had said Monday <\/a>that the WNBA offered players a 2026 max base salary of $1M which can rise to a projected $1.2M or more through revenue sharing \u2014 as well as a projected average salary in the $500,000 range and a minimum salary in the $225,000 area.<\/p>\nIn addition, the league increased its salary cap figure in 2026 to $5M (up from $1.5M in 2025) and purportedly made concessions such as including both league and team profits in the overall revenue-share template. <\/p>\n
According to sources, the league believed the proposal was a significant advance, considering yearly salary increases were no longer tied to a fixed annual figure of 3% and because each season\u2019s pay scale would now grow as league and team business grows — which is what the WNBPA had long been requesting. <\/p>\n
But, according to sources familiar with the players\u2019 thinking, the union is still questioning the league\u2019s \u201cmath.\u201d For instance, they believe the league\u2019s revenue share projections have been inconsistent, and they doubt the average salary is truly $500,000 if the salary cap is only $5M.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe average salary is $500,000 but the cap is 5 million? That doesn\u2019t really make sense,\u201d one source said. \u201cI mean, $500,000 times 12 is not 5 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, because there are 11 or 12 players on each WNBA team, the union remains skeptical by league projections and obviously believes the salary cap should be higher if the average salaries are $500,000. <\/p>\n
Regarding the union\u2019s salary cap questions, the WNBA was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Sources also said the union wonders why an earlier league proposal had an $800,000 max base salary rising to $1.1M through revenue sharing and that, in its latest proposal, the max salary starts at $1M and rises to only $1.2M through revenue sharing. That is another discrepancy they took note of.<\/p>\n
In addition, players were surprised that the league took away player housing in its recent proposals, which was reported earlier today by Front Office Sports. Currently, players have the option to utilize team housing or receive a housing stipend, which varies by team market. The WNBA is not offering that benefit in its latest proposal — although some sources point out the players will also be making far more money than before and can better handle housing on their own.<\/p>\n
Either way, it was widely expected that the union would reject the league\u2019s new proposal, and sources said the league always suspected the negotiations would be ongoing. Meanwhile, other portions of the league\u2019s proposal — such as moving training camps up to mid-March and potentially overlapping with Project B\u2019s international season in 2027 — aren\u2019t considered to be deal breakers.<\/p>\n
For instance, under the current CBA, the league could always begin training camps on April 1, but never has done so (usually opening camp after the WNBA Draft later in April). Sources, then, do not believe the league will remain overly adamant about moving the camps up to mid-March — because drafted rookies would still be finishing their college careers in the NCAA Tournament at that time.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, sources said the league proposed starting earlier and lengthening the season because a longer season would create more revenue — and, ultimately, more money for the teams and players.<\/p>\n
As for Project B<\/a> — which already has publicly signed as many as seven key W players — a March training camp would disrupt its plan to run its inaugural 2027 season from November to April. But it\u2019s possible — if the WNBA ultimately moves its season up — that Project B (which is still in the planning stages) could adjust and conclude its season in early March. <\/p>\nOn Sunday the league and union extended their negotiating window another 40 days until Jan. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the WNBPA is still reviewing the league\u2019s latest collective bargaining proposal, sources on Tuesday said the union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-326829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}