The Current State of WNBA Negotiations As Proposed CBA Deadline Comes and Goes

Where do things stand after a weekend of movement on both sides? Let’s take a look.

A CBA must be agreed upon soon if both sides hope to avoid a lockout. | Steph Chambers/Getty Images

We are just under two months out from the start of the WNBA regular season and still without a collective bargaining agreement between league management and the players' union. At this point, both sides have been arguing for months, and it’s hard to know exactly how close they are to ironing out a contract.

On Tuesday night, both camps met for a marathon 12-hour meeting that, from the outside, looked like a last-ditch effort to reach a deal before the previously proposed deadline of March 10 came and went. The evening ended with no deal, but WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson said afterward that the session featured "a lot of conversation going in the right direction."

Here’s a look at where things stand as of Wednesday morning:

Wait, what is this “deadline”?

Back in February, WNBA leadership identified March 10 as the deadline by which CBA terms must be agreed upon to avoid changes to the 2026 schedule.

That date has now come and gone ... so are calendar changes imminent? We don't yet know. Per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, who has reported closely on the negotiations, March 10 was initially described as more of a “target date” than a hard-and-fast deadline. The move was also likely intended to put pressure on both sides, seeing as a new deal could still take weeks to be ratified.

“I wasn’t shocked by them setting a date,” one general manager told ESPN's Michael Voepel. “I will say I was surprised [that] it was the first time they had used the timeline as a negotiation tactic. It’s like, what? You’re doing this in late February? We have been doing the reverse engineering math internally and thought [the date] would be way sooner. Like 10 days to a week earlier around [NBA] All-Star. We thought there was no way we could squeeze everything in in this timeline.

“For anyone to say they were surprised there was a date set, what do you mean? There are two teams without rosters. What are you thinking?”

A CBA isn’t the only outstanding action item to wrap up before the season can begin. In addition to the expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire—the two teams to which the GM is alluding—the league must also still conduct a college draft (currently scheduled for April 13) and hold a free agency period for over 100 players.

“Whatever we have to do to get to a season, I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s do it,’” one GM added. “Even if nobody sleeps for like a month.”

Are talks close?

It is hard to know from the outside. But there has been movement as of late.

On March 1, the league countered the WNBPA’s most recent proposal with what executive committee member and Sparks guard Kelsey Plum described as a “significant win.”

The union then countered that offer on Friday, March 6, before the league replied again on Saturday, March 7. That means the ball is currently in the union’s court.

At Tuesday night's meeting, talks began around 5 p.m. ET and were held in-person at a hotel in midtown Manhattan, per Philippou. Attendees included league and WNBPA staff, as well as four of the seven WNBPA executive committee members: president Nneka Ogwumike, treasurer Brianna Turner, vice president Breanna Stewart and vice president Alysha Clark.

Players left the session around 3 a.m. (and declined to take questions from reporters waiting outside), while the union staff and the league continued discussions for an additional two hours after that. No deal was reached.

When the night finally concluded, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert described the negotiations as "complex," but noted that both sides were doing what they could to come to a deal.

“It’s complex,” she said, per Front Office Sports's Annie Costabile. “We’re working towards a win-win deal like we’ve been saying, a transformational deal for these players that balances all the things we’ve been trying to balance with continued investment by our owners, et cetera. So we’re working hard towards that, and we still have work to do.” 

"Every meeting is a positive meeting," added Jackson, the union's executive director. "Seriously, every meeting is a positive meeting. The fact that we scheduled meetings, that we offer dates to schedule meetings that we actually get together, get in the room. I think that's positive. It's taking as long as it's taking. But you know, that's what it needs to be."

What are players saying?

Throughout the process, players have been eager to reach a deal and avoid a lockout, but have held fast on the issues that matter most to them. They have also expressed interest in holding the type of marathon meeting that happened on Tuesday.

“I don’t understand why we don’t just get in a room and iron it out and shake hands,” Fever guard Caitlin Clark, in Miami for a Team USA practice, told reporters on Saturday. “That’s how business is. You look each other in the eye, you shake hands, you respect both sides. For me, that's what I would love to see.”

Added Liberty star and union vice president Breanna Stewart: “I think that would be great for us all to sit in a room until we really get it done. If that means sitting in there for hours and hours at a time, let’s do it. That’s for the better of the player. While a situation like that has never happened before, there‘s a first time for everything.”

“We want the deal to be done. We want to have the season,” Stewart continued. “We just need to find the right numbers that reflect it.”

Moreover, players are eager to avoid a lockout, which could be what happens if a deal is not reached.

“I want to play, and players want to play. Obviously we’re going to continue to negotiate and do everything we possibly can to get this done in a timely fashion. But obviously a strike would be the worst thing for both sides,” Kelsey Plum said in early March, "because we are in a revenue [sharing system], so no revenue, no revenue to share."

In Decemer, the WNBPA player body authorized the union's executive committee (which includes both Plum and Stewart) to authorize a strike when necessary.

So what happens if/when a deal is reached?

O.K., let’s say both sides do agree to CBA terms—at this point, shortly after the previous March 10 deadline. In that case, a deal would likely be signed by the end of the month, with the expansion draft for the new franchises to be held sometime around April 1–6, ESPN recently reported, according to a timetable obtained by The Associated Press.

Free agent offers would then go out on April 7 and 8, with a signing period from April 12–18. Training camps would open the day after that, and the season could proceed as expected come May 8.

On Tuesday night, commissioner Engelbert declined to detail how much wiggle room the league actually has beyond the March 10 “deadline,” but added that “we’ve got to get this deal done. We’ve got to get it done soon.”

What issues are at the heart of negotiations?

Revenue sharing is the key sticking point between both camps. In its late February proposal, the union reportedly asked for 26% of gross revenue for players; the league, meanwhile, has been countering with an offer of 70% of net revenue. Numbers from the most recent offers, however, have not been made public.

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