NEW YORK \u2014 After more than a year of tumultuous negotiations, more than a week of nearly nonstop discussions, and another day of talks that stretched into the early morning, the WNBA and its players union came to a verbal agreement on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n
The league and the WNBPA finally reached a deal after 2 a.m. Wednesday here to move forward with a new pact that will redefine the economic and governing rules of the WNBA going forward. The agreement, Breanna Stewart said, will be \u201ctransformational\u201d for the league and its players.<\/p>\n
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Though there is an agreement in place, it still must be formalized into a term sheet and approved by the players and the league\u2019s board of governors. The details of the agreement are still not known. Player salaries will be tied to league revenue for the first time, average player compensation will be more than half a million dollars, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said, and the agreement will also improve on family planning and parental leave benefits.<\/p>\n
Despite deadlines and saber-rattling that the league could have the start of its season impacted, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that training camp and the regular season will start on time. Opening night is scheduled for May 8. The agreement comes just in time as a long to-do list awaits over what\u2019s left of the offseason, including an expansion draft, free agency and a college draft.<\/p>\n
Still, there was celebration in the early morning in midtown New York. After months spent far apart in nearly every way, league staff, including Engelbert, WNBPA leadership, and members of the union\u2019s executive committee came together early Wednesday morning in a conference room at the Langham hotel and toasted with glasses of champagne.<\/p>\n
The two sides, which had butted heads publicly and privately, came together to announce the deal in the hotel\u2019s lobby after 3 a.m. Engelbert stood beside Ogwumike and Stewart, while union executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson held a water glass with champagne. Alysha Clark, who had delivered an emotional private address minutes earlier, stood next to Brianna Turner as each reflected on the significance of what they had just finished bargaining.<\/p>\n
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Divided for so long, finally, the WNBA has peace again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our time as a league that is evolving, as a union that is evolving, this is historical for women\u2019s sports,\u201d said Ogwumike. \u201cI told Cathy, it\u2019s not just for the players that are entering the league or the players that aren\u2019t already here, but it\u2019s the ones that are standing next to her and beside her. And so we\u2019re just really grateful to be able to come to a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The league\u2019s previous CBA expired on Oct. 31, 2025. The players opted out in October 2024, giving the league and union more than a year to make a deal before its expiration, but little progress was made before the first 30-day extension this offseason. Negotiations recently quickened after months of stalemate.<\/p>\n
During last Wednesday\u2019s 11-hour session in New York (which followed a 12-hour session Tuesday), the WNBA proposed a $6.2 million salary cap \u2014 up from its most recent proposal of $5.75 million \u2014 which would put the supermax salary at $1.3 million in Year 1 that would increase to roughly $2 million by Year 6 of the deal, according to a source with knowledge of the sessions. Under the previous CBA, the 2025 salary cap was roughly $1.5 million with a supermax salary worth slightly less than $250,000.<\/p>\n
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The league\u2019s recent proposal before the deal offered players roughly 15.5 percent of the total revenue over the lifetime of the CBA. Players offered to decrease their initial proposal of a 40 percent pre-expenses revenue share to 26 percent in a Feb. 27 meeting and even lower in this week\u2019s meetings, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.<\/p>\n
The two sides had largely been deadlocked because they used different revenue-sharing models. In addition, the players were frustrated that the league\u2019s proposals prohibited them from auditing league and team expenses. The league had also continued to eliminate team housing benefits from proposals, which became another point of contention.<\/p>\n
Tuesday presented the latest day of nearly nonstop negotiations and stops and starts. Deborah Willig, the union\u2019s outside counsel, said she thought there could have been an agreement earlier in the day. Around midnight there was concern that a deal would have to wait another day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been obviously a process, but we\u2019re very proud to be leading in women\u2019s sports,\u201d Engelbert said.<\/p>\n
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Players had used the rallying cry of \u201cpay us what you owe us,\u201d even wearing the phrase on T-shirts at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game. They had long expressed frustration over their relative low pay as professional athletes, but their demands for higher salaries and improved benefits came as the league gained unprecedented popularity and investments in recent seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about players coming into this league for the first time, and not having a sense of lack,\u201d Ogwumike said.<\/p>\n
Said Stewart: \u201cThis deal is going to be transformational, and you\u2019ll see all the details hopefully soon, but it\u2019s gonna build and help create a system where everybody is getting exactly what they deserve and more from on the court and off the court aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n