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Time to reach an agreement to save the full season of games is near.
It is the beginning of crunch time in the negotiations between the Women’s National Basketball Association’s owners and the league’s players. The owners have put out a statement, settle by March 10th or face the prospect of losing games on the 2026 schedule. The league planned to open training camps on April 19th, six days after the college draft which is scheduled for April 13th. The regular season is supposed to start on May 8th. The league has not held its expansion draft to stock the Portland and Toronto franchises. The stumbling block is money and how to divide up the revenue that is taking in by the league and distribute it to the players. The two sides have passed two deadlines for an agreement, November 30th, 2025 and January 9th, 2026.
The players don’t want a salary cap while the owners are trying to suppress salaries. Very typical in sports labor negotiations. The players do have alternative places to work. A handful of WNBA players have committed to play in Project B, a women’s basketball startup league that will begin play in Europe, Asia and Latin America in November and last through April 2027. The league will not overlap with the WNBA season. The Project B women’s basketball league will include six teams with 11 players on each roster, and play a 5-on-5 format. Project B plans to host seven two-week tournaments in locations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. Project B will offer players an equity stake in the league and promises to pay more than the WNBA owners are willing to pay for players. There was another league available to WNBA players called Unrivaled this year. The three players on three players league is a short season circuit based in South Florida. The WNBA negotiations should be entering the urgency phase.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at [email protected]
