WNBA: League, union preach ‘progress’ as another deadline looms

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s second declared deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires Monday night.

Will a new deal be done by then?

After Sunday’s session, which began at noon, concluded around 3 a.m. ET, Engelbert told the on-scene reporter assemblage of ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, Front Office Sports’ Annie Costabile, the AP’s Doug Feinberg and The IX Sports’ Jackie Powell:

We’ve got progress for sure. We’re gonna keep going. We’re gonna get this deal done.

Deb Willig, outside counsel for the WNBPA, offered a similar assessment later on Monday, noting that real progress had been achieved and that a term sheet could be agreed to within the next 15 to 20 hours.

However, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson, while agreeing that the sides have made progress, resisted engaging in too much positivity, telling reporters before Monday’s session:

There are deadlines, arbitrary ones, that the league has set, and then there’s a season schedule that has its own milestones. Absolutely, we recognize that, and we respect those.

But do we also recognize that these are big-time negotiations, and so there may be a need to adjust? Absolutely. And the players, more importantly, recognize that, understand that, and are prepared for it as they always have been.

The latest round of negotiations began at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, less than 12 hours after Sunday’s session wrapped up. The WNBA and WNBPA have continued to engage in near non-stop negotiations since the passage of the first league-imposed deadline of March 10, exceeding 72 hours of bargaining.

Engelbert herself acknowledged that the latest deadline in not absolute, expressing to reporters:

Can things move 24 to 48 hours? Sure. But not much more before you start to look at can we open training camp up?

The commissioner declined to indicate whether training camp delays could be announced, only saying, “I wish I knew the answer.”

The WNBPA, however, remains committed to achieving a “transformational” CBA, and at the core of that goal is revenue sharing.

Based on the comments of WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike the two sides did not begin to broach this major point of contention until the weekend’s bargaining sessions. Housing policy, another preeminent priority for the players, also moved to the top of the agenda over the weekend. Prior to that, when the two sides had exchanged 15 proposals, the focus had been on other issues. As Ogwumike told reporters during a break on Saturday:

It’s very important for us to nail those two things down, which is I think the biggest thing on the agenda today. So we want to make sure that we can get that.

On revenue sharing, Ogwumike added:

We’ve talked a lot about revenue share, which that’s obviously going to be, I don’t even really like calling it the elephant in the room. Like it’s there, you know, like we’re going to talk about it.

She additionally underscored why an equitable housing policy is essential for the WNBPA, saying:

The fact we are here talking about housing shows that we care about every single player—in the same way that we do about revenue share. It’s very important for us to nail those two things down, which is the biggest thing on the agenda today.

On the players’ side, Ogwumike and fellow WNBPA executive committee members Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier were present for all of the the weekend’s meetings. On Sunday, executive committee members Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner, who had departed before the conclusion of Friday’s session, returned to rejoin the proceedings.

Based on the most recent publicly-reported details, the league is firmly holding to a revenue sharing model that would provision 70 percent of net revenue to players. That’s estimated to be less than 15 percent of gross revenue. Players are seeking 26 percent of gross revenue; their original ask was reported to be 40 percent of gross revenue.

Willig, the outside counsel with 50 years of experience with labor negotiations, called the negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA “unusual,” further explaining:

I think the why, frankly, is because the league underestimated, seriously, the resolve of the players and what they sought to achieve.

Jackson likewise asserted, “I’m certain that this is a fight that is meaningful to [the players], and that they are committed to it and to the end, and that they will hit that goal.”