00:00The W just got a W around, what, a month and a half before the season is scheduled to tip
00:05off.
00:06WNBA players have voted to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement with the league.
00:11So let's get you guys all updated with what that means exactly for both the players and the league.
00:17And if we're going to have an on-start time to the season, our WNBA reporter, Matty Kinney, is on
00:23to break down the W's W.
00:26You being a wordsmith the way you are, Matty, can you appreciate the little wordplay I got going on there
00:31a little bit?
00:31I see what you did there. I like it very much. Good job, yeah.
00:35All right, let's get into this because on Friday, the league and the WNBA PA announced that they had agreed
00:40to a term sheet for the new CBA.
00:43And now today, Monday, the players have voted to ratify the new CBA.
00:47So can you break all of that down in terms of what it means for the players and the league?
00:54And are the players, does it look like they're getting what they want?
00:58Yeah, so I think one more important step that has to happen before the CBA is officially official
01:03is the WNBA Board of Governors still have, we're still awaiting their approval on it.
01:09But this is a huge win for both sides, as has been said since Friday about just, you know,
01:14obviously having skyrocketing salaries.
01:16You're going to have your first million-dollar player in the WNBA, which is huge.
01:19This is really just totally taking this moment in women's sports and capitalizing on it.
01:25The trajectory of the league is accelerated.
01:29It's a really exciting time.
01:30And players, you know, they've gotten a lot of wins in this.
01:33I think there was a lot of compromise on both sides,
01:36especially when it came down to those, like, marathon negotiating sessions at the end.
01:41The league came up from where it was on revenue share a little bit.
01:44The players had to come down.
01:47Players had some major wins when it came to retirement benefits.
01:51The trade clause where a pregnant player has to be consulted before they're traded.
01:56There's other family planning benefits that players have gotten.
01:59So there's just a lot of wins across the board.
02:01But I do think that all things considered, this was very much a give-and-take process,
02:05and both sides have to feel really happy about where they finally landed.
02:09Well, you said the league now has to sign off on it.
02:12Any worries there that that could be some hiccups in the league,
02:16kind of play hardball now that the players have voted to ratify it?
02:21No, just because it's kind of like they already agreed to the term sheet,
02:24so they already kind of know what the deal is.
02:27I feel like this is more so just part of the process
02:30and not necessarily something that is going to hold up things.
02:35It's going to take about three weeks, they said,
02:38after they agreed to a term sheet for all of this to become official
02:41just because there's all these different steps that have to be done.
02:47Paperwork, responsible people stuff, right?
02:50Paperwork, lawyers, kind of like write and sign off on things.
02:53Okay.
02:54Have your lawyer call my lawyer, and then we'll get everything agreed upon when it's time.
02:59All right.
02:59That's a little bit out of my pay grade right there.
03:01But I saw today that the players union said in a release
03:06that more than 90% of the players participated in the ratification vote
03:11with the results as a unanimous yes.
03:14Does that surprise you that over 90% of the players came together and voted yes?
03:22No, it doesn't surprise me just because I feel like there's been a lot of unity
03:25within the players throughout the whole process.
03:27You know, the CBA is really interesting because I look at some of the salary numbers
03:32and where the salary cap is and have to wonder if there's going to be a squeeze
03:37with the middle class just because the super max salary is accounting for 20%
03:41of the salary cap, which is a huge chunk, obviously.
03:44And it is still a hard cap.
03:45So teams can't go over $7 million in 2026, and that will continue to go up
03:51as the over the lifetime of the agreement.
03:54But yeah, I think in general, players are feeling really good about this.
04:00You know, there is certain clauses that reward players who perform at a high level
04:05early in their career.
04:06It's called the Epic Clause, and it kind of ensures that players like Caitlin Clark,
04:10Paige Beckers, Aaliyah Boston, like they're going to get that super max salary
04:14or be eligible, I should say, for that super max salary earlier in their career
04:18than other players.
04:19And so I think across the board, players have to feel really good about this.
04:22They've also secured housing for the first few years of the deal, which was huge.
04:26And any player making less than $500,000 will have housing for the entirety of this deal,
04:33which again, I think is a huge win.
04:34So even though that there might be a middle class squeeze when it comes to where salaries
04:39are going to be at, I think that that's obviously a benefit that players felt
04:44really strongly about.
04:45Yeah, I saw that up in the CFL where, you know, certain players can opt into,
04:49we call it housing, part of your contract.
04:52You can either get an X amount of money or you can get paid, you know, in terms of
04:55housing clause and all in that situation.
04:57And you think of something as simple as that, you know, but that's, that's, you know,
05:03I'm glad that the term sheet was, was kind of agreed upon.
05:06And it looks like, you know, things are happening or going in the right direction
05:11for this league because we've seen the growth, Matty, like we, we see it each year as a fans
05:16and, you know, the behind the scenes.
05:18So I can imagine how frustrating that must've been for a lot of the players.
05:22But again, it looks like everything's kind of, kind of pushing towards the right,
05:26the right direction.
05:26And we got a May 8th start time on the season.
05:31But what now, now what's, once everything is signed and the I's are dotted and the T's
05:37are crossed, the lawyers, you know, can cash in the, what they make on this, uh, on this
05:42arbitration and all what now happens once all this is done before that May 8th tip off.
05:48So a lot needs to happen.
05:50It's going to be a very busy April for everyone.
05:52So send all of your WNBA contacts, agents, GMs, coaches, media people, copy, because this
06:00is going to be a nonstop affair.
06:02It seems like, and so, uh, we still don't have the rules for the expansion draft.
06:07And to my knowledge, Toronto and Portland and all the other teams, the WNBA have not
06:11been told what the, what the exact rules of the expansion draft are going to be.
06:15That needs to happen first and foremost, because those two expansion teams do not have a single
06:19player under contract, which is if I'm one of those teams, I'm a little nervous.
06:23Um, but again, that'll happen probably the day after the NCAA tournament comes to an end.
06:29And then after that, then it's going to go into the free agency period.
06:33It's going to start with qualifying offers as it always does.
06:35Um, teams are going to have two days to send out their qualifying offers to reserved and
06:40restricted free agents.
06:41They're going to be able to designate a core player during that time.
06:44Um, and then it's going to go into the negotiating period for free agency.
06:48So this is all going to be happening on an accelerated schedule.
06:51It's going to be happening really fast.
06:52Um, after the negotiating period, which will last a few days, uh, then we'll get right into
06:57signing contracts.
06:58The, the, um, college draft is scheduled to happen the Monday before training camps open
07:05April 19th.
07:06So there is just a lot of things that need to happen within with less than a month to
07:10for training camps to open.
07:12That's, that's a lot.
07:14Well, we know you're going to be on top of all of it.
07:16So appreciate you hopping on with us.
07:18Congratulations to the player in the league.
07:20Uh, I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like, you know, everything's going to, going to
07:23work out, but, uh, players getting paid, Maddie.
07:26Absolutely love it.
07:27I absolutely love it.
07:28Thanks for hopping on with this.
07:30Thank you for having me.
07:36You
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