{"id":393291,"date":"2026-01-07T06:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/393291\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T06:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:03:10","slug":"the-wnba-is-getting-perilously-close-to-a-lockout-or-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/393291\/","title":{"rendered":"The WNBA is getting perilously close to a lockout or strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

The current deadline for the WNBA and its players to agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is Jan. 9, just days away. Coincidentally, the new season of Unrivaled<\/a>, the 3-on-3 women\u2019s basketball league created by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, launched on Monday<\/a>. While the excitement of Unrivaled was definitely at the forefront of a lot of press happening this week, there have also been questions about the state of CBA negotiations peppered into videos.<\/p>\n

As Unrivaled co-founder, Collier has been taking on a big share of the media responsibilities. It was announced on New Year\u2019s Day that Collier would be sitting out of the Unrivaled season<\/a> to get double ankle surgery, with her recovery estimated to be 4-5 months long. She will be rehabbing and recovering at the Unrivaled facilities in Miami, she told the media during opening weekend. Sitting out the season means she is taking on more of an ambassador role, and as someone who has already been vocal about the ongoing negotiations between the WNBPA (players\u2019 union) and the league, she\u2019s been a great resource for fans to understand what is going on from the players\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

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During Monday\u2019s opening night of Unrivaled action, Collier joined the broadcast to talk about the new season, as well as negotiations. She addressed reports that the WNBA claimed the WNBPA\u2019s proposals were unsustainable from a business perspective, saying, \u201cBeing on this side of Unrivaled, I know what it takes to run a sustainable business. So I think that if they can\u2019t find a model that makes that happen, they need to put people in place who can.\u201d<\/p>\n

ESPN reported last week that the WNBA projected about $700 million in losses<\/a> should they accept the WNBPA\u2019s latest proposal. They went on to say that such losses would \u201cjeopardize the league\u2019s financial health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collier went on to say on the broadcast that Unrivaled has been able to prove that more is possible when it comes to investing in women\u2019s sports. Unrivaled was able to offer a higher average salary in year one than the WNBA was offering. Maybe one of the biggest stories of the summer was when Paige Bueckers signed onto Unrivaled, set to make more money in 10 weeks of play in Miami than her entire rookie contract in WNBA.<\/p>\n

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In that same ESPN update, published on Dec. 31, Alexa Philippou reported that the sides remained far apart on several negotiation points. On Jan. 2, ESPN reported<\/a> that \u201call signs point to\u201d a deal NOT being reached by Jan. 9, leading to either another extension, a work stoppage, or entering into a \u2018status quo\u2019 state. The players\u2019 union has already voted to authorize a strike if necessary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Collier did mention on the Unrivaled broadcast that she did think a deal would eventually get done. \u201cWe are standing firm in what we believe in. We are not going to back down, and we can\u2019t take less,\u201d she said. She went on to say that backing down would be a disservice to all those who came before them.<\/p>\n

With many WNBA players now down in Miami for Unrivaled, it has become an offseason hub of sorts. Last season, Unrivaled became base camp for free agency meetings and discussions. This year, it seems like it\u2019s becoming a satellite office for CBA negotiations.<\/p>\n

Unrivaled may also be the only chance fans get this year to see these players on the court, as the lack of alignment in CBA negotiations threatens to postpone, shorten or even cancel the 2026 WNBA season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The current deadline for the WNBA and its players to agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4657,49,48,9963,729,3425,4658,12249,82,4646,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-393291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-breanna-stewart","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-collective-bargaining-agreement","12":"tag-napheesa-collier","13":"tag-negotiations","14":"tag-paige-bueckers","15":"tag-players-union","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-unrivaled","18":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393291","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=393291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}