The WNBA, which has been in pain in the process of agreeing a new labor-management agreement, has avoided the worst.
Citing the announcement of the league secretariat on the 1st (Korea Standard Time), local media such as “ESPN” reported that both labor and management have extended the deadline for labor-management collective bargaining (CBA) negotiations by 40 days.
As a result, the two sides will be able to continue negotiations until January 9 local time. The agreement included a clause that allows both sides to break the deadline extension. In case of destruction, it should be notified 48 hours in advance.
사진 확대 The WNBA is in pain during the labor-management agreement process. 사진=ⓒAFPBBNews = News1
The WNBA was struggling with a new CBA agreement. Originally, October 31st was the deadline, but it was extended by 30 days.
And as the agreement has not been reached until now, 30 days later, the deadline has been extended once again. The two sides disagreed, with the players’ union proposing a six-week extension and the league secretariat proposing a 21-day extension, but eventually agreed to an extension of 40 days.
The league secretariat said, “The WNBA and WNBA players’ union will continue their efforts to reach a new agreement.”
WNBA labor and management have been in a tug-of-war over salary and compensation-related issues such as salary structure and revenue sharing system.
In the meantime, WNBA players have been running for a very small amount of money. The minimum salary was $66,079 and the supermax contract as of the 2025 season was only $249,244.
According to previous reports by local media such as ‘AP’, the WNBA Secretariat proposed a salary increase of more than $220,000 and a maximum salary of more than $1.1 million, but the players did not agree.
The WNBA players’ union rejected the proposal on the grounds that salary caps and player salaries are not a structure in which salary caps are expanded according to basketball-related income like the NBA. It is known that players do not want a fixed annual increase rate of 3% in the CBA.
Currently, the CBA also includes a separate revenue allocation clause that pays players if the league meets certain revenue targets, but it has not yet achieved this goal due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WNBA union has continued negotiations by exchanging proposals with the management. The players’ union is calling for the introduction of minimum professional standards in club facilities, legalization of charter flights when traveling away, and expansion of benefits related to retirement and pregnancy/family planning.
The WNBA said it plans to significantly increase player salaries and other cost burdens while encouraging owners to continue investing in their business operations. The WNBA has recently shown rapid growth and is looking at an opportunity to move away from deficit operations and continue to make a profit.
[KIM JAE HO, MK Sports Reporter]