The WNBA and the Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association are extremely unlikely to reach a new collective bargaining agreement by Friday\u2019s deadline, according to the players\u2019 union legal counsel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d Erin D. Drake, senior advisor and legal counsel for the WNBPA, told The Athletic in Tuesday\u2019s episode of the \u201cNo Offseason\u201d podcast<\/a>. \u201cIn a dance, it takes two to tango. And it has been difficult to find a beat, to find a rhythm and to find the same sense of urgency (from the league), just to be frank, to get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n The two sides will continue to meet this week, but they remain widely divided on the wedge issue of revenue sharing and how that framework would impact player salaries. In a statement Tuesday, a WNBA spokesperson said the league submitted a proposal to the players on Oct. 1. The proposal, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiation, included a maximum salary of $850,000.<\/p>\n The league spokesperson said the players\u2019 union responded to the WNBA proposal on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been negotiating with the Players Association in good faith and with urgency for several months with the goal of finalizing a new collective bargaining agreement as quickly as possible,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement to The Athletic. \u201cThroughout this process, we have been clear that our top priority is reaching a new collective bargaining agreement that addresses players\u2019 ask for significant increases in pay, benefits and enhancements to their experience, while ensuring the long-term growth and success of the league and its teams.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge the Players Association to spend less time disseminating public misinformation and more time joining us in constructive engagement across the table.\u201d<\/p>\n The WNBPA has remained steadfast in its demands to rework the WNBA\u2019s current system. It has proposed a salary framework tied to the WNBA business, in which player salaries are linked to a percentage of the revenue generated by the league. The WNBA, meanwhile, has proposed a revenue-sharing system similar in structure to what is currently in their CBA, in which there is a fixed salary cap and additional revenue sharing, but only if league revenue exceeds certain targets.<\/p>\n Both proposals would result in significant salary increases, but players are focused on changing the underlying system behind any jumps.<\/p>\n \u201cThe players are so stalwart in their commitment to having a transformational CBA, and it\u2019s our job to get it done,\u201d Drake said.<\/p>\n \u201cLabor peace is where we want to be, but we\u2019re not going to get there by being taken advantage of. The players aren\u2019t going to get there by hearing, \u2018maybe next time, again,\u2019\u201d she added. \u201cThe time is now, and we\u2019re willing to do what needs to be done to get there and move back into the zone where we can really put on an amazing product and have people feel that their value is being reflected in the way that they are paid and the money that they\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n As they work through negotiation in private, the two sides have also traded public barbs.<\/p>\n Last week, WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson rebuked<\/a> NBA commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s framing<\/a> of players\u2019 financial demands. (WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert reports to Silver.) Jackson said that the league \u201cresponded with bad math\u201d and that \u201cthe league\u2019s response has been to run out the clock, put lipstick on a pig and retread a system that isn\u2019t tied to any part of the business and intentionally undervalues the players.\u201d<\/p>\n The league, via spokesperson, disputed that characterization last week.<\/p>\n The statement from the league, in part, said: \u201cThe Players Association has yet to offer a viable economic proposal and has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on many of our proposal terms. We stand ready to continue negotiating in good faith and hope they will do the same so that we can finalize a mutually beneficial new CBA as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n The WNBPA and WNBA could agree to an extension, which would postpone the deadline. (Engelbert has acknowledged that possibility multiple times.) Additionally, they could let the agreement expire and enter into a status quo period. It is also possible that if the agreement expires and no extension is reached, either side could announce intentions to enter a work stoppage, with the owners possibly locking out the players or the players going on strike.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still going to be negotiating until we get this negotiation done,\u201d Drake said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t know how long that is going to take, unfortunately.<\/p>\n \u201cI pray, I believe in miracles. I\u2019m not hopeful that (agreeing to a deal by Friday) is going to come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA and the Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association are extremely unlikely to reach a new collective bargaining…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":339304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,222,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-339303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-sports-business","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115454053369132229","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}