March 18, 2026 • 13 mins
A Game Recognize Game emergency pod: Breanna Stewart jumps on solo to take fans inside the room for the newly agreed-upon WNBA CBA. From the tension and tough conversations to the moment the deal finally came together, Stewie shares a firsthand account of what made this agreement truly transformational for women’s basketball.
She breaks down what this means for players and the future of the league — and also gives a behind-the-scenes look at the lighter moments, including what the executive committee ordered to eat and who came out on top in Pop-a-Shot.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to a special edition of Game Recognized Game with
Stuie and Miles. It is just me right now. Miles
is flying to Utah and I'm exhausted, but I had
to jump on the pod and give you guys the
inside info on the new CBA agreement. Yeah, I am
actually exhausted because since Tuesday, I've been going into the
(00:29):
office since like eleven eleven or twelve in the morning
and then we leave at midnight or the latest was
three thirty like last night. But a little bit of
a breakdown, Okay, the CBA negotiation process over the past week.
(00:50):
We met with the league for the first time last Tuesday,
and it was like a positive It's been positive, Like
the the actual meetings have been positive. It's just a
slow process. And that's something that I didn't really realize
is like how long it takes for language to be
drafted and created and agreed upon and the back and
(01:15):
forth between the lawyers. And that's kind of where I'm like,
I definitely don't want to be a lawyer. Like ever,
they're great at what they do, not my interest or
my hobby at this point. But I think that you know,
from our side, from the EC we were able to
have our president Nakaguk in the room the entire time.
(01:38):
We had Alisa Clark, Brianna Turner, myself, and Nafisa Collie
or she was in the room for a little bit
and throughout the entire week, we were able to to
kind of give the player perspective on what we thought
and also literally making decisions kind of in real time
(01:59):
as far as what would be the most beneficial for
the entire league and not wanting to leave anyone out
or leave anyone behind in this process. We have signed
a transformational well, we've agreed to a transformational CBA. The
term sheet is still being written, so it's not officially
signed yet, but we have like a verbal agreement, a
(02:21):
handshake agreement, and that's what happened last night. We also
like popped champagne over it because I think both sides
deserved it, and we're working tirelessly to kind of get
this done. The part that made this process so difficult
was just just knowing that there was a lot to
be done. I think that in order to have a
(02:44):
transformational CBA, that means that there's a lot of new
topics that are kind of coming into play. Obviously, you
guys know we were fighting for redshare, and we never
had redshare before. We had more of like a fixed
salary in previous cbas and even in the last one,
like the max was to it got up to like
(03:04):
two hundred and fifty thousand, which seems like a lot.
But when you get into a red shirt type of
system and you guys have seen or maybe have seen,
or you'll see officially soon that that super max number
and all of those other numbers will elevate to a
way higher level than we've ever been in before. For
(03:30):
me personally, being like stuck in these not stuck. I
wasn't stuck, but being in these negotiations and in these
rooms for so long it was it was a learning
curve about the process of it all. But definitely like
an appreciation to our side, our lawyers, and the league
(03:54):
side for all the work that they've been able to do.
Like we the players, we left it midnight one two
am on most nights, and they stayed until like four
or five am most nights. So I have to give
a shout out to our w NBPA staff, our legal team,
and obviously the WBA side as well for really being
(04:18):
able to do whatever it takes to get this same home.
And I think the thing that people don't really realize
is the fact that you know you're you're not seeing
your families, You're you're literally gone. Like and for me,
I was I would see my kids in the morning.
I would probably get back here at two am, go
(04:38):
to sleep, wake up at seven, bring my kids to school,
and then shortly thereafter go back to Manhattan and meet
at either the PA office, the League office, or the
Langham which is really nice by the way, but I've
been in their conference room for far too many hours. Sorry,
(05:01):
I'm thirsty. This deal is definitely going to be a
huge win. The process of how it goes now is
you need that term sheet final and then from there
we will explain it to all of our players, and
then from there we need to have player players vote,
(05:22):
and in order to have the CBA be approved, we
need majority to vote yes, and that means fifty one
percent of the league needs to vote yes for this
CBA to pass. Going into the specifics of the transformational part,
the biggest part is going to be the rep share.
