WNBA: CBA negotiations hanging by a thread, what will happen?

WNBA CBA Negotiations: What’s at Stake?

With Thanksgiving already in the rearview mirror and the calendar about to turn to December, a crucial decision awaits those interested in the WNBA. The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires on Sunday, after a 30-day extension agreed upon before Halloween. Signs point to an agreement not being reached by Sunday. What will happen then with the negotiations between the league and the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA)? And under what conditions could a work stoppage occur?

Possible Scenarios After the Extension

If there is no agreement at the end of the 30 days, the parties could agree to another extension, as happened at the end of October, with the aim of continuing negotiations and getting closer to the completion of a new agreement. However, even without an extension and with the expiration of the current agreement, there would not automatically be a work stoppage. Instead, a phase called “statu quo” would follow. This period would maintain the working conditions of the current CBA and, even if there were no new agreement, the league and the union could continue negotiating.

However, if there were no extension, it would open the door to a possible work stoppage: a strike initiated by the players or a lockout initiated by the owners.

Impact of Extensions and the Tight Schedule

A new extension is a logical measure for both parties to continue negotiating in good faith and move closer to finalizing an agreement. For reference, this current CBA was not ratified until January 2020, after months of negotiations during 2019. Therefore, working beyond the initial deadline is not unprecedented. However, prolonged labor uncertainty has real business implications. The WNBA and the players are working with a unique time constraint this year. The league still needs to hold a two-team expansion draft for the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo, which can only occur after a new CBA is completed. Then, in an unprecedented offseason, almost all veteran players in the league will be free agents, at a time that some predict will resemble the “Wild West”. The Golden State Valkyries’ expansion draft was held in early December last year. Free agency usually takes place in January, and players can sign contracts starting February 1st. The longer it takes for an agreement to be reached, the longer these crucial parts of the league’s offseason will remain in limbo, and the probability increases that everything will have to happen within a reduced timeframe.

Key Points in Negotiations

Last week, news of a WNBA proposal leaked, which included significant salary increases, as well as a revenue-sharing component, which together offered players a maximum of over $1.1 million and a minimum of over $220,000. However, sources reported that the WNBPA did not consider this proposal to move things forward, a sentiment that many players echoed when surveyed. The players’ main concern is that they did not feel the proposal included a system in which the salary cap, and therefore player salaries, would grow sufficiently with the business, as happens in the NBA, where the salary cap is directly determined by basketball-related income (BRI). The players no longer want a salary cap that, in their opinion, is chosen arbitrarily ($1,507,100 in 2025) and that grows at a fixed rate (3% annually under the current CBA). The current agreement also has a separate revenue sharing provision that grants direct payments to the players if the league reaches certain revenue targets (this has not yet happened, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic). The union responded in a statement that the proposal “dresses up a pig and recycles a system that is not tied to any part of the business and intentionally undervalues the players.” If both sides remain as distant as the players and the players’ union have indicated, reaching an agreement in the near future could remain difficult.

Current Status of Negotiations

The league and the union have sent updated proposals back and forth since last week. Even with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, they plan to meet throughout the week and into the weekend before the Sunday deadline. The league and the WNBPA could agree to another extension on the deadline; even if that doesn’t happen, a work stoppage wouldn’t automatically occur. They could continue to negotiate in a phase called “statu quo,” in which the working conditions of the current CBA would be maintained. But the lack of an extension could open the door to a strike (initiated by the players) or a lockout (initiated by the owners).

Expansion Draft and Accelerated Calendar

As the CBA deadline continues to be delayed, so does the expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, who will play their inaugural seasons in 2026. The expansion draft would be among the first tasks once a new CBA is established, and a league source said that both teams are trying to prepare for it. But they are “working with more questions than answers”. Last year, the Golden State Valkyries were informed of the format of their expansion draft a month before draft night, December 6th. Golden State was informed of the protected player lists from the other pre-existing teams 11 days before the draft. As things stand, Portland and Toronto have “nothing”. A draw will finally be held in which the winner will choose whether to select number 6 in the college draft and number 2 in the expansion draft, or number 7 in the college draft and number 1 in the expansion draft, but the date on which this will take place has not yet been set. The uncertainty has made it difficult for the Fire and Tempo to develop strategies as much as they would like at this point in the offseason, the source said. Although nothing is set in stone, they anticipate that the WNBA will model this expansion draft similarly, if not identically, to the 2000 expansion draft, the last time there was a multi-team expansion. In that year’s draft, pre-existing teams were allowed to protect five players from their current roster. The league source said that is likely to happen again with the Fire and the Tempo. Last year, teams were allowed to protect six players from the Valkyries. Sources said the expectation is that Toronto and Portland will be allowed to select only one free agent each, but that has not been confirmed. The league source said that around 85% of current players are free agents this winter, making it difficult for expansion teams to decide who they want to select. If they take a player from a team entering free agency, that player can still leave the expansion franchise and sign elsewhere as a free agent later. The WNBA’s free agency usually begins on January 11, and contracts can be signed starting February 1, with the season beginning annually in May. But as negotiations drag on, the source said they are preparing for an accelerated schedule. And in an extreme scenario, the source said they are even preparing for the expansion draft, free agency, and the college draft to be held between March and early April.

