarian and pediatrician joins us for analysis on the crisis next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:26]
SANCHEZ: In remarks at the White House Friday, President Trump called the October 7th Hamas attacks, quote, "genocide at the highest level." This comes after a United Nations commission concluded this week that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli forces have now surrounded Gaza City, meantime, as they prepare a push to take full control there.
The new assault comes as the U.N. and others have warned that it will only deepen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with parts of Gaza officially declared under famine.
We're joined now by Dr. Seema Jilani. She's a humanitarian and pediatrician and member of the Board of Directors for the INARA, the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance.
Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. Let's start with what you're hearing from people on the ground about the situation in Gaza City. What are they sharing with you?
DR. SEEMA JILANI, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, INARA: It is scenes of complete dystopia and devastation on a population that has already been under siege, already managed on two years without humanitarian aid. There are scenes like women, you know, being forcibly evacuated with their children, who are already weakened from the ongoing malnutrition, and just stopping in the middle of the road, in the middle of the street, as if they cannot go on any longer, because million people now have to be forcibly evacuated from Gaza City, either south or west or elsewhere. Our clinic sees typically in Gaza City 120 patients a day. [16:30:00]
Now, our clinic staff had to move and had to be again forcibly evacuated, although four refused and stayed because they could not bear to leave their own communities in need. It is just dystopian and horrific as ever. Children -- we did a vegetable distribution. Children were biting into tomatoes and cucumber without being able to even wait until their mother made a salad for them. And the way they were biting into them was as if it was chocolate or their favorite -- their absolute favorite candy.
Israel has now arbitrarily not designated some goods as "Luxury." And one of those goods to cross over would be peanut butter, which we used very, very frequently in humanitarian famine. And peanut butter is no longer allowed in. And it is a nutrient-dense substance that we typically use. So, it is catastrophic. And I know that word has been used over and over again for the past two years.
SANCHEZ: I wonder, Doctor, what you make of the argument from Israeli leaders that the aid and distribution of it has been complicated? As they say, they try to make sure that it gets into the right hands and stays away from the hands of Hamas. What would your response to that be?
JILANI: Humanitarian organizations internationally and worldwide have dealt with war zones and conflicts for eons upon eons. I agree it is complicated because Israel has complicated the situation as such. How -- what happened with the "Gaza humanitarian fund" is a disgrace and a stain on humanity.
If you had let that be in the hands of humanitarian aid organizations that know what they're doing, then we would have been able to prevent that kind of cataclysm. We wouldn't -- we know how to do crowd control, which means we do multiple distribution sites. This is not rocket science. It's something we've been doing for a very long time.
And yes, I agree, Israel indeed has complicated it much more than it needs to be. Humanitarian aid needs to be able to go in across the border and not sit in warehouses. It needs to be able to be distributed to the people in need. And imagine distributing humanitarian aid when bombs are going off and there are drones gnawing overhead. How are we able to do our jobs?
SANCHEZ: I also wonder, because you mentioned that some of the folks tied to your organization are going to remain in Gaza City. There are countless stories like these of people who refuse to leave. Despite the calls to evacuate -- the orders to evacuate, many refuse on practical grounds. They don't have the means. They have nowhere to go.
Others refuse to leave for, I guess you could say, more personal or spiritual reasons. They don't want to leave what they see as their land behind. So, I wonder what you think is going to happen to the folks who stay.
JILANI: I cannot imagine anything good. I mean, what I have seen in Gaza emergency rooms in terms of what happens to people that stay is nothing short of a nightmare. I have seen children targeted. I have seen children coming in with limb amputations from traumatic shrapnel that from bombardments and so on. And unless the international community steps up to actually do something two years into this, then it will be a very, very tragic, even more tragic situation as we watch and watch it unfold.
Yes, people stay out of loyalty to their community. They also stay because it costs $3,000 for a set of wheels to move anywhere. And those wheels could be a donkey cart. It could be a truck.
But either way, that is the where -- that's the level of desperation that is on the ground that rises prices of goods and services up. So, I certainly wouldn't have $3,000 today to get a -- you know, a taxi that in -- otherwise, it should take only 20 minutes to get from Gaza City southbound. But this is taking days upon days upon days on foot.
SANCHEZ: Dr. Seema Jilani, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you sharing your time.
