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Alexa Filippo
The WNBA has offered players a 30-day extension to continue negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
The extension would give both sides more time to work toward a new deal before the current CBA expires on Friday, although even if one is not implemented, both sides can continue to negotiate in good faith. The two sides agreed to a 60-day extension during the last round of CBA talks in 2019 before the new deal was signed in January 2020.
If an extension is not made it could open the door to a possible work stoppage, either a strike initiated by the players or a lockout initiated by the owners. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert admitted during the WNBA Finals that although she expected both sides to meet the October 31 deadline, “we have extended deadlines in the past.”
A source said the players might be willing to consider an extension “under the right circumstances”, but felt “those circumstances don’t exist right now.”
WNBPA senior advisor and legal counsel Erin D. Drake recently said on The Athletic’s “No Offseason” podcast that there will be no new agreement in place until Friday.
“We’ve worked hard to be able to say on Friday that we did it. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen,” Drake said in the podcast episode airing Tuesday. “It takes two people to dance, it takes two people to tango. And it’s been hard to find a beat, to find a rhythm and to find the same sense of urgency [from the league]To put it bluntly, to get it done.”
The WNBA countered that claim in a statement to ESPN, saying the league’s most recent offer was made on Oct. 1 and the WNBPA responded on Monday.
A WNBA spokesperson said, “We have been negotiating in good faith and urgency with the Players Association for several months with the goal of finalizing a new collective bargaining agreement as quickly as possible.” “Throughout this process, we have been clear that our top priority is to reach a new collective bargaining agreement that addresses the players’ demands for significant increases in wages, benefits and enhanced experience while ensuring the long-term growth and success of the league and its teams.
“We urge the Players Association to spend less time spreading public misinformation and more time in constructive partnership with us at the table.”
The public dispute between the WNBA and WNBPA has escalated in recent weeks as Friday’s deadline approaches. Last week, both sides issued a flurry of statements following NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s comments on the “Today Show” that WNBA players would get a “big increase” in pay, while pointing to “absolute numbers” as a way to measure that increase as opposed to a share of revenue. The main issue in the talks has been how to set a model for salaries and revenue distribution.
The league has stated that “The Players Association has not yet presented a viable economic proposal and has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on many of the terms of our proposal,” and that it has offered an uncapped revenue sharing model that is directly tied to league performance.
The union has refuted those claims, saying the league “has run out of time, put lipstick on a pig and reimposed a system that is not tied to any part of the business and deliberately undervalues players. The fact that the league now wants to call any part of its proposal ‘uncapped’ is why its leadership, transparency and accountability are being challenged right now.”