Priorities at the Negotiation Table

The conversation about the salary structure and revenue sharing has long been the centerpiece of this CBA negotiation. While significant salary increases are expected for the players, as they capitalize on an injection of capital and investment in the sport, both sides have not agreed on what those systems should look like. Those were some of the priorities that the players emphasized when they chose not to renew the current CBA in October 2024. The most important issues also include establishing minimum professional standards in the facilities and codifying the league’s charter travel program that was introduced at the beginning of the 2024 season. The league has said it wants to substantially increase player salaries and other cost commitments, while incentivizing owners to continue investing in the management of the business. The WNBA’s tremendous growth in recent years provides an opportunity for the business to move from operating at a loss to generating sustained profitability. The expansion of retirement and pregnancy/family planning benefits has also been at the forefront for players. After more than 40 players met with the league before the All-Star weekend at the end of July, Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBPA, said that those issues were the only two points on which both sides had agreed at that time. Prioritization, a set of rules that requires WNBA players competing in other leagues to report on time for WNBA training camp or else be suspended for the season, became a contentious issue after it was introduced in the last CBA. But owners are unlikely to want to relax those rules, especially amid expected WNBA salary increases. One source said the issue has not figured largely in negotiations so far and is not considered a major point of contention. The players have also expressed their desire to weaken or completely abolish the “central” system, similar to the NFL’s franchise tag, which was already greatly reduced in the last CBA. But the league is unlikely to want to give that up entirely, as it gives teams the opportunity to develop and retain drafted talent, which can create a competitive leveling effect. The league’s rigid salary cap and roster limits of 12 players (many franchises only have 11 players) have often frustrated team staff. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has previously said that the league prefers expansion as a way to increase its size rather than adding roster spots, while the league prefers not to soften the cap, a source said, as it believes that some teams spending significantly more than others would create an uneven playing field. Another issue that needs to be resolved is the number of games and scheduling in the future; a maximum of 44 games were allowed under the current CBA, and while the league may not always be able to maintain the exact same footprint due to international competitions, Engelbert has said that the league would like to try to stick to May to October, with some overlap in November as needed in a year like 2026, when the WNBA will break for the FIBA World Cup.

Impact of Alternative Leagues on Negotiations

WNBA players have competed in other leagues, historically internationally, since the league’s creation. But the domestic landscape changed dramatically last year when Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league founded by Stewart and Napheesa Collier, launched its inaugural season, which ran from January to March. Unrivaled has been characterized as an alternative for players who want to supplement their income without going abroad during the WNBA’s offseason, and league staff have said that Unrivaled does not intend to be a competitor to the WNBA. Even so, some players have indicated that they hope Unrivaled, with its high salaries and impressive player amenities, can put pressure on the WNBA during this current round of CBA negotiations. Unrivaled offered the players capital last year and, in the future, aims to provide an average salary of $200,000, which the league claims is the highest average salary in women’s professional team sports. In recent weeks, a new league called Project B has announced its intention to debut in November 2026 and operate until April 2027, with WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, and Jewell Loyd among its first public signatories. The league’s model features 66 players playing on an international circuit through Europe and Asia, similar to a Formula 1 format. In addition to having player capital, it is reported that their salaries reach seven figures, above what both the WNBA and Unrivaled offer (the latter’s schedule directly conflicts with the Project B schedule). Like Unrivaled, Project B says it is not a competing league to the WNBA. While prioritization rules ensure WNBA players arrive at training camp on time, the league has no plans to seek exclusivity—meaning its players would only play in the WNBA and nowhere else in the offseason—during this round of negotiations, a source said.

Draft Eligibility and Expansion Draft

The start of the college season has evoked a familiar question for basketball fans: Should the WNBA change its draft eligibility rules? Unlike the NBA’s “one-and-done” rule, players must be 22 years old in the calendar year of the WNBA draft to be eligible (unless they have graduated earlier). International players must turn 20 during the calendar year of the draft to be eligible. A source said that draft eligibility has not been a significant topic of discussion in the negotiations so far. As we have already discussed, the celebration of the WNBA expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire is one of the first things that will be done once a new CBA is established. The parameters for the expansion draft must be established in the new CBA, so no rules or guidelines have been given to the teams. But the expectation is that a coin flip will determine which of the two newcomers will choose first in the college and expansion drafts (i.e., the team that goes first in the expansion draft will pick seventh in the college draft, and whoever goes second in the expansion draft will pick sixth in the college draft; the number 6 pick is the first pick after the lottery picks). The Golden State Valkyries’ expansion draft was held on December 6 with the 12 league teams allowed to protect six players. Golden State selected 11 players, taking one from each team except Seattle. Since this expansion draft will have two teams building rosters, it is believed that perhaps the other teams in the league can only protect five players this time.

Where do the negotiations stand before the November 30 deadline?