STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today is March 10. And that is a day full of tension for women's pro basketball. The 2026 season is coming. And the WNBA told the players' union that today is a deadline in their ongoing stalemate over a collective bargaining agreement. The league says if they don't reach a deal, the next season is in danger. Annie Costabile will be covering whatever happens. She writes about the WNBA for Front Office Sports. Annie, good morning.
ANNIE COSTABILE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What does the union want?
COSTABILE: The union wants a share of the league's gross revenue. And that's really the biggest discrepancy here because the league is proposing a share of its net revenue.
INSKEEP: Oh, wait a minute. So this must be a difference of, what, millions of dollars?
COSTABILE: Yes, exactly. The league is claiming that the union's proposal will result in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. But another fact of this is that the league's financials are, you know, hard for the public to gain insight on. And so those claimed losses, there's really no way to validate the legitimacy of them.
INSKEEP: Oh, wow. That's really interesting. And of course, you can make a lot of money and make it look on paper like a loss. Now, I've been paying attention a little bit to the WNBA because I took note when Napheesa Collier, one of the star players and also a senior person in the union, late last year went to this press conference and read this long statement she had written denouncing WNBA management for all kinds of failures. Is there a connection between that complaint and the dispute they're having now?
COSTABILE: Yes. I mean, they're very connected. Obviously, that complaint was in regards to Commissioner Cathy Engelbert's leadership and where the league was really at in this current stage. And so Napheesa Collier's statement was really setting up this moment that we're seeing now between the league and the union, and what's really become a very contentious battle for what both sides claim they want to be a transformational collective bargaining agreement.
INSKEEP: OK, transformational. That makes it feel like it's more than money at stake here. Are there competing visions for what the WNBA should be and how it should get to the next level as a major sport?
COSTABILE: Well, as we know, the salary offerings up until this point have really paled in comparison to any other professional sports league - any other professional men's sports league, I should say. But also on the table is a battle for team-provided housing, which the league has always provided. The league is now saying that because of its financial offering to players that, that team-provided housing no longer matters. And what we also know is that this new media rights deal that's on the table, $2.2 billion over an 11-year period, that's going to transform the league's revenue. And that's what the players really want to see or partake in a share of.
INSKEEP: So tell me, when we hear the league say this is the deadline, you've got to agree with us by today or the season is in danger, do you believe them?
COSTABILE: I mean, the league has posed many deadlines over this period. And we haven't seen those deadlines be honored. We've seen both sides blow past those deadlines. What I know is the league is up against a very tight deadline when it comes to what they have to execute over the next two months - a expansion draft, a regular draft, free agency. So while today might not be the tightest deadline, I do believe, in the next week, if a deal is not done, the season will be in jeopardy.
INSKEEP: Got it. Annie Costabile reports for Front Office Sports. Thanks for your insights this morning.
COSTABILE: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me.
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