On the eve of Monday’s crucial collective bargaining session in N.Y., Fever G Caitlin Clark called the impending negotiations “one of the biggest moments we’ve ever had” in women’s sports and predicted the two sides will “get something done here in the next couple weeks.” During her debut on NBC’s “Basketball Night in America” pregame show inside MSG Sunday night — where the network showed her defeating NBC analyst Jamal Crawford in a taped mini-game of H-O-R-S-E called N-B-C — Clark stressed that Monday’s meeting is “super important” and then explained why.
“Well, honestly, I don’t think it’s just a big moment for the WNBA; I think [for] all of women’s sports,” she said. “I think this is one of the biggest moments we’ve ever had. So I feel very confident that we’re going to get something done, and that’s because we’re in this moment because of the product we put on the floor. So we need to be able to continue to do that. And I know everybody’s working really hard. I mean there’s a lot of boxes that we still need to check. We’ve added two new teams [in Portland and Toronto]. I mean, there’s going to be more players than ever, and then we have to get into free agency and have a normal draft as well. So there’s a lot of things left to do, but I really do feel confident that both sides are going to reach a deal here soon.”
Monday’s meeting will be the sides’ first full negotiation session of 2026, and sources believe the outcome could lead to either a deal or a player strike — with just 97 days left before the May 8 season openers. Several players in and out of the union’s executive committee have made it a priority to attend, such as Napheesa Collier, Kelsey Plum, Nneka Ogwumike and Breanna Stewart — not to mention WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. The core issue is still revenue sharing and a critical month-old union request for 30% of the pie that has been largely ignored by the league.