JILANI: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Coming up. New tonight. Why the White House is confident they'll have a TikTok deal in the coming days? And we'll take you live to Minneapolis for tonight's concert, where Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, and Willie Nelson are playing. All to help out American farmers. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:39:21]
SANCHEZ: The White House says the deal will be finalized in the coming days so that Americans can keep using TikTok. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the deal being made with the Chinese government would put control of the algorithm for the wildly popular short video app into the hands of Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This deal means that TikTok will be majority owned by Americans in the United States. There will be seven seats on the board that controls the app in the United States, and six of those seats will be Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: President Trump said Friday that he had a productive -- very productive call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping making progress toward selling most of TikTok's U.S. assets to American investors.
[16:40:04]
Thousands of people are in Minneapolis for the Food and Music Festival, Farm Aid, this weekend. Tonight's event will be the 40th annual festival to raise money for American farmers. Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, and John Mellencamp, just some of the stars on schedule to play tonight.
Another star who's there? CNN's Bill Weir joining us live from the festival grounds. I see you've got your Willie Nelson shirt, Bill. Tell us how this all came together.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It's a bloody mary morning, Buddy. My baby left me without warning sometime in the night. Willie comes on late tonight. You're going to want to tune in at seven to see Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp. Dave Matthews and Margo Price. But Willie belongs on Mount Rushmore, if anybody does.
And it was actually Willie who started this back in '85 when he heard Bob Dylan at live aid say, it's great we're raising money for folks who, you know, famine-stricken Africa. Maybe save a million or two for the farmers here at home. Their banks are getting foreclosed on. And here we are 40 years later, the mission continues for these good folks.
Pan around. Let's just see. Music is so healing, and it's so nice to see smiles and dances -- and dancing going on in the crowd. It's early in the day, but we had an amazing set from Wynonna Judd just recently, and a whole lot more music to come, Boris.
SANCHEZ: And, Bill, tell us about the impact that Farm Aid has had over the years for American farmers?
WEIR: Well, it's been huge. They raised about $20 million. Adjusted for inflation, that first one, but have stayed with the mission over the years, trying to help family farmers who are up against huge corporate interests these days.
If you're a corporation that grows a commodity crop like soybean or corn, or cotton, there are big healthy subsidies for that, sometimes payoffs when there are trade wars all overseas. But the small family farmers, the folks who grow dozens of different fruits and vegetables at your farm stand, they don't usually get that kind of help. And they're up against mounting pressures, costs, inputs, immigration rates that are going on, and, of course, climate change. So much harder to predict the weather and grow crops these days.
So, plenty on the minds of these folks. At least tonight, taking a little time to relax. And maybe folks around the country can kick in a little bit to help these farmers.
SANCHEZ: Not a bad time to do that. Kick back and come together over some great tunes. Bill Weir live for us from Farm Aid. Thank you so much, Bill.
Coming up. We take a closer look at why the WNBA is bringing in a lot of revenue, but their players say their share falls short. And a basketball writer is going to weigh in on why that could become a major problem for the league. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:47:27] SANCHEZ: The WNBA is breaking records with a huge surge in franchise values and soaring attendance. But players say their share of revenue is minuscule compared to other professional sports. Here's a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: In the past year, the WNBA's 13 franchises have seen record- breaking growth, increasing in value by over 180 percent, according to Sportico. You can chart the league's growing popularity not only in financial gain, but in name recognition too. Stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese becoming household names, as well as a spike in celebrity endorsements and attendance.
In 2024, Caitlin Clark's team, the Indiana Fever, averaged more than 17,000 fans a game. That's more than six NBA teams and three MLB teams in the same span. The uptick in popularity corresponds with a $2.2 billion TV rights deal the WNBA signed for 2026. That covers the next 11 years, which ESPN reports will increase the league's annual revenue by about $200 a season. Yet WNBA players say they're not being paid what they're owed.
Right now, they get less than 10 percent of the league's total revenue. A strikingly slim margin when compared to other pro sports leagues, in which athletes typically split revenues about 50-50. Thats almost 40 percent greater than WNBA players. And why some of the leagues' stars say they're due a higher percentage of revenue, though, they're not looking for dollar for dollar parity.
Keep in mind. Despite historic gains since it was founded in 1996, the league has always operated at a loss. Annually losing tens of millions of dollars, even with large cash boosts coming from the NBA, which is the majority stakeholder. But as the league is poised to keep growing, adding two more teams next season, expanding to 18 total by 2030, the question remains: what will the league do with the new revenue? Are we headed for a lockout, or can the owners and players agree to new terms that align with what they feel they're owed?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And the clock is ticking. The deadline for the WNBA and its players to make a deal is coming up in the next few weeks, at the end of October. Eric Pincus joins us now from Bleacher Report. You wrote this week, Eric, that the WNBA can realistically expect their next collective bargaining agreement to be tough. What are you anticipating?
