Ever since the WNBA announced it was expanding to Toronto in May 2024, an anvil has loomed over the franchise.
In recent weeks, the shadow of the anvil — written in legalese and held by lawyers, negotiators and business types — has grown larger and larger.
By Tuesday, if the league and its players cannot come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, it will finally drop, crushing the Tempo’s plans for a home opener on May 8 against the Washington Mystics at Coca-Cola Coliseum in downtown Toronto.
The league has circled March 10 as the drop-dead date by which a new CBA must be reached.
Otherwise, the season itself will be affected.
The steady drip of Tempo momentum has already been stalled out alongside those talks. But any delays to the actual games would provide increasingly crushing blows.
Here’s where things stand with just over two months before the Tempo’s scheduled opener:
Wait, they scheduled games without a guarantee they would be played?
Indeed, they did. The Tempo have two pre-season games on April 29 against the Connecticut Sun — technically the franchise’s first-ever contest, set to be played at home — and May 1 against the Minnesota Lynx.
Then, the regular 44-game season begins one week later, when the Tempo are slated host the Mystics.
Other dates to circle are May 23, when the Tempo face their expansion-sibling Portland Fire for the first time, and July 20, when the champion Las Vegas Aces visit. Then there’s the Aug. 18 game, when Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark comes to Toronto for the first time.
All of that, of course, in theory.
So what’s the holdup?
In simple terms: money.
The WNBA signed an 11-year media rights agreement, set to kick in for this season, worth $2.2 billion US over the life of the deal. The sum reportedly represents six times what the league was making on its previous TV contract.
Knowing the previous CBA would expire when the deal was set to kick in, more than 80 per cent of players timed their contracts to end this off-season.
For the Tempo, that’s a double-edged sword — yes, there is CBA uncertainty, but there’s also a historic number of top players available that could turn the team into an instant playoff contender.
How are negotiations going?
If that wasn’t obvious enough by the fact that it’s March and nothing’s been agreed to yet, then take in the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association’s statement from Wednesday, in which it said the league’s latest offer is “not worth taking.”
“In every CBA negotiation, the goal of the league and teams is to divide the players,” the statement read. “These negotiations are no different. We remain united and focused on delivering a transformational CBA for all members of this union and are committed to negotiating for as long as it takes.
Meanwhile, top players and executive committee members Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum have seemingly begun to lose trust in their representation, “expressing serious concern” about executive director Terri Jackson in a statement obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.
What do the players want?
A slice of the pie.
With league income soaring, players are pushing for a revenue-sharing system, which the league included in its latest offer on Sunday. The players started their ask at 40 per cent of gross revenue but have since come down to 26 per cent over the life of the agreement. The league’s offer equates to less than 15 per cent of gross revenue, per the WNBPA.
The union has offered a Year 1 salary cap of $9.5 million — way up from the 2025’s cap of $1.507 million.
Housing is also a key issue. Since the league’s first CBA in 1999, the league has required teams to provide housing for all players, who can either take the accommodations or a monthly stipend.
Now, the league argues that salaries are high enough for players to find their own housing.
What is the league offering?
The league’s latest offer included a $5.75 million salary cap, growing to $8.5 million by the sixth year of the deal.
Maximum salaries would increase by more than $1 million, with rising stars like Clark and Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings eligible to reach that threshold earlier.
Housing would be provided to rookies and those on minimum salary or developmental contracts.
Is there any chance the sides meet the March 10 deadline?
Given everything, it’s looking unlikely. But deadlines spur action, as the saying goes.
Humour me: what happens if they do get a deal done in time?
The off-season would dive right into hyper-speed.
The expansion draft — another CBA item — for the Tempo and Fire would take place in the first week of April. Qualifying offers for free agents and franchise tags would come in the immediate days to follow.
Free agency would run from April 12-18. The entry draft is scheduled for April 13. Training camps would open April 19.
Professional women’s basketball in Toronto would go from zero to 100, real quick.
As currently constructed, the team has a general manager, Monica Wright Rogers, and head coach, two-time champion Sandy Brondello. It has worked throughout the off-season under president Teresa Resch to build out the rest of the staff from marketing to communications to equipment managers to assistant coaches.
There’s just the simple matter of, you know, adding some players to the roster. The Tempo will have either the sixth or seventh pick in the entry draft, but they may not use the expansion draft much given the swaths of players on the free-agent market.
OK, now the flip side. What if March 10 passes without a deal?
It would be more of the same from this entire off-season, one would imagine.
Players and the league would continue to fight their battles both in private and public.
Unrivaled, the off-season 3-on-3 outfit, ended Wednesday, but March Madness is coming to scratch the women’s basketball itch. Also, Canada’s women’s basketball team plays a World Cup qualifier in Turkey beginning March 11, with a roster including WNBAers Kia Nurse, Bridget Carleton and Aaliyah Edwards.
But if May comes around without an agreement, the absence of the WNBA would certainly be felt.
And in Canada, fans who have long waited for the league to come to north of the border may just have to sit on their hands a little longer.
After all, the Tempo will play basketball. Eventually.
