![\"WNBA:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/27236241.jpg\")
Oct 3, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert talks during a presser before the start of game one of the 2025 WNBA Finals between the Phoenix Mercury and the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images <\/p>\n
With just over a week remaining until the Jan. 9 deadline for a new WNBA collective bargaining agreement, the league and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association are not close to a deal, ESPN reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The report indicates that the league and players association are very far apart on a number of basic points including what the revenue-sharing system, which the league currently does not have, could look like, what could be considered revenue and the process of accounting for expenses.<\/p>\n
The league is reportedly claiming that the latest proposal from the WNBPA (30% of gross revenue for the players and a salary cap of around $10.5 million) would not be sustainable for the league to survive, costing the WNBA approximately $700 million over the length of the pact.<\/p>\n
The last reported proposal from the WNBA side offered 50-plus-percent of net revenue (revenue subtracting expenses), raising average salaries from $120,000 to $530,000 and max salaries from $249,244 to $1.3 million immediately and close to $2 million over the course of the deal.<\/p>\n
The WNBA’s proposed salary cap is $5 million with growth in line with revenue sharing over the deal.<\/p>\n
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Just after Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier’s team was eliminated from the playoffs in September, Collier, the WNBPA vice president, called a press conference and said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was providing the “worst leadership in the world.”<\/p>\n
“For too long I have tried to have these conversations in private,” Collier added. “But it’s clear there’s no intention of accepting there’s a problem (with the league’s officiating, in particular). The league has made it clear, it isn’t about innovation. It isn’t about collaboration. It’s about control and power.”<\/p>\n
In mid-December, the WNBA’s players voted to give WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and the executive committee the authority to potentially initiate a strike.<\/p>\n
“The players have spoken,” the WNBPA said in a statement. “Through a decisive vote with historic participation, our membership has authorized the WNBPA’s Executive Committee to call a strike when necessary. The players’ decision is an unavoidable response to the state of negotiations with the WNBA and its teams.”<\/p>\n
The WNBA is scheduled to introduce expansion teams in Portland and Toronto in 2026 to bring its number of teams to 15. A strike, if set into motion, could affect that timeline with the season scheduled to begin in May.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oct 3, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert talks during a presser before the start…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-381059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}