WNBA, union comply with CBA extension; what’s subsequent in negotiations?

Some 24 hours forward of the expiration of the WNBA’s collective bargaining settlement, the league and the WNBPA agreed to a 30-day extension of the present CBA as the edges work towards a brand new deal.

Greater than a yr in the past, the WNBPA opted out of the CBA, giving the union and the league a couple of yr to create a brand new “transformative” deal that would construct off the large progress the WNBA has skilled over the previous few years.

Tensions between each side escalated in current months, and there was by no means a sign a deal would get carried out earlier than Friday’s deadline.

As not too long ago as Tuesday, WNBPA counsel Erin D. Drake mentioned on The Athletic’s No Offseason podcast {that a} deal by Friday is “not going to occur” and claimed the league has operated with a scarcity of urgency. The league retorted that the union ought to “spend much less time disseminating public misinformation and extra time becoming a member of us in constructive engagement throughout the desk.”

The league had proposed a 30-day extension to the gamers, which a supply advised ESPN on Tuesday they could be keen to contemplate “underneath the suitable circumstances” however they really feel “these circumstances don’t but exist.”

The gamers modified course by the tip of the week, and ESPN confirmed Thursday night that an settlement had been reached to increase the present CBA by way of Nov. 30.

How did we get right here and what occurs subsequent? With lots to determine earlier than the season ideas off in Might, ESPN explores what to anticipate underneath the brand new timeline.

What occurs now that an extension has been reached?

The settlement indicators that each events need to proceed negotiations in hopes of reaching a deal quickly.

Over the last CBA talks in 2019, the WNBPA and WNBA agreed to a 60-day extension earlier than a brand new deal was in the end ratified in January 2020. That point round, although, there wasn’t a serious time crunch as there’s now, needing to slot in a two-team growth draft and large free company interval the place almost all of the league’s veterans are looking for new offers all earlier than the 2026 season would doubtless kick off in Might.

Although each events met a number of instances this week for bargaining forward of Friday’s deadline, it isn’t but clear how typically they may meet in the course of the subsequent 30 days. Sometimes these conferences embrace WNBA and NBA workers, plus their exterior counsel, in addition to WNBPA workers and its exterior counsel, and probably union advisors and participant management.

However … what occurs if there is not any deal on the finish of the 30 days?

One other extension is all the time attainable, though the WNBA has so much to suit into this offseason. And even when the deal expires, a piece stoppage would not routinely comply with.

There does not technically must be an extension for each side to proceed bargaining — as a substitute they’d enter a section referred to as “establishment” the place the working situations of the present CBA would stay in place.

The issue: If there is not an extension, it will open the door for a possible work stoppage, both a strike initiated by the gamers or a lockout initiated by the house owners. Up to now, that is not an awesome concern: Even earlier than the extension was introduced, sources league-wide didn’t imagine a piece stoppage was imminent.

What’s the greatest difficulty retaining the edges aside?

In public feedback, gamers have implied that the 2 sides are successfully talking completely different languages on the bargaining desk, with the main sticking level being what a wage system and income sharing ought to seem like.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver mentioned on the TODAY Present final week that WNBA gamers can anticipate a “large enhance” of their salaries. However the gamers are looking for a wage system that grows with the enterprise (resembling within the NBA, which makes use of Basketball-related Revenue to find out its wage cap) over a hard and fast fee mannequin within the present CBA. The WNBPA mentioned final week that the league has “put lipstick on a pig and retread a system that is not tied to any a part of the enterprise and deliberately undervalues the gamers.”

The league, on its half, has insisted it has supplied an “uncapped income sharing mannequin that’s straight tied to the league’s efficiency.” And it has continued to keep up that it desires to, as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert put it in the course of the WNBA Finals, “balanc[e] the numerous enhance in salaries and advantages with the long-term viability of the league” — and that to this point “the Gamers Affiliation has but to supply a viable financial proposal.”

Entrance Workplace Sports activities reported in early October that the league’s proposal included a supermax wage round $850,000 and the veteran minimal round $300,000, however it’s thought that these figures have modified since then. In 2025 underneath the present CBA, these numbers had been $249,244 and $66,079, respectively.

What different priorities are high of thoughts on the bargaining desk?

The gamers have articulated a number of different priorities courting again to after they opted out of the present CBA in October 2024. Establishing minimal skilled requirements in services and staffing is one, as is, relatedly, codifying the league’s constitution journey program that was launched originally of the 2024 season.

Increasing retirement and being pregnant/household planning advantages have additionally been on the forefront of gamers’ minds. After 40-plus gamers met with the league forward of All-Star weekend in late July, Breanna Stewart, a vp with the WNBPA, mentioned that the one two bullet factors each side had agreed on at the moment needed to do with these matters.

Prioritization, a algorithm that requires WNBA gamers competing in different leagues to indicate up in time for WNBA coaching camp or else be suspended for all the season, turned a controversial subject after it was launched within the final CBA. Nevertheless it’s unlikely house owners would need to loosen these guidelines, particularly amid anticipated wage will increase within the W.

Gamers have additionally expressed a want to weaken or abolish totally the “core” system, akin to the NFL’s franchise tag, which was already largely decreased within the final CBA.

What about this condensed offseason schedule — what must occur this WNBA offseason earlier than the season can begin?

Loads, beginning with an growth draft for the growth Portland Fireplace and Toronto Tempo, which might’t occur till new roster guidelines are finalized as a part of the CBA negotiations. As soon as that is concluded, free company provides unprecedented uncertainty with almost half of the league’s gamers unrestricted.

The scenario may be very completely different from the one earlier CBA negotiations that dragged nicely into the spring, again in 2003. That CBA launched free company for the primary time, and just for a restricted variety of gamers, which means the league may go from preliminary settlement with gamers on a deal April 18 to coaching camp beginning two weeks afterward Might 1 — with each the WNBA draft and a dispersal draft in between.

We did see the NBA go from a preliminary settlement to finish its 2011 lockout on Nov. 26 to coaching camps starting Dec. 9, lower than two weeks later, however the league was in a position to maintain free company on the identical time. That is not reasonable given the scope of WNBA free company, and the CBA stands the possibility to overtake the wage cap extra dramatically than we have seen from one NBA deal to the following.

Because of this, about three weeks is the quickest the WNBA may realistically hope to go from settlement on a deal to holding practices. Ideally, in fact, the league desires progress towards an settlement by early January so as to keep away from delaying the standard offseason schedule too considerably. That is particularly vital for the Fireplace and Tempo, who may stand to advertise their inaugural season by having precise gamers on their roster.