WNBA players have been clear about the fact that they want more. More respect. More money. More salary. More of the total profits. Higher salary cap.
WNBA Players Want A Revenue Sharing System With 30 Percent Of Gross Revenue & Salary Cap Of $10.5
And based upon the latest reports, the WNBA has acquiesced to most of their demands. However, with just over a week remaining until the Jan. 9 deadline for a new WNBA collective bargaining agreement, the league and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association are not close to a deal, ESPN reported on Wednesday.
In fact, reports indicate that the league and players association are in a stalemate concerning a number of basic points including a revenue-sharing system and the process of accounting for expenses.
WNBA president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN on Dec. 19, that the league’s revenue sharing model is “not adequate.”
According to the league, who hasn’t denied that higher pay is in order, the latest proposal from the WNBPA (30% of gross revenue for the players and a salary cap of around $10.5 million) isn’t a sustainable financial model to ensure league survival. They claim these increases would cost the WNBA approximately $700 million over the length of the pact. League sources report that such a loss would be more than the combined losses of the league and its teams in the WNBA’s first 39 years. WNBA’s counter proposal is a salary cap of $5 million with growth in line with revenue sharing over the deal.
WNBA Offers 50 Percent Net Revenue, $410K Increase In Salary, $2M Max Salaries
The last reported proposal from the WNBA side also offered 50-plus-percent of net revenue (revenue subtracting expenses), raising average salaries from $120,000 to $530,000 and max salaries from $249,244 to $1.3 million immediately and close to $2 million over the course of the deal.
Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier has been very outspoken against the league and WNBA Commissioner Catherine Engelbert, which made these negotiations very contentious from the start.
Collier, the WNBPA vice president, called a press conference and said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was providing the “worst leadership in the world.”
“For too long I have tried to have these conversations in private,” Collier added. “But it’s clear there’s no intention of accepting there’s a problem (with the league’s officiating, in particular). The league has made it clear, it isn’t about innovation. It isn’t about collaboration. It’s about control and power.”
Other less outspoken voices, including Caitlin Clark agreed with Collier.
“I have great respect for Phee, and I think she made a lot of very valid points,” Clark told reporters back in October. “I think, what people need to understand, we need great leadership in this time across all levels. This is straight up the most important moment in this league’s history… This is a moment we have to capitalize on.”
Player rep Satou Sabally of the Phoenix Mercury called the league’s first CBA offer “a slap in the face.”
In mid-December, WNBA players put their chips in the middle of the court and voted to give WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and the executive committee the authority to potentially initiate a strike.
“The players have spoken,” the WNBPA said in a statement. “Through a decisive vote with historic participation, our membership has authorized the WNBPA’s Executive Committee to call a strike when necessary. The players’ decision is an unavoidable response to the state of negotiations with the WNBA and its teams.”
The WNBA has so many things going on as the league expands and everyone tries to get a gauge on how much the league makes, what its worth and what the players (outside of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, A’ja Wilson and a few other familiar names) should be compensated with.
Studbudz Explain What’s Going On With WNBA CBA Negotiations
WNBA All-Star Courtney Williams and backcourt mate Natisha Hiedeman broke down the current CBA negotiations between the players and the WNBA on the “Studbudz” Twitch stream.
Williams and Hiedeman both feel that the league is trying to shortchange them and rush them into a bad deal. They also show that many platters have no idea how the pay flow is structured or what monies they are entitled to.
“It’s crazy…the league wants to pay themselves before they pay us,” Williams said. When they pay themselves it leaves less than 30 percent for us to split with them. Which leaves less than 15 percent for the players.”
Heideman added: “And when they grow year by year. They gonna keep growing and we gonna flatline.”
Williams continued, saying, “They want us to stay at that less than 15 percent each year. So if the league grows in ‘26, ‘27, ‘28, ‘29… we staying at that less than 50 the whole way…They want to pay all their expenses first, but they don’t consider the players expenses but consider coaches expenses.”
“They still wanna pay coaches more than they pay an A’ja Wilson or a Napheesa Collier. There’s gonna be coaches making more money than them, Williams lamented, before Heideman interjected, “When they are the superstars of the league.”
WNBA Expansion Confuses Things
Complicating matters and driving the stubbornness of the WNBA players is the league’s plans to introduce expansion teams in Portland and Toronto in 2026 to bring its number of teams to 15. A strike could not only affect that timeline but lead to more losses for the league. Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia recently paid $250M each to join the league between 2028 and 2030. However, the league considers expansion fees a transaction that doesn’t generate any revenue. For now, the preexisting teams get a portion of the fee but will eventually lose some of that future revenue to other expansion teams.
The players consider the fee real money that still feeds the owners’ bottom line.
WNBA Projects Losses In Latest Proposal, Union Disagrees
The union believes that its revenue sharing model still puts the league in a “profitable position,” according to sources within the WNBPA. There have been two extensions already in CBA negotiations that began over a year ago. Still, Ogwumike says it almost feels like negotiations are “a bit in their infancy”
