October 3, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during a press conference prior to the 2025 WNBA Finals game between the Phoenix Mercury and the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvani-Imagn Image Another marathon session between the WNBA and the players’ association ended Thursday morning without an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
According to Front Office Sports, league and WNBPA representatives began meeting at a hotel in New York at 2 PM on Wednesday and ended around 1:30 AM on Thursday.
Previous sessions ran from 5pm on Tuesday until after 5am on Wednesday.
League officials set a March 10 deadline for a new CBA deal to avoid losing regular season games.
The league and players have been at a standstill for months with revenue sharing and housing issues among the major issues. The regular season is scheduled to begin on May 8.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai attended both sessions, and on Wednesday Connecticut Sun President Jennifer Rizzotti also joined them.
WNBPA Executive Director Terri Carmichael Jackson and Executive Committee members Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner also attended the negotiating table.
“We are feeling the movement,” Ogwumike told reporters Wednesday night. “We’re sticking to the process. It’s something we’ve always been true to from the beginning.”
The WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13, with training camp scheduled to open six days later. The league must also hold free agency, an expansion draft and preseason games, with the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire scheduled to begin play in the upcoming season.
“We read a lot about the timeline,” Ogwumike said. “There have been times when the deadline has been overruled, but we are trying to get a good deal done and we want to play this season, so for me that is the time for us to do it.”
The players have been without collective bargaining since opting out of their existing contract in October 2024, a year before its Oct. 31, 2025 expiration date, in hopes of a new contract being signed last fall.
–Field level media
