WNBA, players have not agreed to new CBA — now what?

This was all but confirmed Thursday afternoon when WNBPA vice president Breanna Stewart told reporters in Miami that she was certain there would be no deal in the following 24 hours and that negotiations would continue “in good faith.” 

Stewart’s comments, along with other reporting Thursday, also correctly predicted there would be no third extension, instead beginning a period of status quo as of Jan. 10. While in this period of status quo, anti-strike and anti-lockout clauses in the now-expired CBA are lifted, giving either side the ability to initiate a work stoppage. 

Meanwhile, other working conditions — such as access to facilities — remain in effect and would only be impacted in the event of a work stoppage. While the league has shown no indication that it is considering a lockout, the players voted to authorize a strike several weeks ago.

The WNBPA also announced a network of “WNBPA Player Hubs” that will provide access to facilities for training and recovery across the United States, as well as a location in Spain, and plans for additional locations moving forward. This ensures access to facilities in the event of a work stoppage, or even impending free agents who effectively have no team market to live in until they can sign in free agency.

In Stewart’s media availability on Thursday, she emphasized the players were not intending to initiate a strike “right this second.” Still, the vote to authorize a strike sets the stage for rapid action by WNBPA leadership should they decide that good-faith negotiations have halted. At the same time, initiatives like the Player Hubs provide additional safety nets for the players.

Elsewhere, sources confirmed to The IX Basketball on Friday that the league communicated to teams that, as part of the period of status quo, they would technically be allowed to extend qualifying offers beginning on Sunday, Jan. 11. However, both sides have been working towards agreeing on a moratorium that would put a hold on typical offseason business, including free agency.

A similar moratorium was agreed to prior to the 2020 season, with the union and the league agreeing to a moratorium on Dec. 31, 2019, the eve of 2020 free agency. The moratorium was later amended to create a one-time free agency schedule that both sides agreed to on Jan. 17, 2020, to accommodate the condensed offseason.

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Revenue sharing check-in

As has been the case since negotiations began, the debate over revenue sharing remains the most likely topic to bring good-faith negotiations to a halt. 

Sources familiar with the negotiations tell The IX Basketball that the league’s latest offer to the players continues to include a $1 million maximum base salary in 2026, with projected revenue sharing raising the total maximum 2026 salary to $1.3 million, up from $249,244 in 2025. 

Sources also confirmed to The IX Basketball that the league’s offer as of Friday afternoon would pay players 70% of net revenue, which is gross revenue minus expenses. The 2026 season would begin with a $5 million salary cap, with players receiving revenue-sharing payments after the season concludes based on the league’s final revenues and expenses.

The players’ most recent proposal includes 30% of gross revenue, which would result in a salary cap of around $10.5 million, as first reported by ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. The league estimates the model would cost it and its teams $700 million over the course of the agreement, per Philippou’s reporting.

Not included in the league’s net revenue calculation or the $700 million in projected losses are expansion fees, which the league considers a net-neutral transaction. The union takes issue with that line of thinking, especially in relation to the league’s claims of massive projected losses. However, this is standard procedure across major American sports leagues where revenue sharing is built into player compensation.

Expansion fees in the WNBA are paid over time and offset decreases in future revenue for existing teams that now own a smaller piece of the pie. To put it in real terms, the Golden State Valkyries agreed to pay the original 12 teams a combined $50 million over 10 years in exchange for the right to cut into those teams’ revenue by 1/13.

This isn’t to say expansion fees are perfectly net-neutral transactions, as any professional sports team comes with a markup for the vanity of owning one. Additionally, the offset revenue is frontloaded. 

In the case of Golden State, payments will span 10 years, but the other teams’ lessened revenues will continue for as long as the Valkyries exist. For any business, cash today is worth more than the same amount of cash later. Still, those caveats are on the margins and unlikely to move the needle as much as the union would hope.

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Time crunch

Looking beyond the specific friction points in negotiations, teams are already facing a condensed offseason in more ways than one. Beginning with the 2023 season, free agency normally opens with teams extending qualifying offers to their free agents from Jan. 11-20 

Even if a deal were reached today, it would need to be ratified by the WNBA’s board of governors, and any free agency period would need to wait until an expansion draft can be held for both Portland and Toronto. And before an expansion draft can even be held, teams need to learn the parameters of the expansion draft and deliberate over which players to protect, given those parameters.

In 2020, a tentative deal was announced on Jan. 14, with free agency beginning on Jan. 20. It is unclear how long the league would set aside for expansion draft prep, a new wrinkle this time around, but one week between a tentative agreement and the start of the real offseason appears to be a reasonable estimate.

For the league, the time crunch is evident. Squeezing a two-team expansion draft, a full free agency period, the regular draft, and training camp into such a short window, all while hoping for a longer season than in the past, is daunting and only becoming more so.

For the players, the time crunch is less glaring but is undoubtedly a factor. Most players’ offseasons haven’t been very unusual so far, save for the negotiations themselves. Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited are in full swing, other players are overseas, and others are taking the offseason to recoup as they usually would.

However, this is also an offseason with an exceptionally high number of unsigned players, as all but two players on veteran contracts — Phoenix Mercury center Kalani Brown and Seattle Storm guard Lexie Brown — will be free agents. The looming condensed offseason may mean unprecedented player movement and the increased chaos that would come with it. 

Tack on the fact that Toronto’s players will need work permits — a group that won’t be known until free agency can play out — and with the possibility of team-provided housing being removed from the CBA, you have a recipe for a logistical nightmare that neither side wants to face if they don’t feel they have to.

The IX Basketball’s Jackie Powell contributed reporting for this story.

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