{"id":530768,"date":"2026-03-18T12:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530768\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:26:11","slug":"wnba-reaches-late-night-verbal-cba-agreement-to-save-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530768\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA reaches late-night verbal CBA agreement to save 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be a 2026 WNBA season after all.<\/p>\n

The WNBA and Women\u2019s National Basketball Players\u2019 Association verbally\u00a0agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement in the early hours of the morning Wednesday,\u00a0likely putting an end to lengthy, contentious negotiations fraught with drama that, at times, rivaled reality TV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A formal term sheet still needs to be finalized, and then the agreement must be ratified by the players and the WNBA Board of Governors.<\/p>\n

The deal was reached 51 days before the season is set to begin. There is optimism training camps now will open on time and the 2026 season will start as scheduled on May 8.<\/p>\n

A series of marathon bargaining sessions over the past week closed the gap between the WNBA and players union proposals and allowed the two sides to find common ground on revenue sharing and team-provided housing in time to\u00a0allow for the season to start on schedule\u00a0and avoid the league\u2019s first work stoppage.<\/p>\n

\"WNBAWNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced a new WNBA labor agreement. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, along with WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson and four members of the WNBPA executive committee, announced the news at 3 a.m.<\/a> to reporters at a New York City hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe progress made in these discussions marks a transformative step forward for players and the league and it\u2019s underscoring a shared commitment to the continued growth of the game,\u201d Engelbert said, per ESPN. \u201cIt\u2019s [been] a process, but we\u2019re very proud to be leading in women\u2019s sports, and these players are amazing, and we\u2019re going to have an amazing 30th season tipping off in May.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither side shared details of the agreement. However, it\u2019s expected to come with massive increases in player salaries across the board, including a supermax salary exceeding $1 million.<\/p>\n

With the WNBA surging in popularity and reaping the financial rewards of this growth, players opted out of the previous CBA in October 2024 to seek a \u201cbusiness model that reflects their true value,\u201d which included higher salaries, improved working conditions and expanded health benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the 2025 WNBA Draft, Engelbert shared aspirations for designing a \u201ctransformational\u201d deal that would feature a \u201cfair\u201d and \u201csustainable economic model.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But little progress was made throughout the WNBA regular season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The players union put on a united front throughout the negotiation process, with players creating a viral moment at the All-Star Game in July when they arrived to warm-ups wearing \u201cPay Us What You Owe Us\u201d shirts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the cracks in that solid foundation started to show in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

\"A'jaA\u2019ja Wilson celebrates winning the 2025 WNBA Finals for the Aces. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

After players voted in December for the WNBPA executive committee to call a strike \u201cwhen necessary,\u201d some players softened their stance in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart, both members of the WNBPA executive committee, earlier this month said a strike would be \u201cthe worst thing.\u201d The two also co-authored a March 2 letter expressing concerns regarding the handling of ongoing negotiations.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot that needs to happen before the season can start May 8. The CBA will have to go through the legal vetting process in order to be ratified.<\/p>\n

Then, the league will need to execute a two-team expansion draft, a supersized free agency and the college draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Training camps are scheduled for April 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Liberty are slated to play their first preseason game against the Fever on April 25 before opening their season May 8 at Barclays Center against the Sun.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be a 2026 WNBA season after all. The WNBA and Women\u2019s National Basketball Players\u2019 Association verbally\u00a0agreed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[436,99,434],"class_list":["post-530768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530768","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=530768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}