After more than 100 hours of marathon negotiations and 17 months since players opted out of their previous deal, the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association reached a verbal agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement early Wednesday morning, just 51 days before the league’s 30th season is set to tip off on May 8.
How WNBA Salaries Will Rise Under the Historic New CBA
The numbers represent a seismic shift for a league that has long been criticized for underpaying its players. The salary cap will jump from $1.5 million in 2025 to $7 million, while the supermax salary will rise from $249,244 to $1.4 million. It’s an increase of more than five times.
The average salary will climb to approximately $600,000, up from $120,000, and the minimum salary will surpass $300,000, compared to $66,079 previously. For the first time in league history, some players will earn more than $1 million per year.
The central sticking point throughout negotiations was revenue sharing. Players ultimately secured a gross-revenue deal, meaning their cut is based on overall WNBA revenue before expenses are deducted, at nearly 20% over the length of the agreement.
The league initially offered 15.5%, while players had pushed for as high as 40% before both sides reached common ground over the final week of talks.
Details of a landmark WNBA collective bargaining agreement, per ESPN sources:
New salary cap starting at $7 million, up from $1.5 million
Average revenue share of nearly 20% across deal
Supermax starting at $1.4M
Average salary in range of $600K, minimum above $300K
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 18, 2026
WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike framed the significance of that distinction plainly. “For the first time, player salaries are tied to a truly meaningful share of league revenue, driving exponential growth in the salary cap, increasing average compensation beyond half a million dollars and raising the professional standard across facilities, staffing and support,” she said.
Ogwumike added that players entering the league going forward will do so without “a sense of lack,” which is a pointed reference to the financial reality that has pushed many WNBA stars to play overseas during offseasons throughout the league’s history.
Speaking to reporters in the lobby of The Langham hotel in midtown Manhattan shortly before 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert called the deal “a fair win-win for all.”
“The progress made in these discussions marks a transformative step forward for players and the league, and it’s underscoring a shared commitment to the continued growth of the game,” Engelbert said. She also added that the extended negotiations avoided any disruption to the 2026 schedule.
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Breanna Stewart, serving as a WNBPA vice president on the executive committee, captured the mood from the players’ side. “This deal is going to be transformational,” Stewart said.
“It’s going to 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. Just excited that we can tell our fans that we’re going to be back.”
A formal term sheet still needs to be completed and ratified by both the players and the WNBA board of governors before the agreement is fully official. This will be the sixth CBA in league history, following deals in 1999, 2003, 2008, 2014, and 2020.
With the deal in place, the league’s offseason calendar can now move forward. Training camp is set to open April 19, with preseason games beginning April 25. The expansion draft is tentatively scheduled for April 1-6, followed by free agency from April 7 through April 18, a window that will cover more than 100 players, and the college draft on April 13.
WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson put the moment in its broader context. “Cathy and her team understood that the players’ wins were the league’s wins and that our stories of success are shared stories of success, period.”
For a league that has grown exponentially in viewership, attendance, and investment in recent years, the new CBA represents the moment the financial reality of that growth finally caught up with what the players were being paid.
