NEW YORK — The WNBA and players’ union met for more than 14 hours during a third straight day of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The session began at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday and continued until early Friday morning. The two sides met for more than 36 hours after meeting in person for the first time Tuesday. On this day, the league said it would need at least a handshake agreement for the season to start on time.
The two sides exchanged more offers on Thursday, with the main sticking point still being revenue sharing.
Executive committee members Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner, who attended the bargaining meeting, all left around midnight, while union leaders, including Executive Director Terri Carmichael Jackson, continued discussions.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Wednesday that the final offer of the night was “a truly historic and transformative deal” for the players.
“There are huge benefits and salaries and benefits and all that, but when you look at all of that, there are huge benefits beyond that,” she said. “We are proud of the deal we have on the table. I think this again is a huge win for the players while also balancing the health of the league.”
The league’s proposal Wednesday night increased the first-year salary cap offer to $6.2 million from $5.75 million in previous negotiations, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussion.
Last year, the salary cap for each team was $1.5 million. The average player salary was $120,000, and that figure would increase to $570,000 in the first year and $850,000 in the sixth year, sources said. The maximum salary is more than $1.3 million in the first year and nearly $2 million in the final year.
The league said a handshake agreement on a labor contract must be reached by at least Tuesday to start the season as scheduled. Ogwumike said Wednesday night that the union had not actually seen the deadline since two days ago.
“We have always negotiated in good faith, so we have never considered this a priority timeline on our part,” she said.
If a deal is reached in principle, the league said it would take several weeks to finalize the CBA. After that work is completed, new franchise expansion drafts for Portland and Toronto will be held between April 1 and 6, according to a timeline obtained by the AP.
Free agency offers, including the Franchise Player tag, will be sent out April 7-8. Teams then have three days to negotiate with more than 80% of their players who are free agents. The signing period runs from April 12th to 18th.
Training camp opens the next day and the season could begin May 8.
But for that to happen, both sides will need to find a revenue-sharing model. A week ago, the union’s proposal called for an average of 26% of total revenue (revenue before expenses) over the CBA period. This includes only 25% in the first year. The league said that number was unrealistic.
Several recent offers from the WNBA have offered more than 70% of net revenue, and that figure has only grown as the league continues to grow.
