Unrivaled set to impact WNBA collective bargaining talks

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WNBPA Exec Dir Terri Jackson was in Miami for Unrivaled’s opening weekend, and the excess did not go unnoticed.

Between Unrivaled’s high-end facilities, its $222,000 average salary (compared to the W’s average of $125,000) and its leaguewide player equity, Jackson has a potential template on how to negotiate the unsettled WNBA collective bargaining agreement.

“I believe so,” Jackson told SBJ when asked if Unrivaled directly impacts WNBA labor deliberations. “Let’s put it this way. I am paying attention [to Unrivaled]. I hope the folks on the league and the team side are, too.”

Last October, the WNBA’s executive committee and board of player reps voted to opt out of their current CBA, which could lead to a lockout or work stoppage in 2026. A few of the players’ core complaints are the league’s hard salary cap, its lack of standardized training facilities and its undocumented charter flight policy — all of which Unrivaled has addressed handsomely.

For instance, Unrivaled players, their families and their personal trainers were all flown to Florida free of charge in first class; their salaries over eight weeks are almost double what they earn in an entire WNBA season; and they enjoy amenities such as a high-tech weight room and Glam Room.

In the WNBA, the Aces ($40M), Storm ($64M), Mercury ($100M) and Liberty have also invested in new training buildings, but Angel Reese will return to the Sky next season with nothing of the sort until the team’s new facility ($38M) is completed for 2026. “We’ve talked in the past about creating CBA provisions that would address the standards,” Jackson said. “And there was such resistance by the league and the teams back in 2018, 2019 when we were negotiating the 2020 CBA. So, definitely, once they have seen what the players were able to [get] in Year One of Unrivaled — if that doesn’t put pressure on the league to get their act together, I don’t know what does.

“Put it this way, what Unrivaled does is show us the way. It gives us a real, live, up close, impersonal view of what is possible for women’s sports.”

So far, the WNBA and its players association have had only one bargaining session, although Jackson said more meetings are “coming up fast and furious” and that Unrivaled’s top-end salaries will certainly be a topic of discussion.

“As I told you, I’m paying attention,” Jackson said of Unrivaled’s salary structure. “That’s a strong statement, as far as I’m concerned. I am paying attention.”