PHOENIX \u2014 WNBA players will earn a lot more money this upcoming season, and it\u2019s possible that no team owner is more excited about that idea than Mark Davis.<\/p>\n
Since purchasing the Las Vegas Aces from MGM in 2021, Davis has been at the forefront advocating for WNBA players to be treated like valued professionals. Davis has also been outspoken about his players enjoying the same luxuries as their male counterparts, a concept on which he has a unique perspective as owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n
The WNBA\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement<\/a> represents a massive step forward in both of those areas, including a massive increase in salaries along with actual standards for the facilities and amenities teams provide.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the women are happy, I\u2019m happy, because that\u2019s what I\u2019ve always wanted; is for them to be compensated fairly,\u201d Davis told the Review-Journal during NFL meetings at the Arizona Biltmore resort.<\/p>\n Players and the WNBA\u2019s board of governors ratified the new CBA last month, but it still needs to be finalized with the signing of an official long-form agreement. Team executives were advised not to discuss the details until that takes place, which should be within a week.<\/p>\n Nearly 18 months of negotiations came to a head as the process moved to in-person talks in New York that lasted 14-16 hours a day for eight days. Those meetings were attended by New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai as one of the representatives of the league.<\/p>\n When asked about the process, Davis was honest.<\/p>\n \u201cI really can\u2019t speak to that because I wasn\u2019t involved in it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t really want to involve me, I don\u2019t believe. I think they felt I\u2019d probably have been on the other side of the table, in a sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Major upgrades<\/p>\n The WNBA released key details of the forthcoming document, detailing a $7 million salary cap in 2026 (up from $1.5 million in 2025 and expected to increase to $11 million by 2032), the first-ever million-dollar super max ($1.4 million in 2026, up from $249,000) and meaningful revenue sharing (players to receive 20 percent of gross revenue).<\/p>\n By the start of the 2028 season, each team will be required to have a facility with a locker room for exclusive use by the team, a private regulation-sized court, a separate weight room and cardio area, a treatment room and a private dining area. In 2027, each arena will also need to have a family room. Teams will be disciplined if they don\u2019t meet these regulations.<\/p>\n Davis made sure the Aces had all of the above as he attempted to equal the playing field in 2023. He ensured the Aces had the first practice facility dedicated solely to a WNBA team, a building that was erected right next to the Raiders\u2019 headquarters in Henderson. He also made Aces coach Becky Hammon the WNBA\u2019s first million-dollar coach.<\/p>\n The practice facility is a development that Davis said which he still receives praise.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that was an important step in creating a truly professional league,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n Standing his ground<\/p>\n Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis stood behind there being \u201cabsolutely nothing done wrong\u201d as the Aces were investigated by the league for potential rule breaches under the previous CBA after Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) gave each player on the team\u2019s roster $100,000<\/a> sponsorships.<\/p>\n The WNBA, most recently contacted Thursday, has declined to answer the Review-Journal\u2019s questions about the status of the negotiation for over a year. The league hired an outside law firm, Kobre and Kim LLP, to conduct the probe in June 2024. The firm has yet to reply to the Review-Journal\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n The sponsorships made national headlines when LVCVA president and CEO Steve Hill led a group that surprised Aces players with the news early in the 2024 season. The video of the players\u2019 reactions received millions of views between multiple social media platforms. Amid the league\u2019s probe, the Aces received the sponsorships again<\/a> in 2025. The LVCVA will not continue the sponsorships in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we did it, we said it was a two-year deal and recognized it was a bridge,\u201d Hill told the Review-Journal at league meetings, which he attended to announce Las Vegas as the Super Bowl host city for <\/a>2029<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we got the big bang of value was at the announcement. The players did great, certainly followed through on that commitment to put a spotlight on Las Vegas,\u201d Hill said. \u201cBut a lot of what we do in marketing, where we get the biggest impact is when it\u2019s new and exciting and different. Repeating that year after year just doesn\u2019t provide that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Hill sees the league\u2019s progress under the new CBA as a win.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how much we had to do with that, probably very little,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThey\u2019ve gone from kind of scrounging, really, to now getting in the ballpark of where they really ought to be. So we\u2019re thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @CallieJLaw<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 WNBA players will earn a lot more money this upcoming season, and it\u2019s possible that no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-578611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578611","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=578611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}