It’s been a wild week in the WNBA. Of course, we are about to kick off the WNBA Finals, which will be a seven-game series for the first time. The conclusion of the second round saw the Phoenix Mercury
and Las Vegas Aces clinch their spots in the Finals dramatically. Coinciding with all of this was the controversy of Cheryl Reeve’s ejection, $15,000 fine, and suspension for her comments and behaviour toward officiating staff. On Tuesday afternoon, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier opened up her exit interview with a prepared speech calling out the league for their lack of accountability and poor leadership.
She spent this time going into detail about conversations she has had with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert about the state of the league. Collier stated that Engelbert told her that “players should be on their knees thanking her” for their media rights deal, and that Caitlin Clark should “be grateful she has the WNBA” to bring her sponsorships. There was a lot more, but Collier’s point was simple: the WNBA has been negligent.
This all comes at a time when the clock is ticking on Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations between the WNBA and its players. The current CBA expires on October 31st, just 30 days from today, and there does not seem to be much progress in getting a deal signed. The players are asking for higher revenue share percentages, better treatment standards, and some regulations when it comes to expanding the season without properly taking into account the toll that it has on players. There have been vocal complaints all year about the poor officiating in the WNBA, leading to injuries. The players have also been vocal on how the increase in games per season, without extending the time frame of the season or expanding the roster sizes beyond 11-12 players, has contributed to injuries.
Injuries this season in the WNBA have been brutal. In Tuesday’s deciding game five between the Las Vegas Aces and Indiana Fever, Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell went down with apparent muscle cramping. Her dehydration was so bad that she had to be transported to the hospital mid-game to receive IV fluids. This was after the Fever had spent an entire season seeing player after player go down with injury. All of Caitlin Clark, Syd Colson, Aari MacDonald, Sophie Cunningham, and Chloe Bibby suffered season-ending injuries before the playoffs.
Napheesa Collier herself was injured in a play during the Lynx’s game three last weekend that ended her season, the play that sparked all the noise around Reeve. Multiple players have suffered foot and knee injuries this season, too.
All of this is part of what the players are asking for in these CBA negotiations. Based on player comments, the negotiations are not going well. So, what happens if a deal isn’t reached by October 31st? How would this affect the Toronto Tempo entering the league?
If there is no deal by October 31st, there are a few options. The sides could agree on a temporary agreement or a contract extension. This means they give a little bit more time for the sides to come together and continue negotiations. This is just a short-term solution, though. If they are really struggling to solidify a deal, we head into a work stoppage situation.
There are two different ways to conduct a work stoppage, and they are basically defined by who is deciding to take action. If the players are the ones stopping work, it’s defined as a strike. If it’s the league withholding work in an attempt to get the players to agree to a deal, it’s called a lockout.
In a strike situation, league operations would continue as normal, but the players would be striking from their WNBA-related work. That means they would not enter WNBA facilities, talk or work with WNBA team staff, or participate in any WNBA-related activities. That means the league would likely still move forward with things like an expansion draft, but the players would not participate or comment on it.
In a lockout, it’s the league that is cutting off the players. In this case, the WNBA would close down team facilities, shut down league operations, prevent things like free agency signings or expansion drafts, and, if it lasts long enough, not hold a WNBA season in 2026. They are kind of the same thing, but initiated by different parties. It’s like two sides of the same coin.
In a strike situation, the league could still try to operate things, but anyone who participates in things like games, practices, and league-controlled events would be considered to be crossing the picket line.
So, will this happen? The players certainly are not afraid of it. Just because they cannot participate in the WNBA-related activities in a work stoppage does not mean they can’t play overseas, at Unrivaled, or at Athletes Unlimited. While the idea that the WNBA’s salary is only a small portion of income for players is only true for the top players in the league, every player in the WNBA has other sources of income to draw from to help them stay afloat. They can go play in one of these other leagues, but many also have gigs as broadcasters, college coaches/staff, or do other media-related jobs in the offseason. The idea of a work stoppage is ultimately more detrimental to the WNBA than it would be to the players. They are willing to hold out on the league to get what they want here.
It would be an awful time for a work stoppage from a business perspective. There is so much growth in women’s basketball and in the WNBA now, and stopping that momentum for the league would put a dent in all of that growth. The players have things to fall back on, but the league needs the players to operate. The players have all the leverage this time around, something that was not true even five years ago. The possibility of a work stoppage is more likely due to the players holding out to make sure they get what they want.
It’s been really cool to see the WNBA players speak out, like Collier did, about these issues. It’s one thing to see a labour force take action, but adding in the fact that they are a women-led labour force is incredibly inspiring. For literally all of history, it’s been a societal norm for women to make themselves small, go with the flow, and be taught to be grateful for any sort of small morsel that is given to them. Now, these women are speaking out and demanding respect, demanding what they are owed, but also demanding what they deserve. They should NOT just be grateful for what they have right now, and that’s what this entire mobilization is about.
As we enter the one-month countdown to the WNBA CBA expiration, get ready to hear a lot about the WNBA’s labour force. Don’t be surprised if we end up in a work stoppage situation.
