Sources: WNBA offers players CBA deadline extension
The WNBA has offered players a 30-day extension to continue negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
An extension before the current joint partnership agreement expires on Friday would allow the two sides more time to work toward a new agreement, although even if it is not implemented, the parties can continue to negotiate in good faith. The two sides agreed to a 60-day extension during the last round of partnership agreement negotiations in 2019 before signing the new agreement in January 2020.
If an extension is not reached, it could open the door to a potential work stoppage, either a strike initiated by the players or a lockout initiated by the owners. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert admitted during the WNBA Finals that while she hoped both sides would meet the October 31 deadline, “we’ve extended deadlines in the past.”
A source said the players might be willing to consider an extension “under the right circumstances” but feel “those circumstances don’t exist yet.”
WNBPA Senior Counsel and Legal Counsel Erin D. Drake recently said on The Athletic’s “No Offseason” podcast that there will be no new agreement by Friday.
“We’ve worked hard to be able to say, ‘We did it on Friday. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen,'” Drake said on Tuesday’s podcast episode. “In the dance, it takes two people to tango. It was hard to find a rhythm, find a rhythm, find the same sense of urgency.” [from the league]Just to be honest, to get it done.”
The WNBA responded to that assertion in a statement provided to ESPN, saying that the league’s most recent proposal was submitted on Oct. 1 and that the WNBPA just responded to it on Monday.
An FIBA spokesperson said: “We have been negotiating with the Players Association in good faith and on an urgent basis for several months with the goal of finalizing a new collective bargaining agreement as quickly as possible.” “Throughout this process, we have been clear that our top priority is to reach a new collective bargaining agreement that addresses players’ demands for significant pay and benefit increases and improvements to their experience, while ensuring the long-term growth and success of the league and its teams.
“We urge the Players Association to spend less time spreading public misinformation and more time joining us in constructive engagement across the table.”
Public disagreements between the WNBA and WNBPA have escalated in recent weeks as Friday’s expiration date approaches. Last week, the two sides exchanged sharp words in a flurry of statements following NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s comments on the “TODAY Show” that WNBA players would receive a “significant increase” in salaries while citing “absolute numbers” as a way to measure that growth rather than revenue share. The main sticking point in the negotiations was how to determine a model for salaries and revenue distribution.
The league said that “the players’ union has not yet presented a viable economic proposal and has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on many of the terms of our proposals,” and that it offered an unlimited revenue-sharing model tied directly to the league’s performance.
The league responded to the allegations, saying the league “has exhausted the clock, put lipstick on a pig and brought back a system that is untethered to any part of the business and intentionally undervalues players. The fact that the league now wants to label any part of its proposal as ‘non-specific’ is precisely why its leadership, transparency and accountability are being challenged right now.”