Report: WNBA’s CBA proposal would increase maximum salary from $250K to more than $1.1M

The latest WNBA proposal in collective bargaining negotiations would include revenue sharing and offer an increase in maximum salary to more than $1.1 million, the Associated Press reports.

That salary would be more than four times the 2025 supermax salary of $249,244 and be available to more than one player per team, per the report. The league minimum and average salaries would also see a significant boost in the reported proposal, which is intended to bring CBA negotiations to a quick conclusion, according to the report.

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The league minimum salary would be increased from $66,079 in 2025 to more than $220,000, and the average league salary in the proposal would increase to more than $460,000, per the report. Those numbers would be for the first year of the proposed CBA and escalate through its expiration, per the report.

The WNBA players union opted out of the current CBA in 2024, and both sides agreed to a 30-day extension to the CBA and a deadline for negotiations on Oct. 31.

Tensions escalated in CBA negotiations amid stagnant salaries and an explosion of growth and interest in the game in recent seasons. Players at July’s All-Star game wore T-shirts during warmups reading “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”

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Minnesota Lynx All-Star Napheesa Collier concluded her season with scathing remarks about commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the league’s front office and reportedly canceled a meeting with Engelbert in the aftermath. Players, meanwhile, are scheduled to play in offseason rival leagues Unrivaled and Project B.

One of the central demands of the players union is a revenue-sharing structure that includes pieces of media rights fees, team ticket sales and jersey revenue and allows players’ salaries to grow as the league’s revenue does. It’s unclear if the reported WNBA proposal meets those demands.

Neither the WNBA nor the union addressed the numbers from Tuesday’s report when it was published.