(05:45):
Knowing that we are now like in partnership, we were
always in partnership with the WBA, but even more so,
now we're in collaboration, We're we're basically in lockstep because
as the WBA grows and succeeds, the share of the
players grows and succeeds, and our business is now hand
(06:07):
in hand, directly tied to one another. So that's the
biggest transformational growth. Obviously, as we have new TV deals
coming in to picture, new sponsors coming into picture, it
all matters, and it all creates this bigger like ecosystem
for dollars to be spread out to the players. I
(06:33):
think that what the CBA is going to mean for
women's basketball as a whole is it's like we're literally
leveling up. And I think that it's historic because not
only is this deal going to continue to elevate all
(06:58):
of our current players and also potentially bring in an
opportunity to create generational wealth based on how you handle
your money and where it's being invested in that type
of thing, and I think that that's really really cool
and really special. But with with how our players always
(07:21):
are is we're always remembering and respecting those that were before,
so this deal will also be able to pay respects
to the ones that have paved the way in the
WBA to get us to where we are now. And
that's something that's most exciting to me is you know
when you when you add something new like that, you
don't know where to start. But we were able to
find a common ground with the league and really just
(07:47):
make this thing so not only will the present and
future feel the ramifications of this, but also the past.
I think that when last night happened, I so basically
(08:11):
what happened was is players were in the room and
Terry r, executive director of the WMBPA, came in and said,
we're gonna go meet with the league. We're gonna have
a meeting with the league. And this was at two am.
And then from there Kathy was in there with her
(08:33):
lawyers and her legal team and she basically said that
we have this has been a hard fought negotiation, but
we've definitely come to an agreement if you're willing to accept,
and we of course said yes, we accept, and from
(08:55):
there it was like the tension or the whatever was
was from across the table, the not the fight, but
the back and forth the business rapport that you need
to have when you're negotiating from one side of the
table to another that dropped in you know, we knew
(09:17):
that we're doing something that's gonna be monumental for for
everyone involved, and popped a few bottles of champagne to
to kind of celebrate with a little bit of cheersing.
And I got home. I was in bed by four
a m. And still not enough sleep to catch me
up from how much I've lost. I think that that
(09:39):
with all of this, the next step of growing the
game is just embracing it, just knowing that, you know,
we're going to be a part of a new standard,
a new spotlight, and the standard of showing that instead
of always fighting for how we need to be treated,
you're gonna to see it in real time, and you
(10:02):
know our value is going to be displayed based on
the CBA that we've created, and knowing that this one,
this one is transformational, and it's also the stepping stone
for for whatever the next one is going to be.
I think the one thing that I would love to
kind of say to the fans is that we appreciate
(10:24):
all that you've done to support us, and that didn't
and doesn't go unnoticed anytime you do it, knowing that
you know, you were fighting for our work just as
much as we were, and telling and saying pay the players,
and just supporting us throughout this this incredibly long and
bumpy journey. UH means a lot, because not only does
(10:46):
it show that you know, you support us when we're
on the court, but you also support us when we're
off the court. And and to me that's even more
than a fan. I feel like we're just kind of
like really just able to embrace each other and know that,
you know, especially if you've been here from the beginning,
(11:09):
we've we've come a long way, and we got a
long way to go. And as a league of women
who are continually and constantly fighting for more, we have
no plans for stopping that. But we are going to
enjoy and appreciate success as it comes. So thank you guys,
for sure. And while a lot of the time we
(11:31):
are talking about the CBA, there's also a lot of
time throughout this process where we were not where we
were waiting and watching the Oscars or watching basketball, or
ordering food or getting Magnolia Bakery. But I feel like
most recently, like Fie and I when she was here,
(11:53):
we were and the at the we were at the
league's office this night, and we were playing a shot
for a little bit because come to find out that
Papa shot in the league office, and it was just
like a little break from being being in the conference
room for a while, you know, people would take turns
(12:15):
kind of like taking laps or taking walks or doing
things or like wandering around just to kind of break
the day up a little bit. I beat thee and
Papa shot, but she said she said that her side
was broken, and then we switched sides and then I
still want so we'll we'll work on the Papa shot
with her. Yeah, we'll just we'll just get a little
(12:36):
better at that. But honestly, shout out to shout out
to the EC, Shout out to to our w M B,
p A, all of you guys. You guys know who
you are, and and we appreciate where we've gotten and
we wouldn't have gotten to where we are now without
every single one of you. And I'm really proud to
say that. And I can't wait to share more details
(12:58):
on this CBA. Thank you for listening. Miles and I
will hopefully be back together for the show very soon
and I will give you more CPA details Next time,
please subscribe to game recognized game. See you next time.
