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The WNBA and the players’ union will meet Monday in New York for the first time in several weeks to try to move the stalled collective bargaining negotiations forward.
Kelsey Plum, who is vice president of the players union, mentioned the meeting to reporters while she was preparing for a game in Philadelphia with the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled.
“I think we’ll learn a lot from this meeting. I’m not trying to put it on the meeting, but this is a meeting that I think everyone understands what’s at stake,” Plum said. “The league has their timelines; we as players understand what’s at stake. I always come into anything that I do with a great attitude, and I’m going to see the best in this.”
Plum will be joined at the meeting by other members of the executive council, including Nneka Ogwumike and Napheesa Collier, as well as union leadership.
The league will have its regular negotiating team, including WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, the labour relations committee and a few other owners, according to a person familiar with the situation.
After the WNBA and player union failed to agree on a new CBA by their Jan. 9th deadline, a moratorium has been placed on free agency. Less than four months from the start of the 2026 season, could a lockout be on the horizon?
The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
The person said the league had been asking for the meeting for a few weeks and it was agreed upon by the union Thursday.
Players said Thursday at Unrivaled that union leadership had been coming to chat with them frequently, including this week.
Talks to reach a new CBA haven’t had much traction over the last few weeks as the union says it is waiting for a response to a proposal it sent around Christmas that included a 30 per cent gross revenue share for the players. According to another person familiar with the negotiations, the league didn’t feel that proposal was much different then the previous one that the union had sent.
That person spoke on condition of anonymity also because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
In an exclusive interview with CBC Sports, the Toronto Tempo’s new head coach talks about how CBA negotiations are impacting the teams recruiting plans for its inaugural season, her mentality less than four months out from tip-off, and her excitement to be a part of the Toronto sports scene.
The league’s most recent offer last month would guarantee a maximum base salary of $1 million US in 2026 that could reach $1.3 million through revenue sharing. That’s up from the current $249,000 and could grow to nearly $2 million over the life of the agreement, the person told the AP.
The two sides have been in a “status quo” period after the latest extension of the current CBA ran out on Jan. 9. They agreed to a moratorium a few days later that halted the initial stages of free agency in which teams would seek to deliver qualifying offers and franchise tag designations to players.
If a new CBA isn’t agreed upon soon, it could delay the start of the 2026 season. It’s already delayed the expansion draft for Toronto and Portland. The league did release its schedule last week with the regular season set to begin May 8.
The last CBA was announced in the middle of January 2020, a month after it had been agreed to. It could easily take two months from when a new CBA is reached to get to the start of free agency, which was supposed to begin Sunday.
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