The new WNBA CBA is almost over the finish line after both the players and the league's Board of Governors voted nearly unanimously to ratify the contract this week.
As details continue to emerge, ESPN reported that players will receive about 20% of the previous year's gross revenue via salaries and other benefits, resolving the deal's biggest wedge issue.
Minimum salaries will start at $270,000 based on years of service, with a max contract coming in at $1.19 million, and average rookie salaries reaching $386,000 for first-round draft picks — up from the roughly $75,000 that players like Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers banked in their rookie seasons.
The seven-year agreement also open up the possibility of a longer WNBA season, with the option to wrap play as late as November 21st in 2027 and — in order to allot for the LA Olympics — November 30th in 2028.
With the league's expansion plan targeting 18 teams by 2028, the 2027 season will likely span 50 games — up from 44 this year — with the potential to grow to 52 by 2029.
The CBA also includes upgrades to staffing and training facility standards, parental leave and protections, and merchandise licensing.
The WNBA CBA now moves to its final stage, with lawyers from the league and the players union set to officially sign off on the terms.
The WNBA submitted a new CBA offer this week while the players union publicly weighed the costs of calling for a strike should the parties not reach a deal by the league's March 10th deadline.
"I want to play, and players want to play," WNBPA first VP Kelsey Plum said prior to Monday's Unrivaled semifinals. "We're going to continue to negotiate and do everything we possibly can to get this done in a timely fashion."
"I think that while we still are fighting for a lot of different things, we have to realize that the rev share is a win, especially just even coming from the 2020 CBA and the ones before that," echoed fellow union VP Breanna Stewart. "Now, as the league makes money, we make money."
The WNBPA and the WNBA remain far apart on revenue sharing, with the league reportedly offering players 70% of net revenue minus expenses while the union pushes for 26% of gross revenue.
"At this point, it's not really a negotiation anymore. Both sides aren't moving," said Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers. "So, I feel like we need to continue to have these conversations, continue to actually have change implemented for us to move on our stance."
"We as players, we don't want a strike. We want to have a season," Bueckers continued. "But again, there's things that need to be handled, and we want to do it as professionals."
The WNBA continues making headlines amidst the ongoing CBA battle, with the WNBPA confirming Monday reports that the league passed the threshold for net revenue sharing for the first time in history last season.
The 13 teams who competed in the 2025 WNBA season will receive a total of $8 million out of an earned $16 million, with the funds split directly among active players from last year.
The league will invest the remaining $8 million into marketing agreements, in which select players receive promotional work for the WNBA in the offseason.
The players union has also begun distributing a total of $9.25 million of licensing revenue compiled from 2020 to 2025 to athletes playing during those years, with a maximum cap of $50,000 to those actively competing across all five seasons.
The news of the 2025 season's financial success comes on the same day that the WNBA set a hard deadline of Tuesday, March 10th, to reach a CBA deal, with revenue sharing still serving as the primary pain point between the league and the WNBPA.
While talks could continue past March 10th, the deadline serves as the final date before ongoing negotiations would delay the 2026 WNBA season, which is currently on track to tip off on Friday, May 8th.
As for next steps, ESPN reported Monday that over 50 players participated in a bargaining session earlier this week, with the union preparing a response to the league's Friday counterproposal.
The WNBA and WNBPA continue to spar over CBA details, with the league office reportedly issuing a quick response to the union's most recent offer on Friday.
Sources say Friday's draft fails to budge on the highly contested revenue sharing model, with the league holding strong in their previously offered 70% net revenue to players in contrast to the union's preferred gross revenue share.
The pair also remain far apart on salary cap, with the union proposing a $9.5 million cap in the first year in contrast to the WNBA's $5.65 million limit.
The latest WNBA offer has, however, addressed other concerns, guaranteeing new and minimum contract players housing for the first three years of the CBA while giving developmental players housing throughout the entirety of the agreement.
