As the days inch closer to the WNBA's recently suggested March 10 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) deadline, it's becoming increasingly clear that the league and the WNBPA are still at a near total impasse over a key issue.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Liberty star Breanna Stewart stated the obvious: the two sides cannot come to an agreement about revenue sharing. "The PA is asking for gross and the league, the WNBA, is asking to deal in an SBI, which is a shared basketball income, where you negotiate how much money goes into that pot and that’s shared to players," Stewart said. "That’s the sticking point, that’s the part where any time we get to those conversations, we never are on the same side."
The update is more of what fans have already heard
The news isn't surprising, but it's also not particularly encouraging. Though several WNBA players have insisted the season will start on time and that players want to play basketball this year, it's difficult to discern when this key disagreement will end. The player's union recently offered 27.5% of the WNBA's gross revenue (money before expenses) throughout the lifetime of a new agreement. The union previously asked for 30%.
The league still insisted the 27.5% would end up costing the WNBA millions of dollars. Source with knowledge of the WNBA's most recent proposal previously told High Post Hoops the league has offered an uncapped revenue-sharing system tied to both league and team revenue, a salary cap that grows with league and team revenue growth, an average player salary of more than $535,000 in the first year that would grow to more than $775,000 in 2031, and a maximum salary of nearly $1.3 million in the first year that would grow to nearly $2 million in 2031.
The WNBA's March 10 deadline could set a lot in motion
If the WNBA and WNBPA come to a new agreement by March 10, the league will be able to swiftly resume business as usual. This will include hosting expansion drafts for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire between April 1 and 6 (though not on dates that will interfer with the NCAA Final Four tournament in Phoenix, set for April 3 and 5), a period of free agency that would begin April 7 and end by April 18, training camp for all WNBA teams on April 19. The WNBA Draft will be held on April 13.