WNBA: CBA negotiations on the brink, strike on the horizon?

WNBA Negotiations: Is a Deal or a Strike on the Horizon?

Last week, in New York, key meetings were held between team owners, presidents, general managers, and coaches of the WNBA. The question that dominated the conversations was: When will the league and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) reach a new collective bargaining agreement? Could a strike be on the horizon? On Tuesday night, new details were leaked: the league’s latest proposal includes revenue sharing with a maximum salary of over $1.1 million starting in 2026, with a minimum of over $220,000 and an average of over $460,000. The players’ stance on this proposal is still unknown and whether it will advance negotiations before the new deadline of November 30. A negotiation meeting was expected on Wednesday. The union did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday night. Job uncertainty could have serious consequences. The longer it takes without an agreement, the greater the repercussions will be. Without an agreement in sight, the damages begin to accumulate.

“The basketball calendar is already at a point where it will be affected. It’s already there,” a source said. “And when it comes to things like renovations and partnership opportunities, being here with uncertain labor negotiations, it’s already having an impact on the basketball calendar and the business.”

Source

One of the central issues in the collective bargaining is the salary structure and the distribution of income. Although significant salary increases are expected for the players, both parties have not reached an agreement on how these systems should be. The players highlighted several key points when choosing not to renew the current collective bargaining agreement in October 2024. Among the most important issues are the establishment of minimum professional standards in the facilities and the codification of the league’s charter travel program, which was introduced at the beginning of the 2024 season. The league has expressed its desire to substantially increase player salaries and other cost commitments, while incentivizing owners to continue investing in the operation of the business. The tremendous growth of the WNBA in recent years provides the opportunity to move from operating at a loss to building sustained profitability. The expansion of retirement benefits and family planning/pregnancy has also been a priority for the 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 face suspension for the season, became a controversial topic after it was introduced in the last collective bargaining agreement. But owners are unlikely to want to relax those rules, especially amid the expected salary increases in the WNBA. One source indicated that the issue has not been a major point in negotiations so far and is not considered a major point of controversy.

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 previous collective bargaining agreement. 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 limits, such as the salary cap and rosters 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 to be resolved is the number of games and scheduling in the future; there was a maximum of 44 games allowed in the current collective bargaining agreement, and although the league cannot always 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.

Do leagues like Unrivaled or Project B impact 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 off-season, 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 collective bargaining 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 in Europe and Asia, similar to a Formula 1 format. In addition to having player capital, it is reported that their salaries will reach seven figures, above what both the WNBA and Unrivaled (whose schedule directly conflicts with that of Project B) offer. 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.

Will eligibility for the WNBA draft change in this collective bargaining agreement?

The start of the college season has evoked a familiar question for basketball fans: Should the WNBA change its draft eligibility rules? Unlike the “one-and-done” rule in the NBA, 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 be 20 years old during the draft calendar year to be eligible.

A source indicated that draft eligibility has not been a significant topic of discussion in the negotiations so far.

Are there any updates regarding the expansion draft?

As we have already mentioned, 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 collective agreement comes into effect. The parameters for the expansion draft must be established in the new collective agreement, so no rules or guidelines have been given to the teams. But the expectation is that a coin toss 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 took place on December 6, and the 12 teams in the league were able 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.

The players chose not to renew the collective agreement almost a year ago. And now, almost all those who do not have a rookie contract will be free agents before next season.

What is the biggest problem keeping the parties apart?

