WNBA, players still at CBA impasse after 2nd marathon session

Another marathon session between the WNBA and the players association ended early Thursday without a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Representatives from the league and the WNBPA began their meeting at a New York hotel at 2 p.m. Wednesday and wrapped up at roughly 1:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Front Office Sports.

A previous session ran from about 5 p.m. on Tuesday until after 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

League officials had set March 10 as the deadline for a new CBA agreement to avoid the loss of regular-season games.

The league and the players have been at a standstill for months, with revenue sharing and housing among the key issues. The regular season is scheduled to begin May 8.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and New York Liberty Owner Clara Wu Tsai attended both sessions and were joined Wednesday by Connecticut Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti.

WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson and executive committee members Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner also were at the bargaining table.

“We’re feeling movement,” Ogwumike told reporters Wednesday night. “We’re sticking to the process. That’s something we’ve always been true to from the very beginning.”

The WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13, with training camps opening six days later. The league also must hold a free agency period, an expansion draft with the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire set to begin play this upcoming season, as well as preseason games.

“We’ve read a lot of things about timelines,” Ogwumike said. “There’s been timelines that have been thrown out, but for us we’re trying to get a good deal done and we want to play this season. So, to me that’s the time that we’re on.”

The players have been without a collective bargaining agreement since they opted out of their existing agreement in October 2024, a year before its Oct. 31, 2025, expiration, with hopes of having a new deal in place last fall.

–Field Level Media