‘The league is reworking’: Inside the objectives of WNBA’s subsequent CBA — trip, roster dimension, and sure, pay

The maximum vital motion within the WNBA this season may happen off the court docket. The league and its avid gamers’ affiliation (WNBPA) have begun negotiations on a brand new collective bargaining settlement (CBA) — the foundational record that defines the phrases of the WNBA wage cap, roster sizes, eligibility and the period of the season, amongst different issues — after the WNBPA opted final October to terminate the present CBA on the conclusion of this season, two years sooner than it was once scheduled to finish.

This CBA, agreed to in January 2020, set the desk for the WNBA’s fast expansion over the last 5 years, highlighted by means of the most-watched common season ever on ESPN and a file for products gross sales. After the 2024 season, the league reached new broadcast offers that may herald considerably extra earnings.

The WNBA may be increasing for the primary time in 17 years. The Golden State Valkyries sign up for the league this season and two extra groups (the Toronto Tempo and a Portland workforce that has but to announce a reputation) will input the league in 2026, with a 16th workforce at the horizon that may undoubtedly shatter the file for growth charges shared by means of current possession.

Against that backdrop, the WNBPA is in a position for what president Nneka Ogwumike calls some other “transformative” CBA.

“This league is transforming,” Ogwumike instructed ESPN. “As a players association, we want to evolve with it and have that be reflected in how players are taken care of and how our protections are not getting lapped by the evolution of this league.”

WNBPA govt director Terri Carmichael Jackson instructed ESPN she sees the CBA in an identical phrases.

“With the benefit of hindsight, when you read the earlier CBAs, one of the takeaways is that the players were forced to feel grateful just to have a league,” she stated. “I believe we moved past that mindset in 2020. Our president, Nneka Ogwumike, and all of our player leadership are cognizant of the momentum we have and must seize.

“The mentioned function for a 2026 CBA is transformational. Our hope is that the league and the groups are aiming for a similar function. In ladies’s sports activities, it’s in particular true that after the avid gamers win, everybody wins.”

ESPN answers key questions about what both sides are seeking to achieve in the new CBA, what it might mean for the league, players and fans, and changes we want to see.

What is the players’ approach to this CBA?

Kevin Pelton: The headline for any new CBA will undoubtedly be increased salaries for players. The last renegotiation boosted the maximum salaries for stars from $117,500 in 2019 to $215,000 in 2020, with the cap jumping by more than 30% from $996,100 per team to $1.3 million. Larger increases are likely this time thanks to improved WNBA revenue streams.

One team source said it’s possible max salaries could reach $1 million, which would be an increase of approximately 300% from the current $249,244 supermax and would imply a salary cap in the range of $4 million to $5 million per team.

“No participant has no longer mentioned wage,” Ogwumike said of her conversations with other players about the new CBA. “But it isn’t almost about the quantity. I feel it is concerning the machine, , developing a brand new construction round wage — one that does not restrict us how it has previously.”

Specifically, players want to share in the gains of owners as the league grows. The current CBA featured 3% raises in the cap and max salaries — as well as the minimums for players, locking them in to limited growth.

The past two CBAs have featured revenue-sharing targets with the potential to increase the cap that were not reached. The timing of the current CBA set those targets based on the pre-pandemic 2019 season and made revenue goals cumulative starting in 2020, when the league played its season in the so-called “wubble” at the IMG Academy in Florida without any ticket sales. As a result, even last year’s boost in ticket sales didn’t put players in position to achieve those targets.

“When we speak about wage and reimbursement, it isn’t almost about the quantity,” Ogwumike said. “It’s about earnings proportion and the wage construction. I feel it is taken folks a very long time to remember that’s how we now have been serious about it.”

Players will also seek to codify charter travel. When the WNBA first instituted private travel for all flights last May, it specifically said the change would apply through the 2025 season, setting it up as a negotiating point. Charter travel is a must for the players.

“It’s right here,” Ogwumike said. “I do not foresee an international the place we will take this again. I see an international the place we need to write it into the CBA. I feel that is what your next step is now. It’s been a fantastic construction within the final yr, particularly for well being and protection, however we want to make certain that it is one thing this is foundational to our skilled enjoy within the league.”

Michael Voepel: One thing that is a bit out of the ordinary is that two players on the WNBPA’s executive committee — the Minnesota Lynx‘s Napheesa Collier and New York Liberty‘s Breanna Stewart — also are founders of Unrivaled. The 3-on-3 skilled league, which performed its inaugural season in January-March, does no longer see itself as a “rival” to the WNBA, but a stand-alone supplement to pro women’s hoops in the United States.

Still, is there concern about a conflict of interest for Collier and Stewart regarding what’s best for their financial investment in Unrivaled and that league’s players vs. the rest of the WNBA players? Jackson said she has not heard that to be the case from the WNBPA membership.

“In its inaugural yr, Unrivaled secured a printed deal, attracted new sponsors and profitable partnerships, invested in participant assets, paid salaries that averaged $220Ok for a 10-week season, and virtually broke even,” Jackson said. “Current avid gamers constructed Unrivaled, and whilst I’m positive there are quite a lot of courses discovered, they confirmed us — the union and the league — an entire lot. What we now have heard from our individuals is that Unrivaled despatched a message, a powerful message concerning the nonetheless untapped attainable and assets in ladies’s sports activities.”

What will the owners be looking for, and how might players respond?

Voepel: The owners won’t speak publicly about specific things they are advocating for. But based on past CBA negotiations and discussions with sources familiar with the mindset of owners, we can speculate on where they might be drawing harder lines in negotiation.

Prioritization — the mandate that avid gamers display up on time for coaching camps and “prioritize” the WNBA above overseas commitments — was a big issue in the last CBA. The players agreed to it to receive higher salaries in 2020. It seems unlikely the owners will back away from prioritization for this agreement.

There are some exceptions for prioritization — including for younger players establishing themselves overseas and for those competing for national teams — that could stay in place. But the owners say that the WNBA holding firm on prioritization brings more respect to the league, and that it has prompted some scheduling concessions from overseas leagues and FIBA events to not conflict with the WNBA season, when possible.

The owners probably also want to hold firm on the terms of the yearly draft, on maintaining a hard salary cap and on the core-player designation. These things allow teams to have as equal an opportunity as possible to secure and hold onto their players. The union’s desire for the cap to soften could be a major source of contention.

League revenue-sharing might be an area the owners are more open to amending so that the target required to trigger it for the players is attainable. As Kevin said, it’s one thing to have revenue-sharing terms in the CBA, as has long been the case, and another thing to have those terms be realistically achievable.

Another area where the owners might be willing to make changes is how teams deal with injured players, for both short- and long-term periods, and how that affects the teams’ ability to be competitive.

It’s common to perceive ownership in any labor negotiations as the “heavy,” and WNBA fandom tends to side with the players they idolize. Realistically, there has to be give and take in all such negotiations, and WNBA ownership and player goals are probably not unreasonably far apart. But there will be some obstacles.

“We’re expecting negotiations to be completed in time for us to begin the 2026 season on time. … Planning for contingencies is one thing that we will’t forget about, however it isn’t one thing we would like or be expecting.”

WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike when requested about the potential for a piece stoppage if a brand new CBA is not signed

Pelton: The prioritization rule has been a flashpoint for avid gamers, who traditionally may just earn more money taking part in across the world than within the WNBA. The arrival of Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited as alternatives to play professionally within the United States all over the WNBA’s offseason has modified the dialog to a point, however prioritization stays a key factor for world avid gamers specifically.

“This is a record number of international players drafted in the first round,” Ogwumike famous after 3 have been decided on final month, together with No. 2 general select Dominique Malonga from France, matching the high-water mark from 1998 and 2000. “They have a different upbringing when it comes to developing in basketball than a lot of the players that maybe choose to go to college or are local. I think closing that off, especially to younger players, it’s stifling in a way that I think could actually hinder the talent that you see in the league.”

Ultimately, the avid gamers need the WNBA to be a concern as smartly. They’d simply like it occur by means of distinctive feature of the league expanding salaries to some extent that the league turns into the vacation spot of selection for the entire global’s very best avid gamers, together with the ones born outdoor the United States — as we already see within the NBA.

“If there is a league that is paying you more, you would prioritize that league, you would think,” Ogwumike stated. “I’m hoping we can lean more on the implementation of a new salary structure that can offer that as an opportunity for players as opposed to coming out, not giving them the investment that they deserve from a salary and compensation standpoint and then now having to try to decide where they want to play.”

What is one thing we predict will have to be added to the CBA?

Pelton: WNBA rosters had been capped at 12 avid gamers since 2014. As the league grows, and in particular because the season extends to a file 44 video games this season and in all probability past, we are past due for extra avid gamers according to workforce. By distinction, NBA rosters include a most of 15 complete contracts plus as much as 3 extra spots for avid gamers on two-way contracts that still cut up time within the G League.

Although the WNBA most is 12 avid gamers, groups too can decide to roster 11, giving them more cash to spend according to spot whilst closing beneath the league’s arduous wage cap. That places them in jeopardy of falling to unmarried digits on account of accidents.

Ogwumike’s Seattle workforce, for instance, expects to begin the season with 11 avid gamers. Katie Lou Samuelson‘s ACL harm all over coaching camp way best 10 will probably be lively. And the Storm have a number of avid gamers who may just go away the workforce midseason to constitute their international locations in world competitions.

“I’ve played more years than I wanted to with only eight available players,” Ogwumike stated sooner than Samuelson’s harm. “I don’t think that’s indicative of a pro league.”

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has argued to the avid gamers affiliation that expanding roster spots is not cost-effective for the league since extra avid gamers do not create further earnings in the similar manner as including growth groups to extend the collection of WNBA jobs.

The CBA does supply hardship exceptions for groups so as to add additional avid gamers after they fall underneath 10 lively, however even that may be sophisticated. In case of a last-minute sickness, in particular not unusual all over the COVID-19 well being & protection protocols in 2021 and 2022, avid gamers on occasion jumped on a flight and performed the similar day after being signed to a hardship contract.

Ogwumike says there is a higher resolution.

“I’m not saying go from 11 to 15,” she stated, “but there was a time before I entered the league where 13 roster spots were available [most recently in 2008]. I find that incredibly reasonable, even if we incorporate perhaps an IR [injured reserve] component where you have players that are still within the system and you don’t have a pool of players that are just kind of waiting to be called and jumping from team to team. I think that there’s a more efficient way to do that with new language around roster size.”

Voepel: The laws for draft eligibility may want to be up to date and simplified. The manner it’s now, in conjunction with faculty seniors, juniors who flip 22 within the yr of the draft or are set to graduate inside 3 months of the draft can claim. Meanwhile, world avid gamers who do not play within the United States faculty machine are eligible in the event that they flip 20 within the yr of the draft.

Perhaps the WNBA may just believe having an identical laws to MLB and school baseball, the place avid gamers are draft-eligible after their junior season or after they flip 21, whichever comes first.

That manner, ladies’s basketball avid gamers would nonetheless be in class for no less than 3 years, however there would not be what turns out like an arbitrary disparity between which juniors can go away early and which can not based totally merely on birthdate. With the arrival of brand name, symbol and likeness (NIL) offers converting issues such a lot financially for varsity avid gamers, many may just decide to stick 4 seasons anyway.

“That’s come up in conversations, especially after the NWSL has done away with a draft,” Ogwumike stated of the age-limit laws and the National Women’s Soccer League. “I don’t foresee [ending the draft] in basketball. I think it would just be a little bit more complicated for us to do it that way. But it’s been in conversation, exploring what the age limit can be.

“There are going to be a large number of various things that adjust the composition of our league. You see extra world avid gamers. Even the footprint of our league — we are increasing groups, we are including video games. There are going to be such a lot of other variables that more or less give a contribution to what in all probability generally is a alternate in age restrict.”

play

Which team won the WNBA draft? Andraya Carter makes her pick

Andraya Carter explains why she is such a big fan of the Washington Mystics’ three first-round picks in the 2025 WNBA draft.

How does the WNBA’s CBA compare to the NBA’s?

Pelton: The biggest difference in structure between the NBA and WNBA is the latter’s hard salary cap, which is more comparable to the NFL among major American pro sports leagues.

Since the early days of the NBA salary cap, introduced in its modern form in 1984-85 when the league was booming economically like the WNBA is now, a variety of exceptions have allowed teams to exceed the cap to re-sign their own players, make trades and add lower-priced free agents. Over the past three decades, the NBA has sought to reign in higher-spending teams with a luxury tax first introduced in the 1998-99 CBA and more recently limitations on the exceptions for teams paying substantial taxes.

Going from the WNBA’s hard cap to the NBA’s complex, at times Byzantine series of rules rewritten and expanded over decades isn’t realistic and might not be desirable. The NBA’s CBA is nearly twice as long as its WNBA counterpart (676 pages vs. 350 for the WNBA) and requires teams to find cap analysts who specialize in understanding the rules and how to take advantage of them.

Still, as the role of general manager becomes specialized in the WNBA after long being held primarily by head coaches, front offices would like more room for creativity. Team and player options would be a relatively easy change to mirror NBA contracts. Currently, team options exist only as part of rookie contracts for draft picks and can’t individually be negotiated.

Some degree of ability to exceed the salary cap via trade would also facilitate midseason deals and turn the trade deadline into the kind of hype-building event it is in the NBA and other leagues. The three in-season deals in 2024 were the first time there were multiple during the same year since 2018.

“I believe like that is extra of an issue for the groups than the avid gamers, someday,” Ogwumike said. “It’s superb to peer what a few of these basic managers are in a position to do with the restricted collection of roster [spots], with the arduous cap and put championship-level groups in combination.”

Should there be concern about a potential work stoppage?

Pelton: Collier made headlines in March when she answered a question about a possible stoppage of play from Alicia Jay on the show “We Need to Talk” by saying it was “one thing that we are speaking about internally.”

“We have to face robust in what we consider in, too,” Collier said. “We need to rise up for what we really feel is true and what we deserve. While we don’t need that state of affairs to occur, after all, I feel we are ready for any risk at this time.”

Without specifically discussing the possibility of a lockout, Ogwumike echoed Collier’s message about the importance of preparation, knowing the negotiations can take time.

“We’re expecting negotiations to be completed in time for us to begin the 2026 season on time,” Ogwumike said, “nevertheless it does not imply that avid gamers don’t seem to be being extra meticulous about spending and saving, working out that we’re in a negotiation. … The state of affairs we are in way making plans forward, making plans for contingencies is one thing that we will’t forget about, however it isn’t one thing we would like or be expecting.”

There’s a precedent for CBA negotiations to result in a brief offseason lockout that doesn’t affect games. In 2014, a deal was struck on Feb. 15, pushing back the start of free agency more than a month. The interesting part of this year’s timing is that the WNBA must hold an expansion draft before the start of free agency. Last year’s draft for the Valkyries was held on Dec. 7. That could serve as an incentive to get a deal done earlier than previous CBAs, which were all completed after New Year’s Day.

Voepel: Dating to the first CBA in 1999, there have been five in the WNBA. The only one that was close to down-to-the-wire was in 2003, when the agreement came on April 18, the draft was April 24 and the season started May 22. The league had threatened to potentially cancel the season if an agreement wasn’t reached by April 18.

Coquese Washington, the first WNBPA president, was instrumental in negotiations for the first two CBAs, which came during her WNBA playing career. Now head coach at Rutgers, Washington spoke with ESPN this week about her memories of the process in 1999 and 2003, which set the groundwork for all subsequent WNBA labor negotiations.

“I do not believe we ever felt just like the deal would not occur or there can be a piece stoppage, regardless that we have been ready for it,” Washington told ESPN regarding 2003. “We felt like all sides didn’t need to disrupt the momentum of the primary CBA and of the league.

“The first CBA was really about establishing the WNBA as a truly professional league that was going to stick around. The second agreement, the main sticking point was free agency, which was added that year.”

Washington and Val Ackerman, the primary WNBA president (the identify modified to commissioner with Engelbert), each labored at the first two CBAs. Washington says she thinks their familiarity was once useful, and that additionally it is a just right factor for those negotiations that Engelbert, Jackson and Ogwumike — all of whom have been in the similar positions for the present CBA — had been in the course of the procedure sooner than.

Washington is proud that each and every next CBA has constructed on enhancements made for avid gamers and the league within the earlier settlement.

“We were able to add things like year-round health care and maternity leave early on,” she stated. “Every CBA has expanded the sphere of what it means to be a professional women’s basketball player in this country.”