WNBA Negotiations: No Agreement After Intense Day
NEW YORK – After an extensive 12-hour negotiation session, which extended from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, the WNBA and its players’ union failed to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. The conversations took place on the deadline set by the league last month, with the aim of finalizing an agreement to avoid any impact on the 2026 calendar. Another meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.The executive director of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, Terri Jackson, told the media that Tuesday’s session included “a lot of conversation in the right direction.”
Terri Jackson
The meeting, which began at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, was held in person at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan, considered a neutral location for both parties. In addition to league staff and the WNBPA, four of the seven members of the WNBPA’s executive committee were present: President Nneka Ogwumike, Vice Presidents Breanna Stewart and Alysha Clark, and Treasurer Brianna Turner. The league was represented by Engelbert, the league’s chief operating officer, Bethany Donaphin, and the owner of the New York Liberty, Clara Wu Tsai, among others. The players left the meeting shortly before 3 a.m. as negotiations between league staff and the union continued. The players declined to comment on the talks. The union and the league concluded discussions about two hours later. Engelbert spoke briefly with the journalists but did not accept questions, stating that both parties are working hard to secure a mutually beneficial agreement. He described the conversations as “complex” and “complicated”, and the search for a transformative agreement as “really important for the future not only of the league, but of women’s sports”. When asked if there were any indications that an agreement could be reached in the coming days, Jackson replied that “conversations are ongoing, and they need to be.”WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert added that “we are working hard… and we still have work to do”.
Cathy Engelbert
Engelbert declined to say how much flexibility the league had around its “deadline” of March 10, adding that “we have to close this deal. We have to do it soon.” The training camp is scheduled to begin on April 19, with the WNBA draft scheduled for April 13. The league must also conduct an expansion draft of two teams and free agency for more than 100 players before the start of the season, currently scheduled for May 8. The two sides have been very far apart mainly regarding revenue sharing, with other important issues such as housing provided by the team, the adjustment of the main designation, and benefits for retired players. The WNBA has proposed that players receive on average more than 70% of net revenue (revenue after deducting expenses). Their proposal included a salary cap of $5.75 million in 2026 (compared to $1.5 million in 2026) which in subsequent years would grow in line with revenue growth. The league’s proposals have presented maximum salaries, including revenue sharing payments, which amount to almost $1.3 million in 2026 and are projected to approach $2 million in 2031. The supermaximum in 2025 was $249,000. The average salary of the players, including revenue sharing, was projected to reach $540,000 in 2026 and $780,000 in 2031, compared to $120,000 in 2025. In their previous proposal, the players’ union requested that the players receive 26% of gross revenue (revenue before expenses) during the term of the agreement, with the salary cap in the first year of the agreement at approximately $9.5 million. The union has rejected the league’s proposal to increase less than 15% of gross revenue, while the WNBA has called the union’s proposals “unrealistic” and stated that they would result in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.“Every meeting is a positive meeting,” Jackson said. “Seriously, every meeting is a positive meeting. The fact that we schedule meetings, that we offer dates to schedule meetings, that we actually meet, we enter the room. I think that’s positive. It’s taking the time it’s taking. But, you know, that’s what needs to be.”
Terri Jackson
