The WNBA and WNBPA have engaged in near around-the-clock meetings since Tuesday afternoon, trying to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) so the 2026 WNBA season can tip off as scheduled on Friday, May 8.
After Friday’s estimated 14-hour bargaining session, which began around 10 a.m. ET and wrapped up past midnight, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert issued a new ultimatum, telling the reporter quartet of ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, Front Office Sports’ Annie Costabile, the AP’s Doug Feinberg
and The IX Sports’ Jackie Powell camped outside The Langham in Midtown Manhattan that a deal must get done by Monday. Engelbert announced:
I’ve never been a betting woman in my life and I’m not going to start now, but we have to get a deal by Monday.
I should say we have to get it done without disrupting some part of the fact that we’ve got to run this two-team expansion [draft]. We have to get expansion going. We have to get free agency going. We got to get the college draft, which is now a month from today.
When asked if she thought a CBA would be agreed to by the league’s new deadline, the commissioner said, “Cathy Engelbert’s opinion, yes.”
What about the opinion of the WNBPA?
WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson, who spoke to reporters before Engelbert, noted that the deadlines imposed by the league have seemed “quite arbitrary.” Jackson, otherwise, continued to offer an optimistic assessment of the state of negotiations, saying:
I think the league, and particularly the commissioner and her team, have heard that transformational remains the goal. As long as movement keeps us going in a forward direction, then I think we’re good.
However, Jackson maintained that the union is committed achieving a new revenue sharing model that is “tied to revenue in a meaningful way.” That goal has not yet been met, although Jackson added:
I think the continued conversations have helped us chip away at what the concerns are for both sides and how we meet them, how we address them.
There have yet to be any strategic leaks about either side’s latest proposal.
Based on the most recent public reports, the league is holding firm to 70 percent net, or an estimated 15 percent gross, revenue sharing with players as the union seeks 26 percent of gross revenue for players. A gap also remains between the targeted salary cap between the league and union. The WNBA has proposed a $6.2 million cap for 2026, a number that does not included projected revenue sharing payments. The WNBPA has proposed $9.5 million salary cap for 2026.
Although the primary point of contention, revenue sharing is far from the only matter about which the sides must come to an agreement.
Other issues to be addressed include housing support for players, the core designation, wearable technology policy and benefits for players. Jackson indicated that the league and union had reached agreements on some matters, but declined to divulge any details.
WNBPA vice president Napheesa Collier joined the bargaining sessions for the first time on Friday, with executive committee members Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner, present since Tuesday, departing before the conclusion of Friday’s meeting. President Nneka Ogwumike and vice president Breanna Stewart were again on site for all the proceedings.
Negotiations between the sides reportedly have featured smaller breakout discussions, in addition to larger group meetings.
When speaking to reporters, Engelbert shared further insight into the negotiation process:
It is meaningful to sit across the table and listen to their concerns, them to listen to our concerns or listen to why we think something that we’re bargaining over is where we want to be. Some cases, they agree. Some cases, they don’t. We listen to the players when they talk about things, and they listen to us. So, you know, progress.