Welcome to a special edition of Game Recognized Game with
Stuie and Miles. It is just me right now. Miles
is flying to Utah and I'm exhausted, but I had
to jump on the pod and give you guys the
inside info on the new CBA agreement. Yeah, I am
actually exhausted because since Tuesday, I've been going into the
(00:29):
office since like eleven eleven or twelve in the morning
and then we leave at midnight or the latest was
three thirty like last night. But a little bit of
a breakdown, Okay, the CBA negotiation process over the past week.
(00:50):
We met with the league for the first time last Tuesday,
and it was like a positive It's been positive, Like
the the actual meetings have been positive. It's just a
slow process. And that's something that I didn't really realize
is like how long it takes for language to be
drafted and created and agreed upon and the back and
(01:15):
forth between the lawyers. And that's kind of where I'm like,
I definitely don't want to be a lawyer. Like ever,
they're great at what they do, not my interest or
my hobby at this point. But I think that you know,
from our side, from the EC we were able to
have our president Nakaguk in the room the entire time.
(01:38):
We had Alisa Clark, Brianna Turner, myself, and Nafisa Collie
or she was in the room for a little bit
and throughout the entire week, we were able to to
kind of give the player perspective on what we thought
and also literally making decisions kind of in real time
(01:59):
as far as what would be the most beneficial for
the entire league and not wanting to leave anyone out
or leave anyone behind in this process. We have signed
a transformational well, we've agreed to a transformational CBA. The
term sheet is still being written, so it's not officially
signed yet, but we have like a verbal agreement, a
(02:21):
handshake agreement, and that's what happened last night. We also
like popped champagne over it because I think both sides
deserved it, and we're working tirelessly to kind of get
this done. The part that made this process so difficult
was just just knowing that there was a lot to
be done. I think that in order to have a
(02:44):
transformational CBA, that means that there's a lot of new
topics that are kind of coming into play. Obviously, you
guys know we were fighting for redshare, and we never
had redshare before. We had more of like a fixed
salary in previous cbas and even in the last one,
like the max was to it got up to like
(03:04):
two hundred and fifty thousand, which seems like a lot.
But when you get into a red shirt type of
system and you guys have seen or maybe have seen,
or you'll see officially soon that that super max number
and all of those other numbers will elevate to a
way higher level than we've ever been in before. For
(03:30):
me personally, being like stuck in these not stuck. I
wasn't stuck, but being in these negotiations and in these
rooms for so long it was it was a learning
curve about the process of it all. But definitely like
an appreciation to our side, our lawyers, and the league
(03:54):
side for all the work that they've been able to do.
Like we the players, we left it midnight one two
am on most nights, and they stayed until like four
or five am most nights. So I have to give
a shout out to our w NBPA staff, our legal team,
and obviously the WBA side as well for really being
(04:18):
able to do whatever it takes to get this same home.
And I think the thing that people don't really realize
is the fact that you know you're you're not seeing
your families, You're you're literally gone. Like and for me,
I was I would see my kids in the morning.
I would probably get back here at two am, go
(04:38):
to sleep, wake up at seven, bring my kids to school,
and then shortly thereafter go back to Manhattan and meet
at either the PA office, the League office, or the
Langham which is really nice by the way, but I've
been in their conference room for far too many hours. Sorry,
(05:01):
I'm thirsty. This deal is definitely going to be a
huge win. The process of how it goes now is
you need that term sheet final and then from there
we will explain it to all of our players, and
then from there we need to have player players vote,
(05:22):
and in order to have the CBA be approved, we
need majority to vote yes, and that means fifty one
percent of the league needs to vote yes for this
CBA to pass. Going into the specifics of the transformational part,
the biggest part is going to be the rep share.
