Unrivaled’s Philadelphia success gives players momentum in WNBA CBA talks

Unrivaled’s stop in Philadelphia last Friday drew an “outpouring of fans and palpable energy,” and if that is “any indication, the players came to the table with momentum” in their ongoing labor dispute with the WNBA, according to Ken Makin of ANDSCAPE. More than 21,000 fans packed Unrivaled’s doubleheader in Philadelphia, which broke attendance records for a regular-season women’s pro basketball game and for Xfinity Mobile Arena. A celebrity row included comedians Wanda Sykes and Leslie Jones, 76ers C Andre Drummond and G Kyle Lowry, and former NFLer Jason Kelce and wife Kylie. But the WNBA labor dispute was an “elephant in the room” among the “goodwill.” The WNBA and WNBPA met Monday, “coming to the bargaining table for the first time since October.” Liberty G Natasha Cloud said, “We’re not worried as the players, if I’m going to be frank and honest and transparent. … All the power is in our hands” (ANDSCAPE, 2/3).

WAITING GAME: In N.Y., Madeline Kenney noted six weeks is “how long the WNBA had to come up with a response, or to communicate with” the WNBPA regarding it most recent CBA proposal. That is how long the union has been “waiting for the league to do something, how long progress on a new deal has been shelved.” The league showed up “empty-handed” for Monday’s meeting in N.Y., a “slap in the face to players and fans.” The WNBA, led by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, came to the conference room “without a response to the union’s proposal that was submitted Christmas morning.” A source said that the league’s move “‘set the tone early’ for how the meeting would go.” Kenney noted instead of “hammering out details, the two sides spent the bulk of the meeting sharing their reasoning behind the proposal and certain topics.” Each side “left with an understanding that it’s the league’s turn to put something in writing.” And so “let the waiting game begin … again.” A source said that the WNBA did not “believe the union’s proposal warranted a response because it was ‘essentially unchanged’ from the previous proposal.” However, sources said that the sentiment was “never expressed directly to the union at any point leading up to Monday’s meeting” (N.Y. POST, 2/3).