NEW YORK — The WNBA and the players' union are set to meet Tuesday to continue discussions on reaching a new collective bargaining agreement as a deadline to get the season started on time is at hand, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
The meeting comes on a day that the league has said at least a handshake agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement would need to be done to start the season as scheduled.
The two sides exchanged proposals over the weekend with the league sending one on Saturday, the person said. It’s unknown what changes the league and union made in their latest proposal. Revenue sharing is the key sticking point between the sides.
Time is running out. The league had said it would need a deal by Tuesday to be able to have it signed by the end of the month. Under that timeline, the expansion draft for new franchises in Portland and Toronto would be held sometime between April 1-6, according to a timetable obtained by the AP.
Free agent qualifying offers, including franchise player tags, would be sent out April 7-8. Teams would then have three days to negotiate with the more than 80% of players who are free agents. The signing period would take place from April 12-18.
Training camps would open the next day and the season would be able to start on May 8.
But for any of that to happen, the two sides have to figure out a revenue sharing model. The union's previous proposal from a week ago had asked for an average of 26% of the gross revenue — revenue before expenses — over the course of the CBA. That would include only 25% in the first year of the new deal. The league has said that number was unrealistic.
The WNBA's last few proposals have offered more than 70% of net revenue, with that number going up as the league continues to grow.
The meeting comes three days after Caitlin Clark said at USA Basketball training camp that the two sides should stop sending proposals and instead meet face-to-face until a deal gets done.
“I don’t understand why we don’t just get in a room and iron it out and shake hands,” she said. “That’s how business is. You look each other in the eye, you shake hands, you respect both sides. For me, that’s what I would love to see.”
Union vice president Breanna Stewart agreed with Clark's idea.
“I think that would be great for us all to sit in a room until we really get it done,” the New York Liberty star said. “If that means sitting in there for hours and hours at a time, let’s do it. That’s for the better of the player. While a situation like that has never happened before, there’s a first time for everything.”
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