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In his experience with labor negotiations, NBA commissioner Adam Silver knows that these things often come down to the proverbial 11th hour — something, he admitted Saturday, that the WNBA is awfully close to approaching.
And while he’s not ready to set a drop-dead date for when the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association need to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement, Silver admitted that “what I’d love to accomplish is putting pressure on everybody.”
“I’m encouraged there has been more back and forth over the past few weeks,” Silver said during his press conference at All-Star Weekend. “I think there’s been more direct engagement from players and team owners. I have not been at the table, but I’m very involved behind the scenes. I want to play whatever role would be most productive in getting a deal done, but I think we need to now move toward the next-level sense of urgency and not lose momentum in terms of the amazing amount of progress we’ve seen with women’s basketball.”
Silver noted that the WNBA needs to fit in its collegiate draft, an expansion draft and free agency before training camps begin in around two months, and negotiations between the league and the players’ union have continued to drag on since the Aces won the title in October.
Last Friday, the WNBPA received the league’s counterproposal six weeks after the players’ union submitted theirs, and gaps still exist in negotiations.
The WNBA proposed a salary cap increase to $5.65 million for next season, but that’s well below the $10.5 million number the players’ union wants, according to The Post’s Madeline Kenney.
Players also want 30 percent of gross revenue, but the league has only presented 70 percent of the net revenue share — or around 15 percent of gross revenue, according to Kenney.
An in-person meeting between members from both sides took place on Feb. 2 in a promising sign after negotiations had stalled between the latest proposal and counterproposal. But the sides are running out of time in order to avoid the start of the season getting delayed.
And all that, then, prompted Silver’s comments Saturday about recognizing the heightened pressure to get it done.
“I think it’s unfortunate where we find ourselves right now, both from the team and the players,” Silver said. “I mean, we’re coming off tremendous momentum in the WNBA — it’s not lost on anyone. I feel like in the last few years in particular, the league has turned a corner in terms of fan interest, commercial success, popularity of players.
“I mean, all arrows are pointing up in terms of the WNBA, and as someone who was involved from the earliest days, now going into our 30th season, I couldn’t be prouder. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of that movement.”
