With roughly a few months to go before the scheduled start of the 2026 season – the 30th in the WNBA’s history – it appears negotiations regarding a new collective bargaining agreement are at the same place they were when the 2025 season concluded.
They appear to have gone nowhere.
Both sides have made small concessions – typical in any CBA brouhaha. But the clock is ticking and it does not appear as if a CBA will get signed anytime soon.
Throughout these negotiations, the players have insisted that they are seeing 30 percent of the WNBA’s gross revenues. The league (its owners) are willing to offer 15 percent.
A recent proposal from the players sent to the league had the players make a concession to the owners on the gross revenue – down from 30 percent to 27.5 percent. It was rejected quickly by the WNBA as its position has been that such a proposal would result in $700 million in losses.
The math does not seem to add up. It is giving the impression that the WNBA’s owners are using 2000s W math to apply to a WNBA in 2026 that has seen more zeroes flow in its direction.
Major television and streaming platforms want to be affiliated with the W – ask NBC and Amazon. Not to mention ESPN recently is ending Sunday Night Baseball in favor of a new women’s sports package for Sunday nights that will include the WNBA and NWSL.
The valuations of the teams have skyrocketed and the WNBA is also making money hand over foot via expansion. The owners have to explain to the players how that equals $700 million in the red year in and year out.
Then, there was the huge story reported by Katie Barnes at ESPN that mentioned the WNBA for the first time made enough money to trigger revenue sharing. That also does not match up with the prevailing narrative among many who have always believed that the W is not a profitable enterprise. That narrative has always had plenty of misogynoir to it and it still does today.
Barnes reported this was based on information that was told to the union by the league. Players are set to receive $8 million plus another roughly $9 million from the WNBPA itself based on revenue from a licensing program.
The latest twist in the CBA saga centers on the date of March 10th. That is the day, according to the WNBA, it has set for a deadline to negotiate a new CBA without the season schedule having to be altered.
Nneka Ogwumike, the WNBPA’s president, was a guest recently on the Flagrant and Funny podcast hosted by Jemele Hill and Cari Champion. Among the many things mentioned on said podcast was the possibility that the union may have no choice but to use the nuclear option – going on strike or initiating a work stoppage.
Madame Prez made a great point on the pod. When commissioner Cathy Engelbert and her owners pitch the idea of the WNBA to outside investors (sponsors, potential media partners, etc.), they likely are not pitching the W as a money-losing enterprise. They are likely hyping up the financial benefits of investing in the W such as the new television and streaming deals, the new teams and the quickly rising valuations of the teams.
For example, the Golden State Valkyries – which just played its first season as a WNBA franchise last year – are said to be worth $500 million. Does that give the impression of a league that would lose $700 million if it were to compensate the players fairly? Or is that merely sketchy corporate mathematics meant to keep a player base of predominantly Black and LGBTQIA+ women in their place?
The longer this goes, the owners could push the players to the point where they have no choice but to utilize said nuclear option and go on strike.
If a case of WNBA vs. WNBPA has to be heard in front of an independent labor arbitrator in New York City to settle this, then so be it. The last time there was a case of a high profile sports entity that was taken to court, it did not go so well for said entity.
For those that do not know, Michael Jordan – yes, that Michael Jordan – happens to be the owner of 23XI Racing which competes in NASCAR. His team – along with Front Row Motorsports – sued NASCAR over the idea of permanent charters.
That lawsuit got so ugly that sordid details were revealed in text messages about how NASCAR executives feel about fans and even team owners. In fact, it cost now former NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps his job. And they got those permanent charters.
Why did they get those permanent charters? Because NASCAR took such a public relations hit with the lawsuit that its reputation was being sullied – even within the NASCAR sphere. It had no choice but to settle.
If there was any sports organization that is the polar opposite of NASCAR culturally and racially, it is the WNBA. Considering how contentious these CBA talks have been – and how much hardball has been played by the owners, who knows if these negotiations are merely a matter of dollars and sense or if there is something going on here that cannot be explained with numbers on a balance sheet.
WNBA CBA negotiations are unique because of the number of canaries in the coal mine – including NBA owners and commissioner Adam Silver. Those additional canaries could be the key to why these CBA talks have been stuck in quicksand for many months.
Here is the main issue – for all the talk of how the WNBA will lose money if it agrees to somewhere between 25-30 percent of gross revenues going to the players, what will really cost the league money is no 2026 season.
A lack of a 2026 season is the last thing the WNBA needs and would be the one thing that could put a halt to all of the momentum the W has seen as of late. If the WNBA were to not have a season in 2026 – a season where the league is supposed to celebrate its 30th anniversary – the blame for the fallout would be squarely on the suits at Park Avenue.
One can only imagine how ticked off NBC and Amazon would be. One could also imagine how ticked off fans in Oregon (Portland Fire) and throughout Canada (Toronto Tempo) would be as they have been so hyped up to watch their new WNBA teams – only for there to be no season.
At this point, even if a new CBA were to be ironed out between players and league, so much would have to be done in rapid fire. Let us remember the high volume of players that are set to be free agents. Not to mention the lack of a CBA means no expansion drafts for the Tempo and Fire. In addition, we also need to keep in mind that 2026 is a FIBA World Cup year.
Not compensating the players at this point would be nothing short of pennywise and pound foolish. Many owners may not understand the athletic side of running a sports team, but they definitely understand the business side.
And they should understand the business side so well to where they should see – especially as close as we are to the scheduled start of the season – that failure to fairly pay the players their dollars makes no sense.
