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It appears that the negotiations between the WNBA and the WNBAPA are set to end. Per a report by Alexa Philippou on Friday, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert expressed a sense of urgency to finish the negotiations, with the deadline being Monday.
Engelbert explained why the deadline is significant, noting that the first preseason games start on April 25 and that training camp is scheduled to begin on April 19.
“We have to get it done by Monday. I should say, we have to get it done without disrupting some part of the fact that we’ve got to run this two-team expansion [draft],” Engelbert said per Philippou. “We’ve got to get expansion going. We’ve got to get free agency going. We’ve got to get the college draft, which is now a month from today.”
The WNBA has reached a critical impasse. WNBAPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson called the deadlines set by Engelbert and the league “quite arbitrary,” but she said there was progress in the negotiations.
“I think the league, and particularly the commissioner and her team, have heard that transformational remains the goal,” Jackson told reporters. “As long as movement keeps us going in a forward direction, then I think we’re good.”
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the revenue-sharing between the league and the players. The WNBAPA wants 26% of the gross revenue for the lifetime of the CBA. The WNBA is proposing to allocate an average of 70% of net revenue. Gross revenue amounts to the money generated before expenses are taken out, and net revenue is the money left over after expenses are deducted.
Following this week’s meetings, both Engelbert and Jackson spoke highly of the negotiation process.
“Negotiations last time, that’s how we got it done. We just keep grinding and keep doing the work around the clock,” Jackson said to ESPN.
Meanwhile, Engelbert said, “It is meaningful to sit across the table and listen to their concerns, them to listen to our concerns or listen to why we think something that we’re bargaining over is where we want to be. Some cases, they agree. Some cases, they don’t. We listen to the players when they talk about things, and they listen to us. So, you know, progress.”
