WNBA commissioner sets deadline for collective bargaining completion

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert acknowledged progress in ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players union but also outlined a deadline she hopes a deal can be reached by.

Engelbert said the timeline is aimed at avoiding disruption to the league’s spring schedule as training camp and preseason games approach.

“We have to get it done by Monday. I should say, we have to get it done without disrupting some part of the fact that we’ve got to run this two-team expansion [draft],” Engelbert said. 

“We’ve got to get expansion going. We’ve got to get free agency going. We’ve got to get the college draft, which is now a month from today.”

Training camp is scheduled to start on April 19, followed by the start of preseason action April 25.

Negotiations have reportedly stretched for hours each day over the past several days.

Women’s National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Terri Carmichael Jackson and Engelbert both acknowledged positive steps in recent days, particularly on ancillary issues.

However, Engelbert noted that both sides “still have a lot of items to get done.”

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Jackson struck a cautiously optimistic tone. 

“I think the league, and particularly the commissioner and her team, have heard that transformational remains the goal,” Jackson told reporters. “As long as movement keeps us going in a forward direction, then I think we’re good.”

The two parties have yet to reach an agreement on a new revenue-sharing system.

Different proposals on systems for player salaries have been floated by the league and the union. The WNBA’s proposal calls for players to earn an average of more than 70% of net revenue, while the union’s most recent proposal seeks 26% of gross revenue over the life of the agreement, according to ESPN.

The union reportedly balked at a previous league proposal that called for players to receive less than 15% of gross revenue. The league argued that some of the union’s proposals could result in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Napheesa Collier, the WNBPA vice president, joined the in-person bargaining Friday evening. Other executive committee members, Brianna Turner and Alysha Clark, were present earlier in the week.

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