{"id":455489,"date":"2026-02-08T01:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T01:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455489\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T01:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T01:32:11","slug":"details-of-wnba-proposal-to-players-association-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455489\/","title":{"rendered":"Details of WNBA proposal to players’ association revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association on Friday night obtained the WNBA\u2019s counterproposal<\/a>, which featured some marginal changes from the league\u2019s previous offer, sources confirmed to The Post Saturday.<\/p>\n

The WNBA\u2019s response, which came six weeks after the WNBPA submitted its most recent proposal<\/a> around Christmas, did not feature a significant update on the revenue-share front, according to multiple sources. <\/p>\n

While players are bargaining for 30 percent of gross revenue, the league is still offering around 70 percent of the net revenue share, which equates to roughly 15 percent of the gross league and team revenue share.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WNBAWNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during a press conference announcing a WNBA franchise in Cleveland on September 16, 2025 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The WNBA did propose a salary cap increase to $5.65 million in 2026, sources with knowledge of the situation said, though that\u2019s still far below the $10.5 million salary cap the WNBPA proposed.<\/p>\n

The league also outlined clearer policies to ensure housing would be covered for certain cohorts of players.<\/p>\n

Under the league\u2019s latest proposal, team-funded studios would be provided for each of the two new developmental players. <\/p>\n

First-year players and players on minimum contracts would also be provided one-bedroom apartments, sources said.<\/p>\n

The league also agreed to the union\u2019s proposal to codify team facilities, though the exact details of new facility standards weren\u2019t immediately known.<\/p>\n

The WNBA declined comment, and the WNBPA didn\u2019t immediately return The Post\u2019s inquiry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBA talks had stalled out in recent weeks as the union waited for the league\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n

Several members of the union\u2019s executive committee,\u00a0including WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike<\/a>, attended an in-person meeting with league officials on Monday in hopes of getting the ball rolling again as ongoing negotiations pose a threat to the scheduled start of the 2026 WNBA season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

League officials spent part of the three-hour meeting sharing slides that detail some of the improvements and benefits the league had already agreed to offer in the new deal.<\/p>\n

Some of those proposed changes included a supermax base salary of $1.1 million in 2026 that could swell to $1.8 million by 2030.<\/p>\n

The average base salary for the upcoming season is projected to jump to $465,000 \u2014 up from roughly $102,000 in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other proposed improvements from the league include more guaranteed contracts, two developmental player spots per team, increased performance bonuses and the introduction of salary cap exceptions for pregnant players and those who suffer season-ending injury, among other items.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AnAn overall view of the PHX Arena during the game between Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury on October 10, 2025 at PHX Arena. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s proposal, though, put into writing some of the changes that the WNBA is willing to make, but time is ticking for the two sides to agree to a new deal.<\/p>\n

Multiple sources have said that if a new CBA is not agreed to within the next two or so weeks, then a delay to the season would be all but inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Negotiations have been such a grueling process, in part, because both sides\u2019 initial proposals started far apart from one another. <\/p>\n

If the new deal is at a metaphorical 50-yard line, then the WNBA started with a more prudent proposal that would have put them around the 40-yard line. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the players\u2019 union started outside the stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, players have more leverage than ever before in this round of CBA negotiations, so it\u2019s no surprise that they aimed high from the jump. <\/p>\n

But as negotiations have continued on, there\u2019s a feeling amongst some that the players have conceded more than the league, sources said.<\/p>\n

The WNBA\u2019s initial revenue share model didn\u2019t include team revenue, but the league has included that in recent proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ball is now in the union\u2019s court to determine how to proceed.<\/p>\n

Players voted in December to allow the WNBPA to call a strike \u201cwhen necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WNBA has not had a work stoppage in league history, and the vote is only one step in the multiphase process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while neither side wants to delay the start of next season, it appears players are willing to hold out to get what they believe they deserve, even if it means temporarily shutting down the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Women\u2019s National Basketball Players Association on Friday night obtained the WNBA\u2019s counterproposal, which featured some marginal changes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,7126,434,23316],"class_list":{"0":"post-455489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-unions","10":"tag-wnba","11":"tag-wnba-free-agency"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455489","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=455489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}