(05:45):
Knowing that we are now like in partnership, we were
always in partnership with the WBA, but even more so,
now we're in collaboration, We're we're basically in lockstep because
as the WBA grows and succeeds, the share of the
players grows and succeeds, and our business is now hand
(06:07):
in hand, directly tied to one another. So that's the
biggest transformational growth. Obviously, as we have new TV deals
coming in to picture, new sponsors coming into picture, it
all matters, and it all creates this bigger like ecosystem
for dollars to be spread out to the players. I
(06:33):
think that what the CBA is going to mean for
women's basketball as a whole is it's like we're literally
leveling up. And I think that it's historic because not
only is this deal going to continue to elevate all
(06:58):
of our current players and also potentially bring in an
opportunity to create generational wealth based on how you handle
your money and where it's being invested in that type
of thing, and I think that that's really really cool
and really special. But with with how our players always
(07:21):
are is we're always remembering and respecting those that were before,
so this deal will also be able to pay respects
to the ones that have paved the way in the
WBA to get us to where we are now. And
that's something that's most exciting to me is you know
when you when you add something new like that, you
don't know where to start. But we were able to
find a common ground with the league and really just
(07:47):
make this thing so not only will the present and
future feel the ramifications of this, but also the past.
I think that when last night happened, I so basically
(08:11):
what happened was is players were in the room and
Terry r, executive director of the WMBPA, came in and said,
we're gonna go meet with the league. We're gonna have
a meeting with the league. And this was at two am.
And then from there Kathy was in there with her
(08:33):
lawyers and her legal team and she basically said that
we have this has been a hard fought negotiation, but
we've definitely come to an agreement if you're willing to accept,
and we of course said yes, we accept, and from
(08:55):
there it was like the tension or the whatever was
was from across the table, the not the fight, but
the back and forth the business rapport that you need
to have when you're negotiating from one side of the
table to another that dropped in you know, we knew
(09:17):
that we're doing something that's gonna be monumental for for
everyone involved, and popped a few bottles of champagne to
to kind of celebrate with a little bit of cheersing.
And I got home. I was in bed by four
a m. And still not enough sleep to catch me
up from how much I've lost. I think that that
(09:39):
with all of this, the next step of growing the
game is just embracing it, just knowing that, you know,
we're going to be a part of a new standard,
a new spotlight, and the standard of showing that instead
of always fighting for how we need to be treated,
you're gonna to see it in real time, and you
(10:02):
know our value is going to be displayed based on
the CBA that we've created, and knowing that this one,
this one is transformational, and it's also the stepping stone
for for whatever the next one is going to be.
I think the one thing that I would love to
kind of say to the fans is that we appreciate
(10:24):
all that you've done to support us, and that didn't
and doesn't go unnoticed anytime you do it, knowing that
you know, you were fighting for our work just as
much as we were, and telling and saying pay the players,
and just supporting us throughout this this incredibly long and
bumpy journey. UH means a lot, because not only does
(10:46):
it show that you know, you support us when we're
on the court, but you also support us when we're
off the court. And and to me that's even more
than a fan. I feel like we're just kind of
like really just able to embrace each other and know that,
you know, especially if you've been here from the beginning,
(11:09):
we've we've come a long way, and we got a
long way to go. And as a league of women
who are continually and constantly fighting for more, we have
no plans for stopping that. But we are going to
enjoy and appreciate success as it comes. So thank you guys,
for sure. And while a lot of the time we
(11:31):
are talking about the CBA, there's also a lot of
time throughout this process where we were not where we
were waiting and watching the Oscars or watching basketball, or
ordering food or getting Magnolia Bakery. But I feel like
most recently, like Fie and I when she was here,
(11:53):
we were and the at the we were at the
league's office this night, and we were playing a shot
for a little bit because come to find out that
Papa shot in the league office, and it was just
like a little break from being being in the conference
room for a while, you know, people would take turns
(12:15):
kind of like taking laps or taking walks or doing
things or like wandering around just to kind of break
the day up a little bit. I beat thee and
Papa shot, but she said she said that her side
was broken, and then we switched sides and then I
still want so we'll we'll work on the Papa shot
with her. Yeah, we'll just we'll just get a little
(12:36):
better at that. But honestly, shout out to shout out
to the EC, Shout out to to our w M B,
p A, all of you guys. You guys know who
you are, and and we appreciate where we've gotten and
we wouldn't have gotten to where we are now without
every single one of you. And I'm really proud to
say that. And I can't wait to share more details
(12:58):
on this CBA. Thank you for listening. Miles and I
will hopefully be back together for the show very soon
and I will give you more CPA details Next time,
please subscribe to game recognized game. See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com