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Michael Voepel
Michael Voepel
ESPN Senior Writer
Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Kendra Andrews
Alexa Philippou
Alexa Philippou
ESPN
Covers women’s college basketball and the WNBA
Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer
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Seventeen months after the WNBA players opted out of their collective bargaining agreement with the league — and after months of intense negotiations, including a marathon 100 hours of in-person sessions in the final week — the WNBA will soon have a new deal to start the 2026 season.
From the time the WNBA Finals ended on Friday, Oct. 10, to the early hours of March 18, the league was immersed in discussions about its future. Negotiations were contentious at times, and there were concerns over whether the 2026 season would start on time.
Finally, this week’s bargaining sessions yielded a verbal agreement to terms for a new deal that the WNBA and the players’ association heralded as a landmark achievement for the league, which will celebrate its 30th season this year.
With the full details of the new CBA still to come, here’s what we know so far and how it will affect the 2026 season and beyond.
For months, both sides said they sought a ‘transformational’ deal. Does this agreement deliver?
Yes, because this is the much-improved framework upon which subsequent CBAs will be built. All previous CBAs were forward-moving, but they were more incremental. This is a legitimate large jump that alters the league’s financial structure in ways that will benefit future players being born right now.
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For the first time in league history, the salary system will be directly tied to a share of league revenue. As the business grows, so will player salaries. This is a shift from previous CBAs — in the 2020 edition, the salary caps were set numbers, increasing by 3% each year.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the average revenue share for this deal would be nearly 20% across the length of the agreement, though the exact details of how the revenue sharing system works remain unclear.
It’s fair to say that players signed past agreements sometimes feeling they left more on the table than they wanted to. They shouldn’t feel that way this time. They held out on their most important issues and negotiated them with a firm purpose.
This deal set standards on salary and growth that weren’t even in the picture just six years ago when the previous CBA was signed — which is why this deal really can be described as transformative. — Michael Voepel and Alexa Philippou
What will player salary look like in this deal? Will we see the first $1 million player?
The cap came in around $1.5 million in 2025; it’ll be $7 million in 2026, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. The supermax will start at $1.4 million (was $249,244 in 2025). The average salary will be around $600,000 ($120,000 in 2025) and the minimum salary will surpass $300,000 ($66,079 in 2025), sources said.
The Las Vegas Journal-Review has reported that the Las Vegas Aces plan to sign four-time MVP A’ja Wilson to a supermax deal. Players such as Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier and Kelsey Mitchell (last year’s highest-paid player) also will be in the mix.
Sources told Alexa Philippou that the cap is projected to exceed $10 million by the end of the agreement.
Will there be changes to the schedule, this year or in the coming seasons?
The 2026 season will remain at 44 games, but it expands from there. The 2027-28 schedule will expand to up to 50 games in 2027, and that number goes up to 52 games from 2029 through 2032.
Under the previous CBA, 44 games was the maximum allowed, and the 2025 campaign was the first to hit that mark. (The previous high was 40, hit in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.)
The increased scheduling footprint comes as the league enjoys a fresh wave of expansion. The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will launch in 2026, followed by franchises to come in Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030), bringing the league to a record 18 teams. — Philippou
What’s the process to formalize the deal, and when is it expected to be done?
On Friday, a term sheet was signed, marking an important step in the process.
After that, the union will present the deal to the players and answer any questions they have. The players will vote on the deal, and if they approve it — that requires a simple majority — it is formally ratified by the union. The deal also must be put up for approval by the WNBA Board of Governors. Once they do that, it can be officially signed.
The ratification period — which also involves the writing of the actual contract, something that’s hundreds of pages long — could still take several weeks. — Voepel and Philippou
Will the 2026 season start on time?
Yes, the league’s 30th season will tip off May 8. This was one of the concerns as the negotiations lingered into mid-March, and there is an enormous amount to do between now and opening day. The league, which released the 2026 schedule on Jan. 21, said it would not be impacted by the extended negotiations.
Engelbert on Wednesday morning said dates would not change for the college draft, scheduled for April 13 in New York, the start of training camp, the first preseason games on April 25 or the regular-season openers on May 8. — Voepel
How will the league fit an expansion draft and free agency in the next month?
In late February, the league sent tentative dates to teams outlining the extremely condensed offseason that will be squeezed into a few weeks (versus the several months it usually takes), sources told ESPN. Those dates are “subject to change,” one source said, as the new CBA is formally signed, and were contingent on the paperwork being ratified by March 31.
First will be a two-team expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. The expansion draft is expected to occur on April 6, according to sources. On April 1, teams would begin designating which players on their rosters would be protected from being selected. A coin flip will determine whether the Tempo or Fire get the first pick and also decide which team selects higher (between the sixth and seventh picks in the first round) in the collegiate draft.
Free agency is expected to begin on April 7. The player designation period will take place April 7-8, and negotiations can begin on April 9. Signings will happen April 12-18.
With more than 75% of the league free agents — most players avoided signing contracts that extended past the 2025 season to take advantage of potentially higher salaries in the new CBA — there could be a large amount of movement throughout the WNBA landscape before training camps begin on April 19.
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