WNBA says new deal needed by March 10 to avoid delay to season
NEW YORK — The WNBA told the players’ union it must reach an agreement by March 10 to start the season on time during a virtual collective bargaining bargaining session Monday, a person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
With a two-team expansion draft to complete, and with 80% of the league being free agents, there is a lot to accomplish and little time in which to do it. A delay would harm both parties.
The season is scheduled to start on May 8, and every missed game represents a loss of revenue, sponsorships, television dollars and fan support. Monday’s meeting was the first between the teams involving players and the league since meeting at the WNBA offices on February 2. Due to the winter storm that hit New York, it was decided to hold the meeting virtually.
More than 50 players were on the call, which lasted nearly two hours, the source said.
The parties are still far apart on income sharing and housing, and time is running out. The league said at Monday’s meeting that it should have at least one handshake agreement by March 10 so there is no delay in the start of the season.
The league, in its latest proposal sent Friday, offered 70% of net revenue to players. This came after the union demanded an average of 27.5% of gross revenues over the course of the collective bargaining agreement, starting with 25% in the first year of the new agreement. In its previous offer, the union had asked for an average of more than 30%.
The league said in a statement at the time that the revenue sharing percentage remained unrealistic and would result in “hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for our teams.”
Also Monday, the union confirmed to the AP that the WNBA would award its players $8 million from last season’s revenue sharing, as the league generated enough revenue to trigger revenue sharing for the first time in league history. ESPN was the first to report the decision.
Players will decide how much each player will receive from this distribution. The union has 60 days from Feb. 9, when it was officially notified of revenue sharing, to decide how it will distribute the funds.
This money will be distributed by the teams, which will then be reimbursed by the league. Under the 2020 CBA, which has since expired, players received 50% of shared revenue – defined in the CBA as the amount of revenue above a predetermined threshold minus 30% for expenses.
Neither the league nor the union would say what that threshold is. The league has proposed in almost all of its proposals to remove the threshold for revenue sharing.
In its latest offer, the league said teams would continue to pay for housing for all players this season, another person familiar with the negotiations told the AP on Saturday. The person also spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
After that, franchises would pay for housing for players on minimum-salary contracts, rookies in their first season and the two developmental players teams would be allowed to have.
The union had asked teams to continue paying for player housing during the first years of the new agreement, but in the final two years of the CBA, franchises would no longer have to pay for housing for players who earn near the maximum salary.
