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With each passing day, there becomes more and more urgency for the WNBA league office and its players’ association to come to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
While the 2026 WNBA regular season is still several months away, the offseason is running months behind at this point. If there weren’t CBA negotiations, the expansion drafts for the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo likely would have taken place a month ago, and teams would be gearing up for the WNBA free agency period, which typically begins at the start of February.
Alas, the two sides are at a standstill. Front Office Sports’ Annie Costabile provided an update on where negotiations stand in a January 16 article, writing, “The WNBA and WNBPA… have reached a stalemate over how the league should share its revenue with players. In a proposal submitted by the union around Christmas, players were asking for a 30% share in gross revenue and a salary cap of $10.5 million. The league has yet to respond to that proposal, but its latest which was shared in early December featured a roughly 70% share of net revenue and a salary cap of $5 million.”
Sophie Cunningham’s stance on ‘dumb’ CBA negotiations signals red flag
The sentiment around the league remains that people believe a deal will ultimately get done, although it’s anybody’s guess about how long it will take for this to happen.
There’s a chance that a potential lockout will become an option if spring arrives with no new CBA in place. Sophie Cunningham seems to believe this is a likely outcome, which she conveyed during a January 15 episode of her Show Me Something podcast.
“Our CBA is so dumb right now, that it’s heading towards a lockout,” Cunningham said.
When her co-host, West Wilson, asked whether there had been any progress with negotiations, Cunningham added, “No. Honestly, nothing. We get weekly e-mails from the PA side of things, and it’s just so dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb.”
Cunningham could be being hyperbolic, but that certainly isn’t the update that fans are looking for right now.
There’s no question that players will be receiving multitudes more money than they had gotten in the past, but the revenue share aspect of negotiations is where the two sides are at odds.
Hopefully, there will be more positive updates to come in the relatively near future, because the prospect of a lockout is not what fans wanted to hear.