[16:50:01]
ERIC PINCUS, NBA WRITER, BLEACHER REPORT: Well, it is difficult to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement because you have so many different owners. You have players who are fighting for something that they believe in. And until there's a forced decision, which comes with a lockout, there's a contentious negotiation.
And ultimately, I would like to be optimistic and say that a deal is reached, but the players want, as you said, not a dollar-for-dollar match with the -- with the NBA. NBA is a $10 billion business. WNBA isn't at that scale. But they would like to grow into that split.
Split the pie. Split it fairly because -- I mean, we're not going to see the owners of the teams play basketball. These are built on the stars. Someone like Caitlin Clark has been hurt much of the year, and the league is still thriving. The Valkyries, a new team in Golden State, sold out -- beat a bunch of teams in the NBA with attendance. So, the market is there. They just want to fight to get what they believe is a equitable share.
SANCHEZ: What have you heard is the response to the fact that the league is fighting to be profitable, that they're still at a loss for money?
PINCUS: Well, so this goes into kind of a question of accounting. You know, there's a balance sheet and there's income statement. If you buy the team for, let's say $10, $20 million some time ago, and then you sell it for 200 million or 300 million, and maybe you lost 10 million every year for ten years, you're still profiting.
So, it's a -- it's an issue that I don't think fundamentally that the players' union is going to agree with in that concept, because there's a line of investors trying to buy in, and the NBA is the largest shareholder. And if they said, OK, we're out of the WNBA business, they would be able to sell those shares very easily and probably for a profit. So, if -- there's profit to be made, but you're investing in a young league. It's only -- it's pushing 30 --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
PINCUS: -- which is young in league terms. And so, it hasn't reached full maturity. But that's also why it's an opportunity for an investor to get in when it isn't a two or $three billion to buy, or the Lakers' 10 billion or whatever the NBA teams are going at for.
WNBA teams aren't at that level, but that's also an opportunity. So, I think it's a real issue. But I don't know that it's the player's responsibility because income is there. It's just a question of when it's taken. If you're taking it ten years later by selling the team and making tons and tons over what you invested, that's a profit too.
SANCHEZ: That's a really good point. I wonder how these new expansion teams are potentially going to impact these negotiations.
PINCUS: Well, they're -- it's great for the league in the sense that, well, there's more jobs for more players. And they're not expanding because the league is doing poorly, right? It reflects that this is a healthy league where you have, as I said, people lining up to invest in it, and there are going to be new teams.
It changes the dynamics a little bit because they're sharing in some of the revenue from that TV deal, and it dilutes it a bit. So, this is a, you know, great time to get into the league. But yes, it's more jobs, more exposure. As I mentioned, the Valkyries made the playoffs and, really, one of the best expansion teams in all of sports. You know, we can look at leagues. How many times has an expansion team come in? Killed it. Coach of the year. Now, in the (INAUDIBLE) And, you know, didn't get past the first round. But unbelievable season. So, you know, open up to new markets, expand the league, I think it's wonderful.
SANCHEZ: As you noted, the WNBA now in the playoffs. Who is the favorite to win the championship?
PINCUS: Well, you know, I -- maybe the Minnesota Lynx or the Las Vegas Aces. Certainly, the top two teams in the league. Phoenix Mercury are -- you know, they're going to disagree with that take. I struggle to pick the Indiana Fever because they're -- like --
SANCHEZ: Right.
PINCUS: It's a near miracle that they've gotten this far with so many injuries. They're like the walking wounded. And it's been, you know, really wonderful to watch them play.
I'll just say, you know, Aces because that's my pick. But I know no slight on the other teams. They are absolutely fantastic.
SANCHEZ: Eric Pincus, thanks so much for joining us and sharing your weekend with us.
PINCUS: Thank you. Anytime.
SANCHEZ: A programing note now to share with you. Comedian and writer Negin Farsad and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger are joining Roy Amber and Michael for a new episode of "Have I Got News For You" that will air tomorrow, one night later than usual, at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. Only on CNN.
Still ahead. Security is ramping up for the Charlie Kirk memorial tomorrow in Arizona, where police say more than 100,000 people could turn out, including the President of the United States. A live report why securing it is so challenging and complicated. Stay with us.
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SANCHEZ: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Boris Sanchez in the nation's capital. My colleague Jessica Dean has the night off. We begin this hour with officials trying to find out why an armed man was posing as law enforcement and acting suspiciously outside of Charlie Kirk memorial site in Glendale, Arizona.
Officials say the man was taken into custody yesterday, though the incident has put security on high alert before Tomorrow's event. High- profile conservatives, including President Donald Trump, are expected to be there. And police say more than 100,000 people could be in the crowd.
