Chatting with the media forward of the WNBA All-Star Recreation in Indianapolis on Saturday, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert opened by talking of the increase in reputation the league is having fun with.
However the matter most individuals needed to listen to about was the continued negotiations between the league and the gamers for a brand new collective bargaining settlement. And it turned clear the league and the gamers have a really completely different view on the present state of these negotiations.
“We had a productive assembly on Thursday with the WNBA (Gamers Affiliation) and the gamers,” Engelbert stated. “We’re engaged in constructive conversations. I stay assured we’ll attain a brand new CBA, one which’s transformational for the groups, gamers and homeowners for the way forward for our league.”
After which the All-Star gamers took the court docket for pregame warm-ups carrying T-shirts studying, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”
Following in-person negotiations between each side on Thursday, gamers expressed disappointment that extra progress was not made on the bargaining desk.
“I believe (Thursday’s) assembly was good for the truth that we may very well be in the identical room because the league and the Board of Governors,” stated Liberty star Breanna Stewart, a union vp. “However, I believe, to be frank, it was a wasted alternative.”
The dispute started when the gamers union introduced after the 2024 season that they’d decide out of the CBA on Oct. 31, 2025.
With tv revenues on the rise — largely because of the presence of Caitlin Clark — the gamers desire a bigger piece of the monetary pie.
“Clearly, ladies’s basketball is skyrocketing,” Chicago Sky second-year ahead Angel Reese informed reporters. “And it is essential for us to get what we would like now, not simply now, however for the long run as properly. … listening to the language of issues, not issues that I used to be glad to listen to. It was disrespectful — the proposal that we have been despatched again.”
One of many key sticking factors is income sharing. With cash pouring into the league at report ranges, gamers need what they take into account to be a justifiable share of revenues.
“We would like a chunk of your entire pie. Not a chunk of a part of the pie,” Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum stated Thursday.
For her half, Engelbert stated the league is already sharing income with the gamers, and she or he anticipates the sharing to evolve to a spot each side can agree with.
“We have been speaking about alternative ways to do income sharing,” she stated Saturday. “There may be income sharing in our present CBA that’s expiring after this season. So, we have already got income sharing. We have been at a really completely different place in 2020 than we’re in 2025. So, I believe you will see the income sharing be a way more profitable one as we go ahead as a result of we’re in a greater place, fairly frankly.”
Following the sport Saturday, gamers continued to specific their dissatisfaction with negotiations, and a few addressed the message they have been attempting to ship with the shirts.
“Once we say the ‘W’ we’re on the forefront of a variety of various things,” three-time MVP A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces stated. “There are issues we deserve and we’re demanding. Proper now, throughout this transformative time that we’re in, we have to begin capitalizing on that. We have to get what we’re properly overdue for and it reveals how highly effective our league is and the way highly effective our voices are on our platform.”
Added Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever: “I believe the assertion spoke for itself. … It was essential for our assertion to stay clear. We simply need the respect we deserve on the finish of the day.”
–Area Degree Media/Reuters