Sources: WNBA’s new CBA proposal includes housing provisions

The WNBA’s latest collective bargaining agreement proposal from Friday included some concessions on housing and facility standards, but did not include a significant update on the league’s proposed revenue sharing system, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

Sources said as part of the housing concessions, players at their applicable minimum salary and those with zero years of service will be provided one-bedroom apartments for the first three years of the new deal. According to sources, studio apartments will be provided to developmental players.

It’s unclear how players received the new CBA offer, which came Friday, more than six weeks after the players union made its last offer around Christmas time.

The League had not previously included any housing provisions in its proposals. WNBA teams have been required to provide housing for players since the first CBA approval in 1999. In the previous agreement, teams could provide housing in the form of one-bedroom apartments or stipends.

The biggest area of ​​disagreement between the parties so far has been how revenue sharing should work in a new deal.

The league has proposed that players will receive an average of more than 70% of net revenue, defined as revenue after deducting expenses. Its latest offer includes a $5.65 million salary cap in 2026 (up from about $1.5 million in 2025) and will increase in subsequent years in line with revenue growth.

In its previous proposal, the maximum salary, including revenue share payments, was projected to be $1.3 million in 2026 and reach $2 million in 2031. The Supermax came in at $249,000 in 2025. The average player salary, including revenue sharing, was projected to reach $540,000 in 2026 and $780,000 by 2031, up from $120,000 in 2025.

Meanwhile, the players have proposed a salary cap of $10.5 million and insisted on receiving 30% of gross revenue – defined as revenue before expenses are deducted – while the league’s proposal is less than 15% of gross revenue.

Multiple sources told ESPN that the league estimated that the union’s plan would result in a $700 million loss over the course of the agreement and would put the league’s financial health at risk. The union believes its revenue sharing model still puts the league in a “profitable position,” a separate source close to the negotiations said, and called the league’s projected loss figure “absolutely incorrect,” citing differences in whether expansion fees are included in those calculations.

On Monday, the league and players union met in a key bargaining session that also included players and owners. According to presentation slides of the meeting obtained by ESPN, the league showed players it is also offering more acceptable guaranteed contracts and two new developmental player roster spots per team.

The slides also indicate that the league’s previous proposal included pregnant player trade consent, elimination of marijuana testing, higher team contributions to players’ 401(k) retirement accounts, new team staffing requirements and a recognition payment for current retirees.

A source said players at Monday’s meeting stressed the importance of housing and facility standards and the league’s new proposal includes some of the latter, though it’s not clear what those new standards are.

Another source told ESPN that WNBPA leadership will meet in the coming days to review the league’s proposal. The WNBPA player body gave the executive committee the authority to call a strike in December, which players have described as being in their back pocket.

The league’s 2026 season is scheduled to end on May 8, but first a new CBA must be agreed upon, as well as a two-team expansion draft and free agency for all but two of the league’s veterans.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.