NEW YORK (AP) — The W.N.B.A had a record year in terms of viewership and attendance growth, and with that the players now want a bigger piece of the financial pie.

The players’ union and league have until November 1 to potentially opt out of their current collective bargaining agreement. It’s likely the players will decide to do this before the deadline because they have a list of wants, including higher salaries as the WNBA enters a historic 11-year run. media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC at $200 million per year.

Breanna Stewart said there have been meetings within the players’ union, of which she is vice president. She hasn’t been able to make as many as she would like with her team, the New York Liberty, which is in the WNBA Finals now.

“They’ve been good, there’s been a lot of communication, things we want to do better, the time will come,” Stewart said. “It’s hard to navigate while the season is still going on. I think we’re pretty much at a place where we know what we want to do.

“Once we do that, we can have the conversation about how much of an uphill battle this is going to be in the new season.”

If the union withdraws, the current CBA, which was set to expire in 2027, will still be in effect next season, giving the two sides a year to reach an agreement.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in her state-of-the-league address before Game 1 of the Finals that she has been involved in union leadership all year.

“This will be an opportunity to listen to each other and take this competition to the next level for generations to come,” Engelbert said. “I look forward to building the future of the league and sitting down with the players. Whether they unsubscribe, don’t unsubscribe.

“I suspect that given the transformation of the league that we have worked so hard on and building this long-term economic model, we have already returned to the players through charter, through the play-off bonuses a few years ago with increase more than 50. %. So we will continue to do that, and when we get to the negotiating table, we will continue to talk about the issues that matter most to the players.”

Engelbert said that with the new media rights deal and many more corporate partners, the league’s strength is in a great place. She also said the players have gotten many more marketing deals, making them more household names.

“There’s virtually no sporting event you can call on that doesn’t have one of our players in an ad spot,” she said. “That didn’t happen five years ago. Look at Aliyah Boston and Sabrina (Ionescu) and A’ja (Wilson) and so many of our players in these ad spots. I think that’s also a good sign when we think about the future of this game and the future of the agreement between the Players’ Association and the owners.”

Stewart said some of the things the union would like to see in the next CBA include pensions, better childcare benefits and higher salaries. She would also like to see the charter system the league put in place this year put into writing.

“One thing I find really interesting is the pension and back pay for players with ‘x’ amount of service,” Stewart said. “The other thing is family planning and childcare benefits could be a little bit better.”

Currently, a player must have played in the league for eight years to benefit from this.

“Eight years of service is a long time,” Stewart said. “There aren’t many players who play in the league for eight years.”

Stewart also said she would like to see teams have the opportunity to have a million-dollar player. Currently, the highest salary is approximately $250,000.

“I think we need to make sure that the salary cap continues to grow and correlate with the TV deal,” she said. “I don’t know how to break that down.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball