NEW YORK — After more than a year of tumultuous negotiations, more than a week of nearly nonstop discussions, and another day of talks that stretched into the early morning, the WNBA and its players union came to a verbal agreement on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement.
The league and the WNBPA finally reached a deal after 2 a.m. Wednesday here to move forward with a new pact that will redefine the economic and governing rules of the WNBA going forward. The agreement, Breanna Stewart said, will be “transformational” for the league and its players.
Though there is an agreement in place, it still must be formalized into a term sheet and approved by the players and the league’s board of governors. The details of the agreement are still not known. Player salaries will be tied to league revenue for the first time, average player compensation will be more than half a million dollars, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said, and the agreement will also improve on family planning and parental leave benefits.
Despite deadlines and saber-rattling that the league could have the start of its season impacted, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that training camp and the regular season will start on time. Opening night is scheduled for May 8. The agreement comes just in time as a long to-do list awaits over what’s left of the offseason, including an expansion draft, free agency and a college draft.
Still, there was celebration in the early morning in midtown New York. After months spent far apart in nearly every way, league staff, including Engelbert, WNBPA leadership, and members of the union’s executive committee came together early Wednesday morning in a conference room at the Langham hotel and toasted with glasses of champagne.
The two sides, which had butted heads publicly and privately, came together to announce the deal in the hotel’s lobby after 3 a.m. Engelbert stood beside Ogwumike and Stewart, while union executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson held a water glass with champagne. Alysha Clark, who had delivered an emotional private address minutes earlier, stood next to Brianna Turner as each reflected on the significance of what they had just finished bargaining.
Divided for so long, finally, the WNBA has peace again.
“In our time as a league that is evolving, as a union that is evolving, this is historical for women’s sports,” said Ogwumike. “I told Cathy, it’s not just for the players that are entering the league or the players that aren’t already here, but it’s the ones that are standing next to her and beside her. And so we’re just really grateful to be able to come to a deal.”
The league’s previous CBA expired on Oct. 31, 2025. The players opted out in October 2024, giving the league and union more than a year to make a deal before its expiration, but little progress was made before the first 30-day extension this offseason. Negotiations recently quickened after months of stalemate.
During last Wednesday’s 11-hour session in New York (which followed a 12-hour session Tuesday), the WNBA proposed a $6.2 million salary cap — up from its most recent proposal of $5.75 million — which would put the supermax salary at $1.3 million in Year 1 that would increase to roughly $2 million by Year 6 of the deal, according to a source with knowledge of the sessions. Under the previous CBA, the 2025 salary cap was roughly $1.5 million with a supermax salary worth slightly less than $250,000.
The league’s recent proposal before the deal offered players roughly 15.5 percent of the total revenue over the lifetime of the CBA. Players offered to decrease their initial proposal of a 40 percent pre-expenses revenue share to 26 percent in a Feb. 27 meeting and even lower in this week’s meetings, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
The two sides had largely been deadlocked because they used different revenue-sharing models. In addition, the players were frustrated that the league’s proposals prohibited them from auditing league and team expenses. The league had also continued to eliminate team housing benefits from proposals, which became another point of contention.
Tuesday presented the latest day of nearly nonstop negotiations and stops and starts. Deborah Willig, the union’s outside counsel, said she thought there could have been an agreement earlier in the day. Around midnight there was concern that a deal would have to wait another day.
“It’s been obviously a process, but we’re very proud to be leading in women’s sports,” Engelbert said.
Players had used the rallying cry of “pay us what you owe us,” even wearing the phrase on T-shirts at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game. They had long expressed frustration over their relative low pay as professional athletes, but their demands for higher salaries and improved benefits came as the league gained unprecedented popularity and investments in recent seasons.
“I’m really excited about players coming into this league for the first time, and not having a sense of lack,” Ogwumike said.
Said Stewart: “This deal is going to be transformational, and you’ll see all the details hopefully soon, but it’s gonna build and help create a system where everybody is getting exactly what they deserve and more from on the court and off the court aspects.”
