NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA sent a new CBA proposal to the players' union Sunday night that includes allowing some of its young stars like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers a chance to earn a maximum salary quicker, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity on Monday because of the sensitive nature of negotiations.
The new offer, which came two days after the latest proposal from the union, would allow players on rookie contracts who were first or second team all-league to become eligible to sign a maximum contract in their fourth year and would not be eligible for a franchise tag designation following that extension.
For example, Clark would be eligible for a maximum contract in 2027, Bueckers in 2028. Aliyah Boston would be eligible this year.
The salary cap in the first year would be $5.75 million — up 280% from last year’s $1.5 million. That would grow to $8.5 million by the sixth year of the deal. The deal would result in maximum salaries increasing by more than $1 million — from $249,000 to $1.3 million — and average salaries increasing from $120,000 to $540,000 in the first year.
The league didn't make changes in its revenue sharing model from its previous offer. The WNBA has proposed giving players more than 70% of net revenue with that number going up as the league continues to grow. The union in its offer earlier this week asked for an average of 26% of the gross revenue — revenue before expenses — over the course of the CBA. That would include only 25% in the first year of the new deal. The league has said that number is unrealistic.
Kelsey Plum, who is a vice president of the union, said Monday while preparing for the Unrivaled semifinals that getting the league to agree to a revenue sharing system for the first time is something “we fought really hard for,” and a “significant win”. The WNBPA can continue to negotiate the expense credits the league would get.
“I’ve always been someone that’s focused on the gain, not the gap.” Plum said. “And to be honest, I think if you look at where we’ve come from, shoot, since I came into the league until now, and now that we’re in a revenue share, it’s a tremendous win.
“Obviously, we’re going to continue to negotiate. I can’t emphasize that enough. Like we’re not just settling. I want to be very clear about that. But I’m super proud to be a part of this opportunity to change women’s sports.”
Breanna Stewart, who was the first to say that the league had sent a new offer, agreed with Plum.
“I think that while we still are fighting for a lot of different things, we have to realize that the rev share is a win, especially just even coming from the 2020 CBA and the ones before that,” said Stewart, who is also a vice president of the union. "I don’t think a strike is good for anyone, because as the league loses money, or if we have a delay, we also lose money. That’s not just me as a player. That’s me thinking as, like an overall business person. Nobody wants to lose money, so how can we try to prevent that in all ways possible?”
For the first time, the league is giving $8 million from revenue sharing to the players from last season as the league generated enough to trigger it for the first time in its history. There's also $8 million going to player marketing from the money made last season.
The two sides still differ on housing. The league had offered that its teams would pay for all housing this season. Then franchises would pay for housing for players on minimum salary contracts as well as rookies in their first season, the person said. They’d also pay for the housing of the two developmental players that teams would be allowed to have.
The union in its last offer asked teams to provide housing for all players in the first few years of the deal, but in the latter part of the CBA teams wouldn’t have to provide housing for players making at least 75% of the maximum salary.
The WNBA had told the players’ union that it needs to get a deal in place by March 10 to start the season on time at a virtual collective bargaining agreement negotiating session a week ago, a different person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.
That person also spoke spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of negotiations.
If a labor deal is agreed to by March 10, it probably would be signed by the end of the month. Under that timeline, the expansion draft for new franchises in Portland and Toronto would be held sometime between April 1 and 6, according to a timetable obtained by the AP.
Free agent qualifying offers, including franchise player tags, would be sent out April 7 and 8. Teams would then have three days to negotiate with the more than 80% of players who are free agents. The signing period would take place from April 12-18.
Training camps would open the next day and the season would be able to start on May 8.
“I think both sides are in agreement that we want to have a season, we don't want to have a strike necessarily,” Bueckers said at Unrivaled shootaround. “There are certain things we want to stand firm on. ... We need to continue to have these conversations. We need to have change implemented to move on our stance."
