NEW YORK (AP) — WNBA players’ union president Nneka Ogwumike said significant work remains for the season to start on time but said she remains confident games will be played in 2026.
"I know our players 100% want to play this year,” she said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Friday. “We want a season.”
Ogwumike said the league and union are not close on key issues like revenue sharing in their effort to strike a new collective
bargaining agreement. The clock is ticking. The season is supposed to begin May 8, but an expansion draft, free agency and a rookie draft also need to happen before the league tips off.
Ogwumike said once revenue sharing is solved, the rest hopefully will fall into place quickly.
“We made the point that once we nail this, we can get everything else done,” Ogwumike said.
The players want around 30% of the gross revenue — money generated before expenses — for the first year in their latest proposal. Under the league’s last proposal, players would receive in excess of 70% of net revenue, though that would be their take of the profits after expenses are paid. Those expenses would include upgraded facilities, charter flights, five-star hotels, medical services, security and arenas.
Ogwumike re-iterated several times that the union is still waiting for a response from the league to a proposal that it sent more than six weeks ago.
“I think that’s really what the players are considering now is that the lack of movement from the league side is truly disappointing,” she said.
According to a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the AP last month, the league previously didn’t feel that proposal was much different than an earlier one the union had sent and didn’t warrant a new response. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations. After a three-hour meeting Monday at the NBA offices, the union left with the understanding it would have a new proposal soon.
The league’s most recent offer last month would guarantee a maximum base salary of $1 million 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.
That was on slides that were presented to players at Monday's meeting and obtained by the AP.
The slides also outlined 37 areas where the league was willing to make concessions players wanted. Some of those proposals included adding two developmental player slots to teams, giving pregnant players the right to refuse trades, increasing the guaranteed contracts on a team and codifying charter flights as well as other first-class travel considerations.
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 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 last month. With a massive salary raise expected in a new CBA, 80% of players in the league are free agents this offseason, which makes this the biggest opportunity for player movement in the history of the WNBA.
A delay would hurt both sides as every game that is missed, revenue would be lost, as would be sponsorships, television money and fan support.
Ogwumike, who is in her third term as union president, said that the long wait for a response hasn't been all bad, as she and union leadership have had a chance to talk with WNBA players. She was in Nashville on Thursday with union leadership at Athletes Unlimited. It was a chance to take a pulse of the players.
“I actually like the fact that we’ve had these six weeks now, still waiting for a proposal. It’s given us the gift of time,” she said. “And so, you know, in December, after the strike authorization vote, we were able to meet in Miami and talk to players.”
Players voted to give union leadership the right to strike in December. Ogwumike said despite that, a strike is not imminent, although the union did post on social media a video about the 1964 NBA All-Star Game strike. The NBA All-Star Game is next weekend in Los Angeles.
“Having the strike on the table is something that we’re very much aware of, but there’s so many more conversations that have to happen,” Ogwumike said. “You know, we’re not just going to say, `Hey, today’s the day (we’ll strike).' You know, I think that’s what what we’re demonstrating right now is negotiating in good faith.”
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
