NEW YORK — For the first time in WNBA history, a team has forfeited a game. The league ruled Tuesday that Las Vegas will get a loss for its game against Washington that was canceled when the Aces players decided not to play because of concerns about their health and safety after 26 hours of travel. The Aces needed more than a day to get to Washington from Las Vegas because of flight delays and cancellations Friday. By the time the team reached its hotel it was 3:45 p.m. — about four hours before the scheduled tip. The Aces players talked things over and spoke by phone with the union Friday. They called the league to say they did not want to play. The league said it "worked extensively" with both teams to find a "workable solution." The WNBA added it delayed the start of the game until 8 p.m. to give the Aces as much time as possible after their arrival. "While not ideal, it was the best available solution to accommodate both our fans and the scheduling challenges," WNBA President Lisa Borders said in a statement. "Since the Aces chose not to play, the result is a forfeit." The Aces put out a statement right before the tip of their game Tuesday night in Atlanta. "Our entire organization has the utmost respect for the very difficult decision our players made, and we stand with them," Las Vegas president of basketball operations and coach Bill Laimbeer said. "We are disappointed with the league's decision, but our focus is now on winning as many games as we can in our drive for our first playoff appearance." Las Vegas went on to lose to the Dream 109-100, giving them two losses on the day. The team, which fell 2½ games behind Dallas for the final playoff spot, didn't really want to talk about the league's decision after the game. "That's in the past. We made that decision as a team the other day. We're here now and we were focused on Atlanta," Aces guard Kayla McBride said. "It is what it is. We stand by our decision." Atlanta coach Nicki Collen had a feeling the Aces would play with a lot of energy hours after the decision. "I certainly knew this Vegas team, coming into this game, I knew they had added incentive with the ruling coming out today from the WNBA that it was a forfeit," she said. "I knew the odds were stacked against us from a team that was going to come out really fired up. ... I knew they would come out at 100 mph." There was little precedent for the decision because the WNBA has never before canceled a game. There have been only a handful of instances over the past few decades in major sports in which teams have had to forfeit. Most of those occurred because of fan involvement, notably the Chicago White Sox's infamous Disco Demolition Night in 1979 when the field was so damaged the second-game of a doubleheader could not be played. "We anticipated that this was a possible outcome that the players on the Aces seriously considered," Terri Jackson, director of operations for the players' union, wrote in a text message to The Associated Press. The union added that it hopes the league will accept its proposal to form a group that will develop scheduling and travel guidelines. "As always," Jackson said, "the health and safety of the players remains the highest priority." Making up the Aces-Mystics game would have been exceptionally difficult because of the compact schedule. Both teams play virtually every other day over the next two weeks before the regular season ends Aug. 19. The Mystics had to refund fans who had tickets for the game. As a goodwill gesture they are also offering tickets to another game. Washington, which played in Phoenix on Tuesday night, declined to immediately comment on the league's decision.<doc-sep>The Las Vegas Aces spent more than 25 hours in airports and on flights in their attempt to get to a game against the Washington Mystics. On Friday, the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics had to cancel their game after an unbelievable series of travel misfortunes prevented the Aces from getting to Washington D.C. in time to rest and warm-up for the contest. On Tuesday, the WNBA announced that the game will count as a forfeit for the Aces because they "failed to appear for the game." The team spent more than 25 hours in airports and on flights in its attempt to get to the game Friday thanks to multiple flight cancelations. Unlike NBA teams, WNBA squads fly commercial, leaving their travel up to the airlines that will not be as concerned with making sure the teams are able to get to games on time. The Aces entered Tuesday at 12-15, which had them 1.5 games behind the Dallas Wings for the last playoff spot with about two weeks left in the season. Las Vegas will take on the Atlanta Dream on the road Tuesday as the team tries to make the postseason.<doc-sep>Last Friday the Las Vegas Aces took a stand. After experiencing travel delays for 26 hours, when they finally got to Washington they were a mere four hours away from tipoff against the Washington Mystics. Worried about the health and safety of his team, Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Bill Laimbeer decided the risk of injury was too great and the Aces did not play. That controversial stance has sparked endless debates on how the league should deal with the stand. On one hand, player safety is of number one importance but, on the other hand, the Aces did have a job to do. Well, yesterday the WNBA made its decision and issued this is official statement: The WNBA has issued the following release: pic.twitter.com/YumtTwHZvt — WNBA (@WNBA) August 7, 2018 A forfeit damages the Aces’ playoff hopes who, with the included forfeit, have now lost three straight games. Laimbeer issued this statement on behalf of the Aces: . @LVAces coach Bill Laimbeer released a statement regarding the league’s decision to impose a forfeit in wake of Friday’s cancellation: pic.twitter.com/PJSOxG5ovo — Sam Gordon (@BySamGordon) August 7, 2018 For now, it appears the Aces are taking the punishment on the chin. But it feels like this story is far from being over. The league neither addressed the travel issues that the Aces faced nor the issue of Mystics’ fans showing up and arena crew members missing a day of work. These are lingering questions that will have to be answered. The decision to grant the Aces a forfeit is a fair, albeit, unfortunate one, as the win puts the Mystics in third place and drops the Aces to three games back of the final playoff spot. In such a tight playoff race, it’s disheartening that playoffs could come down to flight delays. More important to this story, however, is that the WNBA take preventive measures to ensure a situation like this never happens again. It is of utmost importance that the league seek out charter flights for teams so that they don’t have to be stuck in an airport for 26 hours. The Aces took a stand for player safety and it cost them a game. “In such a tight playoff race, it’s disheartening that playoffs could come down to flight delays.” However, in doing so, they brought national attention to a problem that has existed for a long time in the WNBA — a grueling travel schedule. Although other teams deal with the headaches of commercial flights doesn’t mean they should have to either. The Aces felt that playing on such little rest and nutrition was unsafe and we all should respect their decision. The Aces aren’t the first team to experience severe travel delays but hopefully they will be the last.<doc-sep>
The WNBA has ruled that Las Vegas will forfeit its game against Washington, which was canceled Friday night when the Aces players decided not to play because of concerns about their health and safety after 26 hours of travel. The league announced its decision Tuesday in a one-sentence email. There was little precedent for the decision because the WNBA has never had a game canceled. There have been a handful of instances over the past few decades in major sports in which teams have been forced to forfeit. Most of those occurred because of fan involvement, such as the Chicago White Sox infamous Disco Demolition Night in 1979 when the field was so damaged, the second game of a doubleheader couldn’t be played. The Aces needed nearly 26 hours to travel to Washington from Las Vegas after flight delays and cancellations Friday. By the time the team reached its hotel, it was 3:45 p.m. — about four hours before the scheduled tipoff. The Aces talked things over and spoke by phone with the union Friday. They called the league to say they did not want to play. Making the game up later in the season would have been exceptionally difficult because of the compact schedule. The two teams play virtually every other day over the next two weeks before the regular season ends Aug. 19. The Aces are in ninth place, and the forfeit moved them two games behind Dallas for the final playoff spot. Washington moved into a third-place tie with Los Angeles. The Mystics had to refund fans who had tickets for the game. As a goodwill gesture, they also are offering tickets to another game.