In public comments, the players have hinted that the two sides are effectively speaking different languages at the negotiating table, and the main point of disagreement is how a salary system and revenue sharing should look. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on the “Today” show in October that WNBA players can expect a “significant increase” in their salaries. But players are seeking a salary system that grows with the business (as in the NBA, which uses basketball-related income to determine its salary cap) rather than a fixed-rate model in the current collective bargaining agreement, where the salary cap increases annually by 3%. The league’s salary cap was $1,507,100 in 2025, with a minimum salary of $66,079 and a supermax of $249,244. The current collective bargaining agreement also has a revenue-sharing provision that would result in direct payments to the players if the league reaches certain revenue targets, but it has not yet been activated. Silver said on the “Today” show that the distribution “is not the right way to look at it because there are many more revenues in the NBA”, suggesting that the expenses could still consume a very significant portion of the revenue pie compared to other sports leagues. The WNBPA said in October that the league has “put lipstick on a pig and has rehashed a system that is not tied to any part of the business and intentionally undervalues the players.” The league, for its part, has insisted that it has offered a “revenue sharing model without a cap that is directly linked to the league’s performance.” And it has continued to state that it wants, as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during the WNBA Finals, “to balance the significant increase in salaries and benefits with the long-term viability of the league” and that so far “the Players Association has not yet offered a viable economic proposal.”

What happens if there is no agreement at the end of the 30 days?

Another extension is always possible, although the WNBA has a lot to fit into this offseason. And even if the agreement expires, a work stoppage would not automatically follow. Technically, it is not necessary for there to be an extension for both parties to continue negotiating; instead, they would enter a phase called “status quo” in which the working conditions of the current collective agreement would remain in force. The problem: If there is no extension, it would open the door to a possible work stoppage, either a strike initiated by the players or a lockout initiated by the owners. So far, that is not an overwhelming concern. Even before the extension was agreed on October 30, sources throughout the league said they did not believe a work stoppage was imminent.

What’s up with this condensed offseason calendar? What needs to happen before next season can begin?

A lot, starting with an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo. Once that’s done, free agency offers unprecedented uncertainty with almost half of the league’s players unrestricted. The situation is very different from the collective bargaining negotiations that dragged on well into the spring of 2003. That collective bargaining agreement introduced free agency for the first time, and only for a limited number of players, which means the league could go from a preliminary agreement with the players on an agreement on April 18 to the start of training camp two weeks later, on May 1, with the WNBA draft and a dispersal draft in between. We saw the NBA go from a preliminary agreement to end its 2011 lockout on November 26 to training camps starting on December 9, less than two weeks later, but the league was able to hold free agency at the same time. That’s not realistic given the scope of WNBA free agency, and the new collective bargaining agreement could revise the salary cap in the WNBA more dramatically than we’ve seen from one NBA agreement to another. As a result, approximately three weeks is the fastest the WNBA could reasonably expect to go from an agreement to the celebration of practices. Ideally, of course, the league wants to move towards an agreement in early January to avoid delaying the typical off-season schedule too substantially. That is especially important for Fire and Tempo, which could promote their inaugural season by having real players on their roster.

How do negotiations work in practice?

When the league and the WNBPA hold negotiation sessions, there can be a variety of stakeholders in the room, and they are not always the same people at each meeting, sources familiar with the negotiations said. WNBA and NBA staff, as well as their external advisors, represent the league’s side, and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert attends all substantive negotiation meetings, according to previous negotiations in 2019 and with the actions of former league presidents. WNBPA staff and external advisors are the main participants on the union side, although WNBPA advisors and player leadership may also attend.

The collective bargaining agreement committee for the players is usually made up of at least 33 players: the 26 player representatives (two per team), seven executive committee members (Nneka Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum, Elizabeth Williams, Brianna Turner, Alysha Clark, Napheesa Collier, and Breanna Stewart) and some other players outside of those groups who have chosen to participate. The league has its own version of that group, the labor relations committee, with seven team owners and executives: Suzanne Abair of the Atlanta Dream, Greg Bibb of the Dallas Wings, Ginny Gilder of the Seattle Storm, Kelly Krauskopf of the Indiana Fever, Mat Ishbia of the Phoenix Mercury, Nadia Rawlinson of the Chicago Sky, and Jennifer Rizzotti of the Connecticut Sun. That committee does not participate in the negotiation sessions. The league and the WNBPA first met in December 2024 for a preliminary conversation about the new collective bargaining agreement and held a larger in-person meeting with representatives from the labor relations committee of more than 40 players on All-Star weekend at the end of July. Since then, the WNBPA has met with player leadership “weekly, if not a couple of times a week,” according to a source, and the two sides have continued to talk regularly, although the participants and scope have fluctuated.