Other notable concessions include new developmental roster spots, increased 401(k) support, and guaranteed charter flights.
After six weeks of stalled talks opened the new year, both parties have sped up their response times as the 2026 WNBA season looms.
Without a deal, both free agency transactions and planned expansion drafts remain on ice — with less than 10 weeks until the season's scheduled tip-off.
"It is unfathomable that anyone would question our commitment to negotiations and desire to get a deal done after nearly a year and a half of pushing and pulling, meetings upon meetings, proposal after counter proposal," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson wrote last week in a message obtained by The Athletic.
Saying that the league and teams have "played games," Jackson doubled down on the union's offer.
"What we have proposed is very realistic."
The ball is back in the league's court, as the WNBPA reportedly countered the latest WNBA CBA proposal this week — with sources confirming that the players union made concessions on revenue sharing and housing in their Tuesday offer.
The WNBPA is now stipulating an average gross revenue share of 27.5% — down from 31% — starting at 25% in the first year with a less-than-$9.5 million salary cap.
The proposal also counters the WNBA's most recent housing offer, which only covered minimum salary, rookie players, and developmental athletes for the first three years of the CBA, by extending team-provided housing to all players — a provision that has existed in some form since the first-ever WNBA CBA in 1999.
However, the WNBPA also conceded a sunset clause, allowing teams to cease housing players earning a near-maximum salary after the first few years of the new CBA.
While the union appears open to shifting numbers, the proposal still demands a gross revenue sharing model, contrasting to the league's net model — a continued sticking point between the two parties.
"The Players Association's latest proposal remains unrealistic and would cause hundreds of millions of dollars of losses for our teams," the WNBA told ESPN in a statement.
"We still need to complete two Drafts, and free agency before the start of training camp and are running out of time. We believe the WNBA's proposal would result in a huge win for current players and generations to come."
The WNBA made a collective bargaining move on Friday, with sources telling ESPN that the league submitted a new CBA proposal more than six weeks after the WNBPA's most recent counteroffer.
The proposal reportedly features updated housing provisions granting both minimum salary and rookie players one-bedroom apartments while developmental players get studios for the first three years of the WNBA CBA.
The news follows last week's in-person sit-down between WNBA leadership and union reps — including WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike (Seattle Storm) and first VP Kelsey Plum (LA Sparks), as well as fellow VPs Alysha Clark (Washington Mystics) and Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty).
Revenue sharing, however, remains a wedge issue for the players' union — one that Friday's WNBA offer apparently doesn't address — with athletes requesting 30% of gross revenue while the league has instead offered 70% of net revenue after deducting upgraded travel and facility expenses.
The impasse could ultimately delay the 2026 WNBA season — set to open in May — as well as both expansion and rookie drafts.
Plus, the ongoing CBA talks are keeping an historic free agency period on indefinite hold — one that impacts 80% of current players.
“We made the point that once we nail [revenue sharing], we can get everything else done," Ogwumike said.
WNBA leadership is on the clock, as the league's front office failed to produce a new proposal during Monday's in-person CBA meeting with the players union.
"They volunteered that they did not have a proposal prepared at the top of the meeting," WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told Front Office Sports on Monday. "That kind of set the tone for the conversation because we were hoping to hear otherwise."
Reports now indicate that the WNBA plans to officially respond to the union's December CBA proposal, though the timeline for the league to do so remains unclear.
Negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA are currently at an impasse, as talks drag on months after the old contract's late-October expiration — and weeks past the double CBA deadline extensions — with a work stoppage still possible entering the 2026 season.
"After the meeting today, [a strike is] still on the table," WNBPA VP Alysha Clark told FOS on Monday.
However, the Washington Mystics forward also tempered the possibility of a work stoppage, adding "Until we get a response from the league about proposals, there's nothing that we've been able to negotiate and go back and forth with to even warrant 'Ok, what does a strike look like?'"
