Bloomberg Podcasts
@bloombergpodcasts·503K subscribers·32.4K videos
WNBA Reaches Verbal Deal With Players Union After Tense Talks
Posted
March 20, 2026
Views
467
Likes
2
Comments
2
Engagement
March 20, 2026
467
2
2
0.86%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
5:36Now PlayingRandall Williams, Bloomberg Business of Sports Reporter, discusses the WNBA's deal for a new collective bargaining agreement as well as Bloomberg's 2026 Brackets for a Cause.
The WNBA and its players union agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that will avoid the first work stoppage in the ascendant league’s history and major disruption to a season that starts in about two months.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson and four members of the WNBPA executive committee shared the news with reporters in the lobby of a midtown Manhattan hotel in the early hours of Wednesday. Multiple people close to the matter confirmed a deal has been reached.
Both sides declined to share details of the verbal agreement. A formal term sheet needs to be finalized, and the agreement is pending ratification by the players as well as the WNBA board of governors, according to reports.
The two sides had been in sporadic talks for more than a year, with the main sticking point being how to share revenue after the league’s popularity surged in recent years with the arrival of young stars like Caitlin Clark.
The players opted out of the collective bargaining agreement in October 2024 with several goals, including higher salaries, increased retirement benefits and better child care and family planning benefits. The two sides first met that December and have exchanged numerous proposals since, but hadn’t made much progress until recently.
--------
Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube
Weekdays 7am-6pm ET
Follow us on X
Subscribe to our Podcasts:
Bloomberg Daybreak
Bloomberg Surveillance
Bloomberg Intelligence
Balance of Power
Bloomberg Businessweek
Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:
Apple CarPlay
Android Auto
Visit our YouTube channels:
Bloomberg Podcasts
Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Originals
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
