If approved, the deal would raise the average salary to about $584,000 while guaranteeing a minimum of $270,000 for the lowest-paid players, marking a major step forward in player compensation.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWNBA Adds Housing Benefit for Players<\/p>\n
Housing became a key part of the CBA negaotiations, and after the multiple failed sessions, it was decided that every contracted player will receive the facility for the first three years (till 2029).<\/p>\n
After that, only players earning $500,000 or less will qualify for housing in 2029 and 2030. However, it was negotiated as a mandatory facility for every developmental player. <\/p>\n
WNBA Rookies Could Earn More Than Ever <\/p>\n
According to the new CBA 2026, the No. 1 draft pick next month will earn $500,000, and all current rookie contracts will also be increased. Rookie deals will still last four years from now on.<\/p>\n
Players on rookie contracts who earn All-WNBA honors can receive a max salary in their fourth year if they sign a three-year extension. And that means, Caitlin Clark could qualify in 2027, Paige Bueckers in 2028, and Aliyah Boston in this season.<\/p>\n
WNBA and Players Union Finalize 7-Year CBA<\/p>\n
The seven-year deal, running from 2026 to 2032, comes after nearly 17 months of negotiations following the WNBPA\u2019s opt-out in October 2024, as both sides pushed for a more modern and sustainable system. <\/p>\n
Under the new agreement, max salaries will start at $1.4 million in 2026 and could exceed $2.4 million by 2032, with the regular season also expanding to 50 games in 2027\u201328 and 52 games from 2029 onward.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOther benefits<\/p>\n
The league is making major investments in player benefits, including codifying charter travel at a cost of over $300 million while also expanding first-class travel across league events. <\/p>\n
At the same time, life insurance coverage will increase to more than $700,000 per player, and teams will boost their contributions to 401K retirement accounts.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, the agreement also includes meaningful payouts for former players, with retirees receiving tiered one-time payments based on years of service. Those with 12 or more years will get $100,000, while players with eight to 11 years will receive $50,000, and those with five to seven years will earn $30,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If approved, the deal would raise the average salary to about $584,000 while guaranteeing a minimum of $270,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-551533","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\/551533","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=551533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}