The WNBA's most recent proposal features a $1.3 million maximum salary, with the parties continuing to spar over a revenue sharing plan — arguably the highest priority item according to the players.
"The sooner it gets to a WNBA season, we're prepared to do it — to not play," WNBPA VP Breanna Stewart said on her Game Recognizes Game podcast this week. "But we don't want to. We want to play."
The WNBA and the WNBPA are literally coming to the table this week, with both parties meeting in-person on Monday as stalled CBA talks continue to delay offseason movement prior to the 2026 season.
WNBPA executive committee members Nneka Ogwumike (Seattle Storm), Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), and Kelsey Plum (LA Sparks) will attend Monday's CBA negotiations in New York alongside WNBA, team, and union leadership.
"I think we'll learn a lot from this meeting," WNBPA first VP Plum said from the Unrivaled tour stop in Philadelphia on Friday. "I think everyone understands what's at stake, timeline-wise."
The two parties reportedly remain far apart on wedge topics like revenue sharing, three months after the previous CBA expired.
According to sources, Monday will mark the first full CBA meeting between the WNBPA and WNBA in over a month, with offseason transactions currently left in limbo while other league operations continue under a status quo mechanism.
"At the end of the day, we're human beings. I think conversation face-to-face goes a long way," Plum continued. "To be able to sit down face-to-face and say, 'This is how I feel, this is how you feel, let's see what we can do from there.'"
"I'm just excited for the opportunity to be able to be there in-person with other players that are really invested in this," Plum added.
The WNBA and WNBPA remain in a negotiations deadlock, with New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart telling reporters that the two parties will not reach a CBA resolution before Friday night's extended deadline expires.
"We are not coming to an agreement by tomorrow, I can tell you that," Stewart said Thursday from Unrivaled 3×3's Miami campus. "We're just going to continue to negotiate in good faith."
The WNBA will now enter into a status quo period under the old CBA, in which negotiations will continue beyond the formal deadline.
Last month, the WNBPA voted to give union leadership permission to strike should that become necessary, but players view a total work stoppage as a last resort.
"[A strike is] not something that we're going to do right this second, but we have that in our back pocket," Stewart clarified.
The league and its players remain far apart on revenue sharing, among other issues, as the union pushes for more equitable gross distribution while the WNBA looks to offset expenses with a net sharing mechanism.
Though things are still up in the air, the union does seem to be taking precautions, announcing the launch of WNBPA Player Hubs on Thursday — resources for players "when team facilities are off-limits."
Described as "training facilities offering WNBA players continued access to courts, weight rooms, and recovery spaces throughout the offseason," the global network of university gyms and other performance centers will help athletes stay fit "regardless of league operation."
The WNBA Players Association has spoken, voting on Thursday to authorize a players strike "when necessary" as CBA talks stall well into a second extension period from the original deadline to reach a deal.
With 93% of eligible players participating, 98% voted in favor of giving union leadership the authority to call a work stoppage.
"The players' vote is neither a call for an immediate strike nor an intention to pursue one," clarified the WNBPA in a Thursday release. "Rather, it is an emphatic affirmation of the players' confidence in their leadership and their unwavering solidarity against ongoing efforts to divide, conquer, and undervalue them."
While not a direct indicator of intent, the strike vote does give the WNBPA another CBA negotiating tool as players and WNBA leadership remain at odds.
According to ESPN sources, the league's newest proposal includes an uncapped revenue sharing model that would raise maximum WNBA salaries above $1.3 million — while the WNBPA fights for 30% of gross revenue.
The WNBA later released a response to the union's vote, stating, "It is difficult to understand claims that the league is resistant to change, particularly given that we are proposing numerous CBA modifications including significant immediate salary increases and a new uncapped revenue-sharing model that would ensure continued salary growth tied to revenue growth."
After two extensions, the current deadline to reach a CBA is January 9th — though if negotiations falter, either the WNBA or the union can end the extended talks with 48 hours of notice.