By Mike Vorkunov, Ben Pickman and Sabreena Merchant
The National Women’s Basketball Players Association has withdrawn from the WNBAThe collective bargaining agreement was reached Monday, setting up a delicate negotiation that will help determine the league’s economic system as it takes off.
The decision came as no surprise and the union made it official just hours after the conclusion of the WNBA Finals. The players’ union, or league, had until November 1 to do so, and the players’ association was widely expected to seek a new collective bargaining agreement. The current collective agreement will expire on October 31, 2025.
A union source confirmed that the players are ready to negotiate for as long as it takes to reach a new agreement, even if it means a work stoppage. ESPN was the first to report a potential shutdown. However, both sides appear willing to begin negotiations with a good faith effort to reach a new agreement and avoid disruption to gameplay.
“This is a defining moment, not just for the WNBA, but for all of us who believe in progress,” the WNBPA president said. Nneka Ogwumike said. “The world has evolved since 2020 and we cannot afford to stand still. If we stay in the current agreement, we will fall behind.”
She added: “We are not only asking for a collective agreement that reflects our values; we demand it, because we have earned it.
The WNBA has changed dramatically since the current CBA was adopted and implemented. It went through a pandemic then a strong period of growth. She has never been more popular than today, and there are many signs that her financial situation is improving.
The ascension occurred through a confluence of factors. After decades of instability, the WNBA appeared to turn a corner in 2020 and 2021. The league sought additional funds from investors through a capital raise, and as of February 2022, it had raised $75 million. dollars. Viewership began to increase as the league reached a wider audience. This year has been a real storm. TV ratings soared, as did interest. The league will add three new franchises through its expansion between now and 2026, with a fourth expected to arrive shortly after.
Rookie guard Caitlin Clark became one of the biggest stars in all of sports and took the league even further, just like the rookie forward Angel Reeseand outgoing stars A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart And Napheesa Collier. A gripping five-game WNBA Finals proved a fitting coda to the 2024 season.
“With the historic 2024 WNBA season now in the books, we look forward to working with the players and the WNBPA on a new CBA that is fair to all and lays the foundation for growth and success for years to come ” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy. Engelbert said in a statement.
Now both sides will have to figure out how to proceed. WNBA players are not guaranteed a set share of revenue, as WNBA players NFL, NBA And NHL negotiated for themselves in their collective agreements. WNBA fans and players are demanding higher salaries.
But their desires likely go beyond just money. The WNBPA outlined its priorities in upcoming negotiations, including minimum standards for playing and practice facilities, better retirement benefits, and family planning and pregnancy benefits.
The current collective bargaining agreement took effect on January 17, 2020, and during these negotiations the players’ association has made progress on several of these fronts. Salaries have increased across the board, with players’ average annual compensation surpassing six figures for the first time. The ABC also implemented progressive family planning, including fully paid maternity leave. However, there remains room for change, even on this latter front. The current collective bargaining agreement stipulates that players must have played for eight years — a higher threshold than many players — before a $20,000 benefit for family planning services like egg freezing takes effect.
“Making sure that player health and safety is a constant, that charters are locked in, making sure that as we have more moms in this league and parents, those benefits only increase. improve,” Stewart said during July’s All-Star weekend. who he was most passionate about.
Added Lynx Star Kayla McBride: “It’s always about the players. Just making sure we’re taken care of at a high level, from player safety, but also salaries so we don’t have to go overseas.
The league has been less clear on what it appears to want, but it will likely want to sort out its financial situation at a time when revenues have finally started to increase significantly. This season, after decades of demand, it instituted charter flights for each team.
“Given the transformation of the league that we have worked so hard on, building this long-term business model, we have already returned the players through the charter, increasing playoff bonuses there “I’ve had a few years over 50 percent,” Engelbert said before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. “When we get to the negotiating table, we will continue to talk about the issues that are most important to players. We’re actually looking forward to going down that road now that we’ve kind of got the media deal that we’ve been talking about, the corporate partners, just everything.
The league will enter into a new media rights deal in 2026 that will net it an average of $200 million over the next 11 years, up from its current deals valued at around $50 million per year. Disney, NBC and Amazon will have national media rights deals with the league, but it’s possible it could add two more packages – it also currently has deals with ION and CBS – that would ultimately increase its rights fees even further .
However, when the new deal was announced, union leaders expressed concerns about how the $200 million amount was decided and believed the WNBA product remained undervalued, even under the new agreement.
Additionally, it’s unclear how this money is passed on to teams. The NBA owns 42.5 percent of the league and the WNBA sold about 16 percent of its shares in the capital raise. League revenue is distributed among teams in what league stakeholders have described as a waterfall, but it is unclear who receives what and in what order.
“The players made the decision to opt out of the last CBA to realign the business and save the league from its own limitations,” said WNBPA Executive Director Terri Carmichael Jackson. “Today, with a stronger foundation and new investments, they are stepping down again – this time to fully professionalize the league, ensure decent salaries, improve working conditions and secure meaningful benefits.”
This article was originally published in Athletics.
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