After more than 100 hours of marathon talks, the WNBA and WNBPA's battle to lock in a new CBA is reportedly nearing its end.
"We have aligned on key elements of a new collective bargaining agreement together," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters early Wednesday morning. "We still need to finalize a formal term sheet, but the progress made in these discussions marks a transformative step forward."
"We're proud of ourselves," said WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike. "We always told you all we were going to stand on business, and that's what this looks like."
After blowing past multiple league deadlines, Engelbert confirmed that this week's deal will keep the schedule intact for the 2026 WNBA season.
CBA reportedly secures 20% revenue share, 500% salary bumps
While all formal terms are still in the finalization process, early details of the new CBA emerged late Wednesday morning.
According to ESPN, the league's 2026 salary cap will be $7 million — a nearly 500% increase over 2025's $1.5 million cap.
The average player salary also saw a 500% increase to $600,000, with the WNBA minimum exceeding $300,000 after some athletes banked a mere $66,000 in 2025.
The league's top stars, on the other hand, will be able to earn upwards of $1.4 million under the new WNBA supermax — almost six times the $249,244 salary last season's elite players could garner.
Even more, the incoming CBA will reportedly enshrine an average revenue share of nearly 20% — a massive win for the players union on what became the primary wedge issue throughout the negotiating process.
As for next steps, the players and the WNBA board of governors now need to ratify the agreement before operational moratoriums can lift.
Once the CBA is signed, the WNBA will have less than two months to hold a free agency period and the league's April 13th college draft — as well as a two-team expansion draft to stock the incoming Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo — all before preseason training begins.
Assuming all goes according to plan, the 2026 WNBA regular season will tip off on Friday, May 8th.
The WNBA and WNBPA are still at odds, as three consecutive days of marathon negotiations this week have yet to yield a new CBA.
Beginning with a 12 hour meeting on Tuesday, the two parties exceeded 30 hours of negotiations this week as of late Thursday.
"Being able to be in the room, being able to exchange proposals, we're feeling movement," WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told reporters. "We're sticking to the process."
The league's latest proposal reportedly includes a $6.2 million year-one salary cap, with a $1.3 million 2026 maximum contract — movement on both metrics since the previous WNBA offer.
"We're proud of the deal we have on the table," said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. "I think it's huge gains for the players, while balancing that with the health of the league."
Even though numbers appear to be on the rise, the revenue sharing gap remains unclear, after differing models emerged as a wedge issue between the two parties.
While negotiations have blown past the league's March 10th deadline, the WNBA has not yet implemented any 2026 season schedule changes as of Friday morning, with the upcoming campaign set to tip off on Friday, May 8th.
"We haven't ever really considered [the deadline] as a timeline that has been something to prioritize on our side, because we have always been negotiating in good faith," said Ogwumike.
"At the end of the day, we want a season," she added. "We want to play."
The WNBA and WNBPA came together at the CBA negotiating table on Tuesday, meeting for what became a 12-hour bargaining session stretching into Wednesday's early hours — and failing to reach a deal.
Union president Nneka Ogwumike led the player contingent at the midtown Manhattan marathon meeting, joined by WNBPA VPs Breanna Stewart and Alysha Clark, and treasurer Brianna Turner.
New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai also reportedly joined the CBA talks alongside WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and head of league operations Bethany Donaphin.
The in-person sit-down came on the heels of the league's March 10th deadline, set to preserve the scheduled May 8th tipoff of the 2026 WNBA season while also allotting for an expansion draft, free agency, and college draft — all before team training camps begin on April 19th.
"Conversations are continuing, as they need to be," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told media Wednesday morning, declining to give a concrete timeline but noting that things were "going in the right direction."
"We're working hard... and still have work to do," Engelbert noted, calling the talks "really important to the future not just of the league, but of women's sports."
While the parties have yet to agree on terms, the overnight marathon indicates a willingness on both sides to continue communicating — rather than hop on the picket line.
Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart sent a three-page letter to WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson on Monday, expressing concerns that the union's stalled CBA negotiations could impact the 2026 WNBA season.
In a letter acquired by ESPN, WNBPA vice presidents told Jackson that players feel excluded from the process. "We do not feel like we have an adequate seat at the table in these negotiations," Plum and Stewart wrote.
The union faces a March 10th deadline to complete a new CBA term sheet. However, the WNBA season starts May 8th, leaving limited time for the draft, expansion draft, and free agency.
Negotiations have now dragged on for 17 months. According to the letter, Plum and Stewart have been "privy to details of these negotiations for less than two months." They went on to say they haven't seen revenue breakdowns, survey results, and rookie salary structures.
"Despite a year and a half of negotiations, we have not been meaningfully engaged," they stated. "When we and other players have attempted to express concerns about negotiations, we have been made to feel as though we are acting against the interests of the PA."
The pair requested a meeting with union leadership, with the WNBPA subsequently calling an all-player meeting instead.
The letter also stressed concerns about a work stoppage damaging the league's financial health. Both Stewart and Plum oppose delaying the WNBA season.
"Many other players across the league feel these same frustrations and have expressed them to us, but feel afraid or unable to speak out," read the letter.
Last week, nearly a dozen player agents penned their own letter to Jackson pushing for more transparency.
"At this stage of negotiations, with time being of the essence, alignment and shared information will best serve the players and the Union," they wrote.
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."