New WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement: A Milestone for Women’s Basketball
After seventeen months of intense negotiations, including a marathon 100-hour session in the last week, the WNBA is about to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that will mark the start of the 2026 season. This agreement, which comes after months of talks since the end of the 2025 season, promises to transform the league’s landscape.
The negotiations were sometimes tense, generating uncertainty about the start of the 2026 season. However, this week’s negotiation sessions culminated in a verbal agreement on the terms of a new agreement that both the WNBA and the players’ association have celebrated as a historic achievement for the league, which will celebrate its 30th season this year.
Next, we will analyze the key details of the new CBA and how it will impact the 2026 season and beyond.
Both sides were seeking a “transformative” agreement, and this new CBA fulfills that goal. It represents a significant step forward that will lay the groundwork for future agreements. Unlike previous ones, which were more incremental, this agreement introduces important changes to the league’s financial structure, benefiting current and future players.
For the first time in league history, the salary system will be directly linked to a percentage of the league’s revenue. As the business grows, so will the players’ salaries. This represents a significant change from previous agreements, where salary caps were fixed figures that increased annually.
Participation in revenue is expected to be close to 20% during the term of the agreement, although the exact details of how this system will work are still to be defined.
The players, who in previous agreements felt they were leaving more money on the table than they wanted, shouldn’t feel that way this time. They defended their most important issues and negotiated them firmly.
Michael Voepel and Alexa Philippou
This agreement establishes wage and growth standards that did not exist six years ago, when the previous CBA was signed, which justifies the “transformative” rating.
Salaries and the First Millionaire Player
The salary cap in 2025 was around $1.5 million, and will rise to $7 million in 2026. The supermax salary will start at $1.4 million, a significant increase from $249,244 in 2025. The average salary will be around $600,000, a considerable jump from $120,000 in 2025, and the minimum salary will exceed $300,000, compared to $66,079 in 2025.
A’ja Wilson, a four-time MVP, is expected to sign a supermax contract with the Las Vegas Aces. Players like Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, and Kelsey Mitchell will also be in the conversation.
It is projected that the salary cap will exceed $10 million by the end of the agreement.
Calendar Changes
The 2026 season will maintain 44 matches, but will expand from there. The 2027-28 schedule will expand to a maximum of 50 matches in 2027, and that number will increase to 52 matches from 2029 to 2032.
Under the previous CBA, 44 games was the maximum allowed, and the 2025 season was the first to reach that figure. The increase in the schedule coincides with a new wave of league expansion.
The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire teams will join the league in 2026, followed by franchises in Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029), and Philadelphia (2030), bringing the league to a record 18 teams.
A term sheet was signed on Friday, a crucial step in the process. The players’ association will present the agreement to the players and answer their questions. Then, the players will vote on the agreement, and if it is approved by a simple majority, it will be formally ratified by the association. The agreement must also be approved by the WNBA Board of Governors.
The ratification period, which also involves drafting the actual contract (of hundreds of pages), could take several weeks.
Will the 2026 Season Start on Time?
Yes, the 30th season of the league will begin on May 8. The league, which published the 2026 schedule on January 21, stated that the extended negotiations would not impact the start of the season.
The deadlines for the college draft (April 13 in New York), the start of training camps, the first preseason games (April 25) and the opening games of the regular season (May 8) will remain unchanged.
Expansion Draft and Free Agency
In the coming weeks, the league will hold an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo teams. The expansion draft is expected to take place on April 6. On April 1, teams will begin designating players protected from being selected. A coin toss will determine which team gets the first selection and which team selects first in the college draft.
Free agency is scheduled to begin on April 7th. The player designation period will take place from April 7th to 8th, and negotiations can begin on April 9th. Signings will take place between April 12th and 18th.
Given that more than 75% of the league’s players are free agents (most avoided signing contracts that extended beyond the 2025 season to take advantage of potentially higher salaries in the new CBA), significant player movement in the WNBA is anticipated before the start of training camps on April 19.
