MANHATTAN — The WNBA and WNBPA met again Saturday for a fifth consecutive day of in-person meetings in an effort to reach a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The talks are focusing on revenue sharing and team-provided housing.
“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,” WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told reporters on the scene. “It’s very important for us to nail those two things down, which is the biggest thing on the agenda today.”
Friday’s session was more than 15 hours long, beginning at roughly 10 a.m. and going past 1 a.m. Saturday morning. Saturday’s talks began at roughly 1 p.m.
The two sides have exchanged at least 15 proposals between Tuesday and Saturday.
There has been a rotation of WNBPA executive committee members present throughout the week. Vice president Alysha Clark and treasurer Brianna Turner—who were on site when negotiations began on Tuesday—tapped out on Friday and vice president Napheesa Collier tapped in, joining Ogwumike and vice president Breanna Stewart.
Ogwumike, Collier, and Stewart were back on site for Saturday’s session.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Friday night that progress was being made, and that, “We have to get a deal by Monday” to avoid disruptions to the preseason schedule.
While Engelbert’s opinion is that a deal will be reached by Monday, she acknowledged there is fluidity.
“Can things move 24 to 48 hours? Sure,” Engelbert said. “But not much more before you start to look at can we open training camp up?”
The league has to get through an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, free agency for over 100 players, and a standard collegiate draft all before training camp can begin on April 19.
The league’s first two preseason games are scheduled for April 25 between the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm and Golden State Valkyries. There is a belief that if a deal is not reached by early next week training camp will be delayed and preseason games would be subject to cancellation, according to multiple sources around the league.
Thursday and Friday’s sessions focused primarily on supplementary proposal items like wearable technology, the core designation and rookie scale contracts, and player benefits.
WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said both sides have reached agreements on “some things.”
Still, the salary system remains the centerpiece a deal being reached hinges upon.
“We have the big-ticket item, and that’s the big thing that we really want to nail down,” Ogwumike said. “I’m hoping that can happen soon. We want a meaningful share.”
The 30th WNBA season is slated to tip off on May 8.
A previous timeline provided by the league to general managers said that if a deal was reached by March 10—the target date shared with players on Feb. 23—it would still take weeks to ratify.
Under this timeline, the expansion draft would take place between April 1 and 6. Qualifying offers would go out on April 7 and 8, followed by a negotiating period from April 9-11. The free agent signing period would begin on April 12 and extend through April 18, a day before training camp begins.
The college draft is less than a month away on April 13.
