On the evening of March 10th – the day the WNBA told the WNBPA was the last day to sign a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) without affecting the timeline of the 2026 season – staff and representatives from both sides of the bargaining session entered a room at 5:00PM EST. The meeting did not conclude until roughly 5:20AM the next morning.
Yesterday, the 11th, talks continued as the groups met again. This time, players and staff were seen taking breaks, but the session again stretched to around 11 hours.
It is now Thursday, March 12th, and the two sides are once again set to meet this morning. There is no deal yet, but all signs are pointing towards an agreement on the horizon.
I will admit that I was worried for the players’ side when the league invented a deadline for the negotiations (that March 10th day), which resulted in some leaks of information about players wanting to play, maybe not wanting to strike anymore, and wishing their representation was giving them more information.
But, now that the deadline is here – and passed – the quotes coming from the players’ side have been good, and the details of the proposed agreements are moving towards paying the players more than they would have gotten if they caved two weeks ago.
“It’s complex,” (League commissioner Cathy) Engelbert told reporters. “We’re working towards a win-win deal like we’ve been saying, a transformational deal for these players that balances all the things we’ve been trying to balance with continued investment by our owners, et cetera. So we’re working hard towards that, and we still have work to do.”
"At the end of the day, we want a season," (Nneke) Ogwumike told reporters. "We want to play. We've heard that from the other side as well. We need to see a more robust demonstration of that as we continue on in these negotiations.”
"Being able to be in the room, being able to exchange proposals, we're feeling movement," Ogwumike said. "We're sticking to the process. That's something that we've always been true to from the very beginning, so making sure that we stick to that process and the strength in our unity and obviously remaining resolute in what we're representing ourselves for in these negotiations is kind of where we're at now."
I remain disappointed that the league was such a lackadaisical participant for the first six months of these negotiations. Remember, there was a point in time where the WNBPA submitted a proposal in December, and the WNBA office did not respond or counter for six weeks. They sat quietly, no movement or conversation. Then, shortly after starting talks again, they created their deadline, and now everyone is finally staying in the trenches until a deal is done.
I’ll post more, and final thoughts, on this saga when a deal is signed. I hope that is today, tomorrow, this weekend. I think it will be.