WNBA officials and the players union met Monday in New York for a few hours to try to make progress on a new collective bargaining agreement as ongoing negotiations potentially threaten the scheduled start of the 2026 season.
Monday marked the first in-person meeting with players since the WNBA playoffs and came at a time when CBA talks had stalled with the coming season slated to begin in 95 days.
Nearly three hours passed before people started to trickle out of the elevators and into the Olympic Tower lobby.
Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai was the first person spotted leaving.
Stefanie Dolson left shortly after her.
Moments later, Women’s National Basketball Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike walked out alongside Brianna Turner, Alysha Clark and WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson.
Asked in passing for a comment after the meeting, Ogwumike said, “Sorry, we can’t.”
The league also declined comment.
Kelsey Plum and Napheesa Collier planned on being at the meeting, but flight issues pushed them to participate virtually.
Breanna Stewart, who’s scheduled to play in an Unrivaled game later, tuned into the meeting remotely.
Other attendees included WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Nets owner Joe Tsai, Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti and other members of the league’s labor relations committee.
Plum said last week at Unrivaled’s tour stop in Philadelphia that she planned to “learn a lot” from the gathering.
“This is a meeting that, I think everyone understands what’s at stake, timeline-wise,” Plum said.
Little progress has been made in recent weeks as the WNBPA awaits a response from the league regarding a proposal the union sent more than a month ago.
The delayed reply has been the cause of frustration for some players, including Liberty guard Natasha Cloud.
“We will not f–king move until y’all move,” Cloud said Friday.
Players are asking for roughly 30 percent of gross revenue share as well as a $10.5 million salary cap.
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Meanwhile, the WNBA has offered 70 percent of the net revenue share (which equates to roughly 15 percent of gross league and team revenue share) and a $5 million salary cap.
In the meantime, the WNBA’s offseason remains on hold until a new deal is ratified.
That includes a two-team expansion draft, free agency and the college draft.
A strike isn’t out of the question either, with Azura Stevens saying last week that she was “prepared for” one.
“If the league wants to play around, and we don’t have a CBA, I have money. I’m getting paid from Unrivaled, and I have other revenues of income as well,” Stevens said. “So, it’s really their loss. So, that’s why I think that it’s just ridiculous that they’ve dragged it on this long.”
