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The WNBA and the WNBPA have reached a verbal agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, according to multiple reports, paving the way for the return of games and the continued growth of women’s basketball after a week of marathon negotiating sessions.
Following nearly 18 months of at-times heated negotiations, including round-the-clock meetings over the past eight days, the two sides have found a workable compromise, with a new player pay structure beginning this season. The 2026 schedule will not be impacted; training camps will open April 19, and the season will start on May 8.
Financial details are still unknown, though team salary caps are expected to more than quadruple. In recent proposals, max contract players would earn well more than $1 million per year beginning this season, while average salaries would jump from about $120,000 annually to $570,000.
Crucially, for the first time, players are expected to receive a guaranteed percentage of league revenue—one of the union’s biggest demands. Terms of recent proposals from league had offered about 75% of net revenues from the league and its teams to be shared with players, according to a person familiar with the matter. The union and owners will still need to formally ratify the agreement, which also likely includes minor points requiring further work before finalization.
Now, a frenzy can begin. The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo need to assemble teams via an expansion draft. Most of the league’s veterans are currently free agents. The draft, training camps and preseason will be squeezed into a matter of weeks, ahead of the season’s previously scheduled May 8 tipoff.
The WNBPA announced it was opting out of the existing CBA shortly after the 2024 season concluded “to realign the business,” in the words of WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson. Progress slowed this winter, with no new proposals from either side over a six-week stretch from Christmas until early February, following a union offer. Throughout that time, the WNBA touted its proposed revenue sharing structure that would see the average salary jump from roughly $120,000 to more than $530,000. The union’s proposal then would have seen a roughly $840,000 average salary in 2026.
W players voted on Dec. 18 to allow their executive committee to authorize a strike if necessary.
In early March, executive committee members Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart publicly expressed concerns about the negative ramifications of initiating a formal work stoppage. They also reportedly wrote a letter to Jackson, citing “the lack of adequate player involvement in the process.”
After that report emerged, the WNBPA cited internal survey data showing that 84% of players wanted the union to continue negotiating with the league. Stewart and Plum also signed a statement, joining the entirety of the union’s top player leadership, declaring that “we remain united and focused on delivering a transformational CBA for all members of this union, and are committed to negotiating for as long as it takes.”
In late February, the league told the WNBPA a new agreement would need to be reached by March 10 to avoid delaying games. That seemed to spur action. The two sides traded proposals in the days leading up to that deadline. W and union decision-makers then met for four consecutive days in New York, with sessions stretching into the night. During those talks, the league agreed to higher salary cap figures, among other bargaining.
“The fact that we scheduled meetings, that we offer dates to schedule meetings that we actually get together, get in the room, I think that’s positive,” Jackson said after one of the meetings. “It’s taking as long as it’s taking. But you know, that’s what it needs to be.”
Fifteen WNBA teams will take the floor this summer, the most in the league since 2002, buoyed by increased attention and rising franchise valuations in recent years. Three more expansion teams will debut in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia over the next few years after agreeing to pay record $250 million expansion fees.
Last season, the league broke its attendance record and reached a new high for average viewership on ESPN. Sportico reported that the expansion Golden State Valkyries were on track to earn $70 million in 2025 revenue, double any other team’s 2024 haul.
In 2026, the WNBA begins its 11-year media rights deal, worth roughly $200 million annually, with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal. Games will also air on Ion and USA Network.
After more than a year of intense labor talk, fans’ focus can return to the court.
This story will be updated.
