WNBA's Engelbert: Progress in negotiations and a deal needed by Monday to avoid season disruption

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Friday night that progress is being made toward a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union and there's an urgency to get a deal done by Monday to avoid disruptions to the upcoming season.

"I've never been a betting woman in my life and I'm not going to start now. But we have to get a deal done by Monday," Engelbert said during a break in in-person negotiations. "We have to get it done without disrupting some part of the fact that we've got to run this two team expansion [draft]. We got to get free agency going. We gotta get the college draft."

The union concurred that there has been movement towards a new CBA and there seems to be a sense of urgency on both sides since the start of in-person meetings.

"We have been there committed round the clock and speaking very passionately and factually," players' union executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said. "As long as movement keeps us going in a forward direction, then I think we're good."

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The two sides have spent nearly 48 hours discussing a new CBA since first getting together in person on Tuesday — the day the league had originally said there would need to be at least a handshake agreement for the season to start on time.

"It's day four and there's been movement, I think the league and particularly the commissioner and her team have heard that transformational remains the goal," Jackson said. "Salaries would be tied to revenue in a meaningful way is the players' top priority or one of their top priorities."

There's still a lot of work to get done. Revenue sharing has been the biggest difference for the two sides.

"We're trying to put a package together, salaries and