INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has called on the WNBA and its players’ association to increase their urgency to get a labor deal done in time for the new season to begin on schedule in early May.
Silver didn’t propose a firm deadline for a WNBA collective bargaining agreement Saturday in his annual address during NBA All-Star weekend, but he urged both sides to pick up the pace to avoid a work stoppage.
“What I’d love to accomplish is sort of putting pressure on everybody,” Silver said. “I’ve been through so many cycles of collective bargaining, and often things tend to get done at the 11th hour. We are awfully close to the 11th now when it comes to bargaining.”
The WNBA delivered its latest proposal to the players’ union a week ago and offered small increases in revenue sharing along with concessions on housing issues, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
The league and the players are still not close on the main issue of revenue sharing. The players want roughly 30% of the gross revenue, while the league has offered over 70% of net revenue — after expenses that include upgraded facilities, charter flights, five-star hotels, medical services, security and arenas.
Silver has already said WNBA players will be getting a “big increase” in pay from the next CBA.
“I’m encouraged there has been more back and forth over the past few weeks,” Silver said. “I think there’s been more direct engagement from players and team owners. I have not been at the table, but I’m very involved behind the scenes. I want to play whatever role would be most productive in getting a deal done. But again, I think we need to now move toward the next level sense of urgency and not lose momentum in terms of the amazing amount of progress we’ve seen in women’s basketball.”
Silver knows the clock is ticking on the WNBA’s offseason business as well as its regular-season schedule. The negotiations have already delayed the expansion draft for the new franchises in Portland, Oregon, and Toronto, and the WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13.
“Training camps are scheduled to open roughly two months from now,” Silver said. “We have to get not one, but two drafts done. We have an expansion draft and a collegiate draft, and then we need to fit in free agency. Plus whenever we shake hands on a collective bargaining agreement, the lawyers have to go to work and memorialize it.”
Union president Nneka Ogwumike recently said a strike is not imminent, but it remains a possibility. Silver wants both sides to do everything possible to prevent a momentum-draining stoppage of a league coming off a 2025 season that featured record-smashing attendance and television audiences.
“I think it’s unfortunate where we find ourselves right now, both from the team standpoint and from the players,” Silver said. “We’re coming off tremendous momentum in the WNBA. It’s not lost on anyone. I feel like in the last few years in particular, the league has turned a corner in terms of fan interest, commercial success, popularity of players. All arrows are pointing up in terms of the WNBA.”
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AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this report.
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