The WNBA and WNBPA appear to be at an impasse as the deadline for new collective bargaining agreement approaches on Friday, Jan. 9.
The league has not moved off of any of the numbers from its last offer reported in December.
‘We are at a bit of standstill,’ WNBPA vice president Napheesa Collier said when asked about the CBA on ‘Good Morning America’ on Monday, Jan. 5. ‘The timeline is coming up in a couple of days. It’s gonna expire.’
Collier, who was appearing on GMA to tout the second season of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league she co-founded with Breanna Stewart, said no one wants a work stoppage but the players will continue to ask for what they believe they deserve.
‘We’re just excited to show at Unrivaled that it is possible to pay the players and create a successful business,’ Collier said. ‘And that’s what we hope to do in the WNBA as well.
‘We feel really confident in what we’re asking for, and I just feel really blessed to be able to play and create something that is already showing that these things are possible.’
WNBA players voted to authorize the WNBPA’s executive committee to ‘call a strike when necessary,’ in late December. The current CBA is set to expire on Jan. 9, 2026, following two extensions from the original Oct. 31 deadline.
The league has proposed a system where players would receive in excess of 70% of net revenue, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The WNBA’s offer includes a maximum $1 million base salary, with a projected revenue sharing component that raises players’ max total earnings to more than $1.3 million in 2026. The maximum salary would grow to nearly $2 million over the life of the agreement. The proposal raises the minimum salary to more $250K and the average salary to more than $530K, growing to more than $780,000 over the life of the deal.
The players have prioritized increased revenue sharing and salary structures in negotiations. According to The Athletic, the league has offered revenue sharing at 15% while the union has proposed 30%. The sides also differ on how that percentage, as well as the salary cap, would be calculated.
When asked to comment on the bargaining, WNPBA executive director Terri Jackson sent this statement to USA TODAY Sports:
“The players know the difference between doing business and creating click-bait. They are focused on the system. Despite what the league and the teams are trying to do, the players are not confused by the numbers. The players want a meaningful share of the revenue they are creating. They want to be properly valued in these negotiations and this next CBA. They do not want to be paid last with only a fraction of the dollars left over.
‘I cannot comment on the specifics of any proposal but I can speak hypothetically. The players would not have opted out of the 2020 CBA with a fixed salary system giving them less than 10% of the revenue that their labor drives only to agree to a salary system that is arguably tied to revenue but now gives them less than 15%. The business has grown considerably and the league and the teams project incredible sustainable growth into the (foreseeable) future.
‘How do the capital investors, Changemakers, any one who cares about women’s sports, supports women athletes, understands the value of this investment believe this could be a good deal? Again, hypothetically speaking.”
