WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert\u2019s second declared deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires Monday night.<\/p>\n
Will a new deal be done by then?<\/p>\n
After Sunday\u2019s session, which began at noon, concluded around 3 a.m. ET, Engelbert told<\/a> the on-scene reporter assemblage of ESPN\u2019s Alexa Philippou, Front Office Sports\u2019 Annie Costabile, the AP\u2019s Doug Feinberg and The IX Sports\u2019 Jackie Powell:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got progress for sure. We\u2019re gonna keep going. We\u2019re gonna get this deal done.<\/p>\n Deb Willig, outside counsel for the WNBPA, offered a similar assessment later on Monday, noting that real progress had been achieved and that a term sheet could be agreed to within the next 15 to 20 hours.<\/p>\n However, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson, while agreeing that the sides have made progress, resisted engaging in too much positivity, telling reporters<\/a> before Monday\u2019s session:<\/p>\n There are deadlines, arbitrary ones, that the league has set, and then there\u2019s a season schedule that has its own milestones. Absolutely, we recognize that, and we respect those.<\/p>\n But do we also recognize that these are big-time negotiations, and so there may be a need to adjust? Absolutely. And the players, more importantly, recognize that, understand that, and are prepared for it as they always have been.<\/p>\n The latest round of negotiations began at 2 p.m. ET on Monday, less than 12 hours after Sunday\u2019s session wrapped up. The WNBA and WNBPA have continued to engage in near non-stop negotiations since the passage of the first league-imposed deadline of March 10, exceeding 72 hours of bargaining<\/a>.<\/p>\n Engelbert herself acknowledged that the latest deadline in not absolute, expressing to reporters<\/a>:<\/p>\n Can things move 24 to 48 hours? Sure. But not much more before you start to look at can we open training camp up?<\/p>\n The commissioner declined to indicate whether training camp delays could be announced, only saying<\/a>, \u201cI wish I knew the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n The WNBPA, however, remains committed to achieving a \u201ctransformational\u201d<\/a> CBA, and at the core of that goal is revenue sharing.<\/p>\n Based on the comments of WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike the two sides did not begin to broach this major point of contention until the weekend\u2019s bargaining sessions. Housing policy, another preeminent priority for the players, also moved to the top of the agenda over the weekend. Prior to that, when the two sides had exchanged 15 proposals<\/a>, the focus had been on other issues. As Ogwumike told reporters<\/a> during a break on Saturday:<\/p>\n It\u2019s very important for us to nail those two things down, which is I think the biggest thing on the agenda today. So we want to make sure that we can get that.<\/p>\n On revenue sharing, Ogwumike added<\/a>:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve talked a lot about revenue share, which that\u2019s obviously going to be, I don\u2019t even really like calling it the elephant in the room. Like it\u2019s there, you know, like we\u2019re going to talk about it.<\/p>\n She additionally underscored why an equitable housing policy is essential for the WNBPA, saying<\/a>:<\/p>\n The fact we are here talking about housing shows that we care about every single player\u2014in the same way that we do about revenue share. It\u2019s very important for us to nail those two things down, which is the biggest thing on the agenda today.<\/p>\n On the players\u2019 side, Ogwumike and fellow WNBPA executive committee members Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier were present for all of the the weekend\u2019s meetings. On Sunday, executive committee members Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner, who had departed before the conclusion of Friday\u2019s session, returned to rejoin the proceedings.<\/p>\n Based on the most recent publicly-reported details, the league is firmly holding to a revenue sharing model that would provision 70 percent of net revenue to players. That\u2019s estimated to be less than 15 percent of gross revenue. Players are seeking 26 percent of gross revenue; their original ask was reported to be 40 percent of gross revenue.<\/p>\n Willig, the outside counsel with 50 years of experience with labor negotiations, called the negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA \u201cunusual,\u201d further explaining<\/a>:<\/p>\n I think the why, frankly, is because the league underestimated, seriously, the resolve of the players and what they sought to achieve.<\/p>\n