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The WNBA’s latest offer to players still fails to meet the minimum demands made by players — and the deadline to negotiate a new CBA is only mere weeks away. On October 10, Front Office Sports reported the league had proposed a new supermax salary that triples the current supermax.
FOS attributed the update to “multiple sources with direct knowledge of negotiations” and immediately noted that the latest offer does not include a supermax that reaches $1 million. This has been a mainstay of the players’ negotiating offers throughout the 2025 season. Instead, the league’s offer is said to be closer to $850,000, and the league is also reportedly offering a veteran minimum salary of $300,000.
The current supermax is $249,244, and the veteran minimum is $78,831. So while these proposed changes from the league can be seen as a big step forward, it’s crucial to note that that step still isn’t big enough — and players can and should continue to fight for the results that they want.
Outside of salaries, the players’ demands also include an emphasis on revenue sharing — including the process by which the league determines what percentage of overall revenue the players receive, and whether or not that amount will grow as the league (presumably) continues to.
WNBA players want an emphasis on revenue sharing
Back in August, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN that players have vehemently argued for a more transparent process in terms of how revenue sharing is determined. “The players are still adamant that we get a percentage of revenue that grows with the business, which perhaps includes team revenue, and that’s just a part of the conversation,” she explained,
Ogwumike also said in August that the league has more or less continued to offer exactly what they’ve offered previously — and that, disappointingly, the percentage of revenue shared “relative to the percentage of everything [else] is virtually staying the same.”
Mercury star Sataou Sabally also told ESPN that previous offers from the league made herself and others feel like they weren’t being taken seriously. “If we continued with this CBA, we would, percentage-wise, go down on our [compensation],” she explained during the WNBA Finals.
As ESPN also noted, players have pointed to massive increases in terms of team valuations, a new media rights deal worth hundreds of millions, and the influx of teams into the league as signs that the WNBA is bringing in significantly more money these days. For example, Joe Lacob paid $50 million to bring the Golden State Valkyries to San Francisco; the owners of the Portland Fire paid $75 million, and new teams from Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland are paying $250 million each.