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - The WNBA logo is seen near a hoop before an WNBA basketball game at Mohegan Sun Arena, May 14, 2019, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are leaping Monday with worries that the Iran war will clog the global flow of crude and make inflation even worse. U.S. stocks, meanwhile, are swinging between sharp losses and a tiny gain.
Crude prices jumped more than 5%, which will likely mean higher prices soon at gasoline pumps. That would hurt not only U.S. households, whose spending makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy, but also businesses with big fuel bills.
The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.2% at the start of trading, and cruise lines and airlines led the way lower. But the index quickly erased most of the loss, in part because past military conflicts have not led to sustained drops for markets, and it fell 0.1% in afternoon trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 64 points, or 0.1%, as of 1:39 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Prices for natural gas remained higher, meanwhile, which could raise heating bills for the remainder of the winter, after a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to Europe said it would stop production because of the war. Gold climbed 1.2% as investors looked for safer things to own and as U.S. officials tried to persuade the world that this war will not last forever.
“This is not Iraq,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday. “This is not endless.”
Typically, Treasury yields also fall when investors are feeling nervous. But yields instead climbed, in part because higher oil prices will put upward pressure on inflation, which is already worse than nearly everyone would like. That could tie the Federal Reserve’s hands and keep it from cutting interest rates.
Lower interest rates can boost the economy and job market, while also worsening inflation. Higher rates can do the opposite.
Past military conflicts in the Middle East have not caused long-term drops for markets. For this war to knock down U.S. stocks in a significant and sustained way, the price of oil would perhaps need to jump above $100 per barrel, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley led by Michael Wilson.
Oil prices are still well below there. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 5.7% to $70.85. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 6.2% to $77.42 per barrel.
That helped the U.S. stock market pare some of its steep, opening loss. Morgan Stanley says the S&P 500 has climbed an average of 2%, 6% and 8% in the one, six and 12 months following “geopolitical risk events” historically. That's going back to the Korean War, which began in 1950, and the 1956 Suez crisis.
At the moment, though, fear is still running through markets.
Stocks of airlines were some of Monday’s sharpest losers. Not only do higher oil prices threaten their already big fuel bills, the fighting in the Middle East also closed airports and left travelers stranded.
United Airlines fell 2.9%, and American Airlines lost 3.9%.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell even more, 9.1%. It needs customers to have plenty of cash to spend after paying for their gasoline bills and other essentials.
The cruise operator also reported weaker revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit was better. Its forecast for profit this upcoming fiscal year was lower than analysts expected.
Hotels, discount retailers and other companies that benefit when customers have more cash in their pocket from lower fuel bills also lagged the market. MGM Resorts fell 3.1%, and Dollar Tree lost 4.1%.
Stocks in the housing industry also struggled as higher Treasury yields could translate into more expensive mortgage rates. Paint company Sherwin-Williams fell 2.1%, and homebuilder D.R. Horton lost 4.1%.
Helping to limit Wall Street's losses were oil companies, which benefited from the rising prices for crude. Exxon Mobil climbed 1.2%, and Occidental Petroleum rose 1.6%.
Companies that make equipment for the military also strengthened. Lockheed Martin climbed 2.8%, and RTX rallied 4%.
Palantir Technologies, whose software helps global defense agencies, jumped 6.5% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500.
Big Tech stocks also helped to support the market. Nvidia rose 2.9% and was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Germany’s DAX lost 2.6%, France’s CAC 40 fell 2.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.1% for some of the world’s larger losses.
Stocks in Shanghai were an outlier and rose 0.5%.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.05% from 3.97% late Friday. A report showing growth for U.S. manufacturing was better than economists expected last month also helped to lift yields.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
James Denaro, center, and others work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Trader John Bishop works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Iraqi Shiite carry a mock coffin of Iranian supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral, in Najaf, Iraq, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, March 1, 2026, in Tokyo.(Yohei Fukai/Kyodo News via AP)
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FILE - Fishermen work in front of oil tankers south of the Strait of Hormuz Jan. 19, 2012, offshore the town of Ras Al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
Snow falls outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
