Imagine being a WNBA athlete. Seventeen months ago, you opted out of the current WNBA CBA, hoping to capitalize on the league’s rapid growth and finally earn the pay you felt you deserved. Fast forward to today, and there is still no clarity on whether a new deal will be reached. In a situation like this, tensions are bound to rise among players. And that’s exactly what the WNBPA is experiencing right now.

To make matters worse, an alleged survey leak has added even more pressure on the WNBPA as fans and players continue to wait for both sides to agree on a new WNBA CBA deal.

Ever since the league gave the union a March 10 deadline to finalize the new CBA or risk entering a lockout that could result in missed games, reports have continued to emerge suggesting there is a growing divide within the union over what the next step should be.

The best example of this came when when WNBPA executive committee members Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart sent a strongly worded three-page letter to executive director Terri Jackson, raising “serious concerns” about how the ongoing CBA negotiations are being handled.

The WNBPA comprises of four parts. At the top is the union staff, the group leading the CBA negotiations. It is headed by executive director Terri Jackson. She is supported by key staff members such as Erin Drake, the senior legal counsel, and Michael Goldsholl, the SVP of business and legal affairs. Jayne Appel-Marinelli handles player relations, while Andrea Bermudez serves as the managing director of operations.

Then comes the executive committee, which includes WNBA players like Nneka Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum, and Breanna Stewart, along with player representatives from each team. The rest of the league’s players come last in the chain. Clearly, there has been a communication gap, which is why tensions within the union have been rising rapidly.

To address these concerns, the union called an emergency meeting, with Terri Jackson writing in a letter that players would receive a survey in the coming days to gather feedback on the league’s current proposal. According to Front Office Sports, the union has used surveys at different stages of the negotiations to gauge player sentiment. However, this particular survey has now allegedly been leaked.

Once fans got hold of the survey and went through the questions, outrage quickly followed. Many felt the questions made little sense, sparking frustration across social media. Here are some of the reactions.

WNBA Labor Fight Escalates After Alleged Survey Leak Puts Union Under Spotlight

“Just looking at this WNBPA Survey….I literally have a migrane. 🤣 WTF IS THIS??? 🤣🤣🤣,” one fan said, while another joined in to say, “No way this is real? It’s a maze wtf.” One look at the questions and you would probably have the same reaction as these fans.

Take the first question in the survey, for example: “Would you accept the lead proposal of 50% of net revenue, which is less than 15% of gross revenue, in an eight year deal? Or ask the union to keep negotiating?” The biggest issue with this question is that the numbers themselves appear to be off…at least if the reports circulating about the proposal are to be believed.

As per reputed sources, the league is currently offering 70% of net revenue in its revenue sharing proposal and not 50. But the things get weirder, as with every question the survey asks the players to choose an option and if they don’t like it they are forced to answer another question in order to give their why. It reads more like a maze and its bound to confuse the players.

That’s exactly what one fan says, “The lawyer wordsmithing in this poll is absurd, bothering on fradulent. Key to it all is the first question intentionally mischaracterizing the % (it’s 70%, not 50%) and length of the CBA (it ends in ’31, so 6y). By guiding the players down the lane, everything else is tainted.”

The WNBPA also revealed on its social media channels that 84% of players said no to this question. A big reason for that could be the growing belief that the current WNBA CBA proposal favors the league’s elite stars more than the role players. That same issue was raised by Natasha Cloud, who spoke openly about the gap within the pay structure.

“My biggest concern has always been the middle man… In all of these CBAs, and this isn’t no knock on anyone, our rookies have been taken care of and our 1 percent has been taken care of and that’s still true in this CBA.”

With the league currently proposing a $5.75 million salary cap and offering more than $1 million in supermax contracts for elite players in its latest WNBA CBA offer, resource allocation for franchises would become extremely challenging. In such a scenario, teams would have limited room to distribute salaries, which means role players–or what Natasha Cloud refers to as the “middle” class–may not gain much from the new structure.

Another fan joined in to say, “Lol That’s crazy.” The problem with the survey is that while these questions may help understand what players want and what they don’t, most of these things are already well established. The players have already made it clear what their demands are when it comes to the revenue-sharing system and the other key issues. So why conduct this survey in the first place? Are you actually learning anything from this?

A counter argument could be that the survey was conducted in response to the letter sent by the likes of Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum. But even then, the survey doesn’t really solve anything. The March 10 deadline is approaching fast, and players have already made it clear they don’t want to miss games. So why is the WNBPA still moving at this pace? Are they actually prepared for the possibility of games being missed?

One fan certainly believes that is the case, writing, “The WNBPA is manipulating the players. This survey is highly misleading, and you can already predict the outcome based on the first question alone. WNBA players wake up. The old players are just ruining it. Fight for your right, negotiate don’t just say this or strike.”

There has been a big debate about veteran players. Those who may not necessarily land a supermax deal are possibly pushing for one final big paycheck before retiring. That could very well be the case. But at the same time, it’s important not to accuse anyone without proof. Every player deserves a pay rise. The WNBA is at an all-time high in terms of popularity, and those veteran players have played a huge role in building the league to where it is today.

The reality is that in the current WNBA CBA negotiations, a deal looks unlikely unless the revenue share increases from the roughly 70% net share the league is currently offering. The clock is ticking, and right now it does feel like the WNBPA could be preparing to call a strike.