NEW YORK (AP) – The WNBA is offering an assist to players trying to stay safe while traveling overseas.
The league has partnered with LiveSafe, a safety communications platform, to provide a mobile security app to its 60-plus players competing in Russia, Turkey, China and other countries this offseason. The app debuted this week and players are already signing up.
“This was a proactive effort to protect our players and secure their personal safety,” WNBA President Lisa Borders said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “Our partner in this endeavor is LiveSafe. It has multiple features and functionality. It’s a real-time way for our players to ask for help and receive help in dangerous situations or threatening environments.”
The app will allow the players to communicate directly with the league and its security team. It also can send security advisories and notifications to players when they’re overseas, similar to what one might get from the state department.
Borders said that the league’s security team has been working with LiveSafe on the app for a while, and that it was not in reaction to any specific threat to players.