What we’re hearing on the WNBA’s CBA negotiations

A year ago Tuesday, the WNBA players union announced that players would opt out of their current collective bargaining agreement with the league that was set to expire after the 2025 season.

This was the decision of the WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike It was called “a defining moment not only for the WNBA, but for all of us who believe in progress.” The players underlined their desire for a new economic model based on equity – as Ogwumike said, “claiming our fair share in the business we have built” was a top priority.

Even 12 months after the initial announcement, there are no signs that a new agreement will be reached by the time the current deal expires on October 31. Asked whether a deal would be reached by that date, WNBPA senior advisor and legal counsel Erin Drake said on the “Good Game with Sarah Spain” podcast last week, “Unfortunately, I’m not convinced.”

Since October 2024, tensions have only increased, with players expressing frustration at the lack of progress in negotiations. In late September, WNBPA vice president and peerless co-founder Nafeesa Collier WNBA leadership on explosives called “the worst in the world…” exit interview Which received support from several WNBA stars.

With the 2025 season and finals now in the past, all eyes are on what’s happening at the bargaining table. WNBPA executive director Terry Jackson told ESPN that the players are as determined as ever.

,[The players are] “Really crystal clear and laser focused on what they’re fighting for,” Jackson said this week, “and what he said a year ago was true six months ago, six weeks ago, six days ago.”

Now is not the time to panic: Both sides could agree to an extension that would give them more time to negotiate in November or beyond. Still, with the clock ticking, ESPN explores the latest we’ve heard on the most consequential set of CBA negotiations in league history.

current status of conversation

When the league and the WNBPA hold bargaining sessions, there can be a range of stakeholders in the room, and it’s not always the same people at each meeting, sources familiar with the negotiations said. The WNBA and NBA staff, as well as their outside counsel, represent the league’s side of the aisle, with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert attending all substantive bargaining meetings, which is consistent with previous negotiations in 2019 and the actions of former league presidents. WNBPA staff and outside counsel are the main participants on the union side, although WNBPA advisors and player leadership may also participate.

The CBA Committee of Players usually consists of at least 33 players: 26 player representatives (two per team), seven members of the executive committee (Ogwumike, kelsey plum, elizabeth williams, briana turner, Alisha Clarkcollier 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, which consists of seven team owners and executives: Suzanne Abair atlanta dreamK Greg Bibb dallas wingsof guinea guilder seattle stormKelly Krauskopf indiana feverMatt Ishbia’s phoenix mercuryof Nadia Rawlinson chicago sky and Jennifer Rizzotti’s connecticut sunThat committee does not participate in the bargaining sessions.

The league and the WNBPA first met in December for preliminary talks on the new CBA and held a large in-person meeting of Labor Relations Committee representatives and more than 40 players over the All-Star weekend in late July.

Since then, the WNBPA has met with player leadership “weekly, if not a couple of times a week,” according to one source, and the two sides have continued to negotiate with regularity, though the number of participants and scope has fluctuated.

Biggest Hurdle: Pay Model

During the playoffs, Las Vegas Aces guard chelsea gray He said the negotiations “are not where we thought and wanted to be at this time. It’s market share, it’s salaries, it’s player safety, it’s everything.”

But the biggest stumbling blocks for players in negotiations have always revolved around the different ways each side believes salaries should be set.

The WNBPA is pushing for a system where the percentage of revenue going toward salaries increases with occupation. For example, in the NBA, the salary cap is set by basketball-related income (BRI), with players taking home about half of that figure set by their NBA.

In contrast, WNBA players say the league’s proposals feature a salary cap that increases at a fixed rate over time – similar to what is established in the current CBA, with annual 3% increases.

The league’s salary cap in 2025 was $1,507,100, with a minimum salary of $66,079 and a supermax of $249,244.

The current CBA also has a revenue sharing provision that would result in players being paid directly if the league achieves certain revenue targets, but this has not yet been introduced.

In a statement provided to ESPN, a WNBA spokesperson said, “As the WNBA has repeatedly said, we agree with the players that they deserve to be paid more and, importantly, to participate in the success and growth of the league by sharing in revenues. The comprehensive proposal we have provided to the Players Association includes significant guaranteed salary cap increases and substantial uncapped revenue sharing that the league “Enables players’ salaries to increase as the business grows.”

