{"id":398655,"date":"2026-01-09T16:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/398655\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:37:07","slug":"wnba-cba-talks-stalled-ahead-of-friday-deadline-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/398655\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA CBA Talks Stalled Ahead of Friday Deadline. What’s Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCBA<\/a> negotiations between the WNBA<\/a> and its players union could enter a new phase this weekend. While the two sides\u00a0twice<\/a>\u00a0agreed<\/a>\u00a0to extend their negotiating period in the fall, it\u2019s unclear if another temporary extension will come through before the latest deadline set for midnight Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth sides exchanged proposals in December\u2014with a reported divide of roughly $50-75 million in total annual salaries for 2026 between the offered deals\u2014followed by little apparent movement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s still time,\u201d WNBPA<\/a> president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN Thursday. \u201cBut at this point it\u2019s a question of if they\u2019re willing to get a deal done. Because right now, it appears as though the evidence is showing that the league is trying to run out the clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEven without a formal extension, both sides have committed to continue working toward a deal if they feel like progress is being made. In that scenario, the league would enter a \u201cstatus quo\u201d period, operating under existing terms while hammering out new deal points.<\/p>\n

\n\tWNBA players have already authorized their union to initiate a strike, though one isn\u2019t necessarily coming immediately. In the case of a work stoppage\u2014either a\u00a0strike or a lockout<\/a>\u2014the union has already established a network of training facilities players can access during the offseason, it announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n\tWNBPA VP Breanna Stewart said a new deal was not expected by Friday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf they are not going to budge, we\u2019re going to get to this point where we\u2019re going to be at a standoff,\u201d Stewart said during the preseason media day for 3-on-3 league Unrivaled. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of where we\u2019re at right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe most recent proposal from players, according to past reports, would establish a $10.5 million salary cap budget, and grow from there, with athletes collectively receiving around 30% of the league\u2019s gross revenue.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlternatively, the W has proposed sharing a percentage of net revenue after accounting for expenses. Its most recent proposal would see average salaries of more than $530,000, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. Players would also receive money on top of their pre-set salaries if league revenues exceeded projections, the person said.\u00a0The average WNBA salary in 2025 was roughly $120,000.<\/p>\n

\n\tWNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said that the W wants to ensure that team ownership remains a viable business model as the league expands.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur focus remains on reaching an agreement that significantly increases player compensation while ensuring the long-term growth of the business,\u201d a league spokesperson said in a recent statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tWNBPA VP\u2014and Unrivaled co-founder\u2014Napheesa Collier recently said that, if league leadership is unable to find a sustainable model in line with player requests, \u201cthey need to put people in place who can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn another sign of friction, the union profile photo on Instagram as of Friday morning was an hourglass. Time is ticking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the negotiation period continues to drag on, the WNBA\u2019s offseason calendar remains frozen. January was set to host a free-agent frenzy, with most league veterans aligning their contracts to expire in advance of the new CBA. The WNBA also needs to conduct an expansion draft for teams in Portland and Toronto, as well as lock in playing dates at relevant venues. The season has traditionally started in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond money, other issues expected to be hammered out in CBA talks include the length of the season, facility and travel standards, retirement benefits and changes to rookie deals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile there have been close calls in the past\u2014in 2003, then-NBA commissioner David Stern\u00a0threatened<\/a>\u00a0to cancel the W\u2019s season during a labor<\/a> dispute\u2014the W hasn\u2019t lost games to a work stoppage in its 30-year history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CBA negotiations between the WNBA and its players union could enter a new phase this weekend. While the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,4233,1571,82,630,56438],"class_list":{"0":"post-398655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cba","11":"tag-labor","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-wnba","14":"tag-wnbpa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398655","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=398655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}