WNBA players reopened the debate around the economics of women’s basketball on Monday, announcing their decision to opt out of the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement in search of a new deal. The current CBA, enacted in 2020, will now expire after next season instead of in 2027, giving the league and its athletes one year to agree to updated terms in what could become a tense round of discussions.
The players will approach the league’s hard salary cap as one of their biggest negotiating priorities. “When you look at the business, the players are the only ones who are capped,” WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said in an interview Monday. “We’ve got to talk about the salary cap system, and talk about a new one.”
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Players have also advocated for a larger, guaranteed share of league revenue—or even the possibility of players receiving ownership portions in the W or specific teams. “I think everything’s on the table,” Jackson said.
The WNBPA began convening meetings with outside experts and its top players this time last year, examining its options and establishing its goals. Those stakeholders continued meeting on at least a monthly basis throughout the season. Ultimately, voting opened for roughly 30 executive committee members and team representatives earlier this month, and almost all of them supported the opt-out decision paired with a commitment to begin negotiating a new agreement.
Jackson said she spoke with both Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier—WNBPA VPs who concluded their WNBA Finals battle Sunday night, about the decision to make a public announcement less than 24 hours later. “They said, ‘Let’s go, we’re ready,’” she said.
Jackson also said that she connected with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert before a press release was published. “We talked about the need to work together for transformational change,” she said. “That each side had that goal in common, and that we would look to start these conversations and negotiations as soon as possible.” Dates for a first meeting have already been proposed.
“We look forward to working together with the players and the WNBPA on a new CBA that is fair for all and lays the foundation for growth and success for years to come,” Engelbert said in a statement Monday.
Engelbert and Jackson were in the same roles when the 2020 CBA came together. It added incentives for players to prioritize the WNBA over leagues abroad and included significant benefits to mothers, as well as a doubling the league’s top salaries. Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike has been the WNBPA president since 2016.
The league’s business has evolved significantly over the last four years. WNBA team valuations have jumped twentyfold in some cases, the league itself has raised $75 million, the WNBA’s media rights have tripled in value and three expansion teams are set to join over the next two years—Golden State, Toronto and Portland—with more than 10 cities eager to host a still-undetermined 16th franchise.
Previously, the WNBA has been reported to bring in roughly $200 million in revenue per year, with about 10% of that going to player base salaries. The average WNBA salary is roughly $100,000 while stars are able to make additional money from team and league marketing arrangements. League leaders have long maintained that the WNBA has yet to achieve profitability.
Growth exploded this year in particular, thanks to a rookie class headlined by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, all of whom will now be expected to support the broader players’ efforts.
Beyond new pay structures and reworked salary expectations, the players are expected to push for improved facility and travel standards (such as making permanent the charter flight program instituted this year), expanded retirement benefits and increased family-related support.
The new CBA discussions could also test a divide among new WNBA owners investing heavily in their teams and those who have taken more conservative approaches.
The union has already been preparing players for what could be a dragged-out affair. Labor battles have marked the WNBA’s ups and downs since its inception in 1996, with players periodically threatening to spend their time in other leagues and owners countering with the possibility of canceling seasons or even folding teams.
Amid similar growth, the NWSL and its players opted to quietly negotiate for a CBA extension well in advance of its expiration—announcing an extension this summer while avoiding any public owner-athlete conflict. The new deal reshapes the sport, expanding unrestricted free agency, eliminating the entry draft, and requiring player consent for transfers, among other updates.
Jackson complimented the soccer deal, and noted that the WNBPA and NWSLPA share legal counsel Deborah Willig. “It is now our turn to kind of bring everybody forward with the wins that we will secure in a new CBA,” Jackson said.
The basketball union has already been more outspoken, dating back to a September statement criticizing Engelbert for some of her comments during a CNBC appearance.
Union leadership has also pointed out that the soon-to-launch Unrivaled league is offering six-figure salaries after signing a multiyear media deal of its own. On the other side, reports have emerged about the WNBA and its teams losing $40 to $50 million this year operating the league.
Jackson has talked about generating a “transformational CBA.” After a transformational year in women’s basketball, who would settle for anything less?
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