WNBA Commissioner’s emphasis on CBA urgency is dangerously close to the wire

The new WNBA CBA has to be signed by Monday so that the 2026 season can begin on time, league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters covering the ongoing negotiations in New York City on Friday. That’s an extension from the league’s previously set March 10 deadline, but for some WNBA fans, watchers, and interested parties, Engelbert’s sense of urgency is coming a little too late.

The most recent CBA expired at the end of October 2025. The WNBPA and the WNBA began exchanging proposals last year, but seemed to move at a relatively slow pace. The players expressed more than once that the league had taken quite some time to respond to their missives; the league, in turn, accused the players of simply sending unchanged proposals.

Now that things are clearly coming down to the wire, there’s increased external (and likely internal) pressure to get a deal signed.

CBA negotiations began Tuesday

“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 told reporters last night. “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.”

Conversations between the WNBA and the WNBPA have lasted for hours each day.

Training camp is set to begin April 19 for most teams, but a lot has to happen first. The league’s newest teams, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, have yet to hold the expansion drafts that will allow them to build their first rosters. The league also has not been able to enter into free agency, which will involve most of the players this year.

Free agency will be swiftly followed by the 2026 WNBA Draft, which will likely see celebrated college plauyers like Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, and Lauren Betts drafted to teams alongside European star Awa Fam. Assuming all of this takes place relatively on time, teams will host training camp and then prepare for the beginning of the season, which is scheduled for May 8.

The biggest issue holding up an agreement is rooted in how the players will be paid. Both the league and the union have offered different proposals; the players most recently suggested a deal that includes 26% of gross revenue, while the league countered with a deal that offers 70% of net revenue.