{"id":256365,"date":"2025-11-02T08:55:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T08:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256365\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T08:55:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T08:55:21","slug":"wnba-wnbpa-extension-shows-hope-to-reach-cba-deal-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256365\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA-WNBPA extension shows hope to reach CBA deal soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WNBA and WNBPA agreeing to a 30-day extension<\/a> of its CBA as a new deal is being discussed \u201csignals that both parties want to continue negotiations in hopes of reaching a deal soon,\u201d according to Philippou & Pelton of ESPN.com. Though both sides \u201cmet multiple times this week\u201d for bargaining ahead of Friday\u2019s deadline, it is \u201cnot yet clear how often they will meet during the next 30 days.\u201d If there is no deal at the end of the extended deadline, another extension is \u201calways possible, although the WNBA has a lot to fit into this offseason.\u201d And even if the deal expires, a \u201cwork stoppage would\u202fnot\u202fautomatically follow.\u201d There does not \u201ctechnically need to be an extension for both sides to continue bargaining\u201d — instead they would \u201center a phase called \u2018status quo\u2019 in which the working conditions of the current CBA would remain in place.\u201d Before next season can start, an expansion draft for the debuting Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo would need to occur. But that cannot happen \u201cuntil new roster rules are finalized as part of the CBA negotiations.\u201d Once that is concluded, free agency \u201coffers unprecedented uncertainty with nearly half of the league\u2019s players unrestricted.\u201d Around three weeks is the \u201cfastest the WNBA could realistically hope to go from agreement on a deal to holding practices\u201d (ESPN.com, 10\/30<\/a>).<\/p>\n

FORK IN THE ROAD: The AP\u2019s Doug Feinberg reported had an extension not been reached by Friday, the sides \u201cwould have had three options: let things continue as is, have the players go on strike or the owners lock them out.\u201d A strike or lockout did not \u201creally make sense for either side to do\u201d (AP, 10\/30<\/a>). THE ATHLETIC\u2019s Ben Pickman cited sources as saying that in preparation for the Oct. 31 deadline earlier in the week, the league \u201cmet virtually with team front-office personnel to discuss the\u202flogistics of a possible work stoppage.\u201d The call was for \u201cdue diligence and not made with the expectation of a lockout or strike.\u201d A league spokesperson said that the WNBPA \u201cresponded to a league proposal on Monday\u201d while a source said that the WNBA \u201cresponded with a counterproposal on Wednesday morning\u201d (THE ATHLETIC, 10\/30<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A LOOK BACK: In Boston, Julian Benbow noted the sides needed two extensions to get the deal done in 2020. There was a 60-day extension in October 2019, then another three-week extension in December,\u202fbefore reaching the deal in January 2020. A work stoppage would be a first in WNBA history. Benbow noted the \u201cclosest call\u201d came in 2003, when negotiations lasted until April. The draft was delayed by a week, but the season started on schedule (BOSTON GLOBE, 10\/30<\/a>).<\/p>\n

FOCUSED ON THE MAIN THING: BLOOMBERG NEWS\u2019 Jason Kelly wrote \u201csome of the league\u2019s closest watchers say a lockout or walkout appears unlikely.\u201d ESPN\u2019s Chiney Ogwumike, at the USC Next Level Sports conference in L.A. last week, said, \u201cOne thing I do know for sure is that everyone wants to keep the product on the floor.\u201d She added, \u201cRight now, it\u2019s crunch time and hopefully all parties — which I believe they are — are working toward reconciliation and moving forward because this is the momentum that women\u2019s sports have been dreaming of\u201d (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10\/30<\/a>). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA and WNBPA agreeing to a 30-day extension of its CBA as a new deal is being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[461,49,48,82,630,4143],"class_list":["post-256365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-basketball","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-womens-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}