The difference in philosophy was on display Tuesday at the NBA Commissioner’s Adam Silver said on the “Today Show” WNBA players will get a “big increase” in pay in their new collective bargaining agreement, but pointed to an “absolute number” as a way to measure that increase as opposed to a share of revenue.

“I think ‘share’ isn’t the right way to look at it because there’s so much revenue in the NBA,” Silver said. “I think you have to look at the absolute numbers in terms of what they’re making, and they’re going to get a big raise in this round of collective bargaining, and they deserve it.” On an Instagram Story, the WNBPA reposted a clip of Silver’s comments that showed her repeatedly repeating, “I guess ‘share’ is not the right way to look at this,” with the caption, “Don’t want to share?” And tagging Silver.

“When the players opted out a year ago, they made it clear they wanted a pay system that values ​​their labor and allows them to grow with the business they are running, very clearly,” Jackson told ESPN in a statement. “The league’s response has been to run out of time, put lipstick on a pig, and re-implement a system that is not tied to any part of the business and deliberately undervalues ​​the players. The fact that the league now wants to call any part of its proposal ‘uncapped’ is why its leadership, transparency and accountability are being challenged right now.

Adam Silver himself said this on behalf of the WNBA. ‘Share is not a word.’ It’s not in their vocabulary.”

The WNBA has experienced record growth since the last CBA, and especially in the last two years, with attendance, viewership, merchandise sales, investments and franchise valuations skyrocketing and a new $2.2 billion media deal on the way. But during the finals, Engelbert spoke about the importance of “balancing” player salary increases with “the long-term viability of the league.”

Engelbert said, “I think we all agree that we’re trying to return every possible dollar to the players, but we also want to encourage investment from the owners.” “We want the owners to have a viable business. Obviously, we are looking at expanding to 18 teams by the end of the decade. So, it’s important that the incoming owners have a viable economic model for the future.”

what happens next?

However, the current CBA expires nine days from now Sophie Cunningham “A potential lockout… is kind of moving forward,” he said in his exit interview, adding that just because the deadline has passed doesn’t mean it will happen automatically.

It is more likely that if an agreement is not reached before then, the league and union will agree to an extension to allow more time to reach an agreement. Engelbert mentioned it during her WNBA Finals news conference.

“Although I expect we will make the October 31 deadline and from that perspective it is a realistic deadline, we have extended deadlines in the past,” he said.

This happened before the last CBA expired, which had an initial deadline of October 31, 2019. Negotiations were originally extended by 60 days to December 31, and the new CBA was agreed upon on January 14, 2020. It was signed three days later.

A league source told ESPN last week that he was not confident a new deal would be agreed upon by the Halloween deadline, but was optimistic there would be no work disruptions.

“At the end of the day, work stoppage benefits no one,” the source said. “I don’t know exactly how far apart people are. But generally, when I’ve seen these things, usually as it gets closer to tough times, everyone comes a little closer together, and we can make a deal that’s fairly fair.”

This year, however, there are widespread concerns over extending the deadline: two new franchises, Toronto and Portland, are beginning play next season, with both teams set to have an expansion draft ahead of a supersized free agency that will include the majority of the league’s players who are not currently on their new contracts.

The parameters for the expansion draft should be determined in the new CBA. But as the current deadline approaches, a league source told ESPN that no rules or guidelines have been given to any franchise.

draft for Golden State Valkyries Held on December 6, 2024, the league’s 12 teams were allowed to protect six players. Golden State selected 11 players, taking one from each team except Seattle; The Valkyries forwarded the Storm’s available players.

Since Toronto and Portland will be participating in this expansion draft – meaning two teams will be filling out the roster – there is thought that perhaps other teams may only be able to protect five players this time.

Assuming that an extension to the CBA talks has been agreed upon, the source said his expectation is that the draft extension will be completed as soon as possible once the CBA is established. But, without knowing how long the expansion will last, it is difficult to plan for the two new franchises without a specific timeline or any set rules.