The WNBA just finished arguably its most successful season since its inception.
Indiana Fever phenom Caitlin Clark pushed the league to new heights as the WNBA set record numbers of attendance and viewership, and even managed to secure an impressive new media deal with Disney, Amazon PTime, and NBC worth $200 million a year.
Unfortunately, everything is at risk of coming to an end if the players and league aren’t able to work something out soon.
According to ESPN, the WNBA player’s union and board of player representatives voted on Monday to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement. If the players and the league don’t work out a new deal by the end of next season, Clark and the rest of the league will be faced with the prospect of a work stoppage.
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Per ESPN players are seeking a “bigger piece of the financial pie — increased salaries as well as lifelong benefits, including retirement and family planning.”
Players are evidently prepared to deal with a work stoppage if negotiations can’t be resolved in time. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a recent state-of-the-league address that she has been in talks with player union leadership during the season.
“I suspect that given the transformation of the league that we’ve been working so hard on, building this long-term economic model, we’ve already returned to the players through charter, through increasing playoff bonuses a couple of years ago by over 50%,” Engelbert said.
“So we’ll continue to do that, and when we get to the bargaining table we’ll continue to talk about the issues that are most important to the players.”
It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold, especially considering players now have the choice to play in the three-on-three Unrivaled league if they aren’t interested in the WNBA.
