MANHATTAN — The WNBA and WNBPA returned to the bargaining table for the fourth consecutive day after a nearly 16-hour session that began at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday and stretched into the early morning hours on Friday.
After breaking at roughly 3 a.m., both sides picked negotiations back up around 10 a.m. In total, the four-day marathon sessions have gone on for more than 40 hours, beginning on Tuesday.
The main sticking point in negotiations has been revenue sharing, more specifically, the system under which both sides believe the league’s revenue should be shared. During Thursday’s session, other ancillary proposal items were discussed, including the core designation, wearable technology, and player benefits, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
More than nine proposals had been exchanged by the end of Thursday’s negotiations. The latest known proposal from the WNBA included a salary cap of $6.2 million. Under this proposal, the average salary would amount to roughly $516,600, and the supermax—if accounting for 20% of the cap—would be $1.24 million.
Proposals have been exchanged since this offer was made, so it’s expected that these numbers are dated.
On Feb. 23, the league told players that if a deal was not agreed to by March 10, the season would face delays. That deadline has come and gone. There is a belief from sources around the league that if a deal is not agreed to by early next week, training camp will be delayed, and preseason games would be subject to cancellation.
Once both sides shake hands on a tentative deal, it will be weeks before the new CBA is ratified.
The season is scheduled to begin on May 8, training camp on April 19, and the collegiate draft on April 13. Before any of this can happen, the league needs to conduct an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo and free agency for more than 100 players.
Competition meetings—which bring together general managers, coaches, and league leadership—were originally scheduled to be held in Phoenix during the Final Four. Those meetings will now be held virtually; the date is to be determined according to multiple sources.
