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ARE WE CLOSER TO AN AGREEMENT?
Cathy Engelbert.
Last week at the Women’s Basketball Roundup, we discussed the latest in the WNBA CBA negotiations. We’re deep in the status quo period, and it looks like we’re gonna be here for a good bit longer. The major point of contention remains the revenue share and how much of the ever-expanding pie the players get. If there’s an agreement on that, it would greatly increase the odds of the season starting.
“We made the point that once we nail this, we can get everything else done,” WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike told the Associated Press.
But will they get something acceptable on the revenue share front?
After failing to provide an updated proposal at their February 2 meeting with the WNBPA, the league sent a new proposal on February 6. Sports Business Journal was first to report on some of the particulars, and it doesn’t appear all that promising:
“The WNBPA had waited almost six weeks for a WNBA reply to its request for a 30% share of league and team revenue and a $10M-plus salary cap.
Although it was believed the league had previously offered 15%, sources told SBJ it was always less than 15% and that Friday night’s offer similarly did not surpass that number.”
The WNBA pie is rapidly growing, but the league office doesn’t want to share. I’m starting to become convinced that the WNBA/NBA office doesn’t respect the players & don't see them as equal partners.
Fortunately, the league has started to move into some other areas. Reports from ESPN, USA Today, and Front Office Sports indicate that the league will offer one-bedroom apartments to players on minimum-salary contracts and studio apartments to players on developmental contracts. There’s still plenty of work to be done on retirement benefits, workplace conditions, roster spots, etc.
There’s too much at stake for the WNBA. The league is in the mainstream and has fans eagerly awaiting its return.
With all the money coming in, they have more than enough to pay the players while still leaving plenty over for themselves. They need to figure it out.