The Future of the WNBA Hinges on Pivotal CBA Negotiations

With insight from WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, WNBPA Executive Director Terri Jackson, and more, Boardroom breaks down what’s at stake in ongoing CBA negotiations.

The 2025 WNBA season tipped off Friday night as the league looks to continue its incredible momentum from last year. In 2024, TV ratings were their highest in 24 years, average attendance was highest in 22 years, and records for merchandise sales and digital consumption were broken. But even without diving into numbers or metrics, the buzz, energy, and excitement around the W was palpable, and the WNBA Players Association sensed an opportunity.

The day after the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx in a decisive Game 5 to win its first-ever championship, the PA opted out of the league’s current collective bargaining agreement. The WNBPA contended that the CBA, which began in 2020, doesn’t properly account for the league’s strides since then. The players believe they earned better pay and benefits as the league increased revenues not just on the court, but with fees for expansion teams coming in and a new 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal that begins in 2026. In a conversation last month tied to a key sponsorship deal with Ally, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told me that she knows what the players want as the league continues to build a strong, sustainable economic model.

For the players, the time is now to negotiate and bargain for what they’ve tirelessly toiled for. In an extensive conversation, WNBPA Executive Director Terri Jackson told me that everyone is united to fight for what they believe they deserve. That includes going on strike if an agreement isn’t reached by an Oct. 31 deadline that will hang like a Sword of Damocles over the season until both sides agree on a new CBA.

“We’re committed to this for as long as it takes,” Jackson told Boardroom. “We know what the stakes are. We know our power, we know the moment, and we’re going to take this seriously.”

The current CBA agreement, reached in January 2020, was ratified just six months into Engelbert’s tenure as commissioner. At the time, it was celebrated as a necessary improvement over what Jackson described as a decades-old business model that no longer worked for either party financially. But the PA at the time also asked for more investment and resources devoted to treating the players like professional athletes and more marketing dollars to better highlight the game and its stars, two key items they’re still looking for in the next CBA.

“It was true then,” Jackson said, “and it is true now.”

Over the last five years, Engelbert and the league have worked diligently to bring in more sponsorship dollars, orchestrated a vital $75 million funding round in 2022, and attracted more media coverage to ensure a brighter, more prosperous future for both the WNBA and its players. But player salaries are now far below the revenue and interest they’re driving, with a maximum salary of $241,984 last year and a minimum wage of just under $65,000, which are often criticized by being compared to other pro and even college athletes. Team salary caps could use a huge boost, and the PA will be fighting for better benefits overall, as well as practice facilities and arenas necessary for improved athlete treatment.

That includes charter flights, which will be employed by all 13 teams in 2025 but are not yet officially codified in the CBA. Jackson clearly said the league can’t move backwards on this issue, and it should be the easiest to resolve in negotiations. Helping Jackson in these talks is what she considers an engaged group of players standing with her, led by an executive committee anchored by PA President and Seattle Storm All-Star Nneka Ogwumike and a CBA committee co-chaired by Phoenix Mercury All-Star Satou Sabally.

“They’re really dynamic personalities that can rally or whip the members when we need them to engage or be a part of small group conversations,” Jackson said.

From seasoned vets to rookies and international players, Jackson said player involvement is strong, and the PA has a much larger staff and infrastructure than last time to advise and support players during these negotiations. That’s led to a better familiarity among the players with what to expect and who they’re dealing with on the other side.

“There’s a lot of strength on the player side this time around, a lot more cohesiveness,” Michael Goldsholl, the WNBPA’s Senior Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs, who was a PA intern during the last CBA talks, told Boardroom. “They’re savvy, they’re engaged, and they’re ready.”

The PA believes the league underutilizes these players, not just on the court, but off it as well. Jackson said she asked Engelbert to bring the league’s brightest stars to the negotiating table when brokering the media rights deal, something that’s never been done in sports before. In working with OneTeam Partners on group sponsorship and partnership deals, the PA sees the value of having the players in these meetings and on these calls. The union also believes it can do more to help bring more companies willing to invest in the league and its players, especially when they’re in the room.

“We see the sponsors lean in that much more,” Jackson said. “They want to hear from the players and are open to their creativity. I think the commissioner understands the power of it, too. There’s something to be said about bringing in additional investment and opportunities and partners. Will the league get out of its own way when it comes to that?”

While the 11-year deal with Disney/ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Amazon/Prime Video are locked in, Engelbert has said that there will be room for other networks, like current rightsholders CBS and Scripps/Ion, to negotiate smaller packages as the league expands to 15 teams in 2026 when the new rights contract begins. That’s where Jackson hopes the players can have a seat at the table to drive positive change and even more revenue further.

And at the same time, negotiations with the league and TV networks are taking place, WNBA players are embarking on a 44-game regular season schedule that’s the longest in league history and a longer postseason as the W welcomes an expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, for the first time since Atlanta in 2008. These players won’t be competing for just a championship, but because of how much salaries are expected to increase in the next CBA, contracts were negotiated so that more than two-thirds of the league are expected to be free agents after the season.

“We saw really big changes after the last CBA, and we could see monumental change and shifts next year,” Elle Duncan, who anchors ESPN’s WNBA studio coverage, told Boardroom. “I keep describing this as an all-in year, smoke ’em if you got ’em. It’s a huge year, but also a transitional year at the same time.”

As the league’s lead rightsholder, Duncan said it’s ESPN’s job to make it very clear to the public what the players are asking for. It also helps that Duncan’s colleague on the analyst desk, Chiney Ogwumike, is Nneka’s sister and a former PA vice president who can speak directly to what the players want and need from the ongoing talks. It will be up to the other rightsholders to have similarly nuanced on-air conversations about what’s at stake behind closed doors.

Jackson and the WNBPA have publicly been very aggressive about setting due dates where they expect progress in CBA talks, including significant progress by the All-Star break in July. The league and its players are looking to build on last year’s wave of momentum, with diehard and casual fans alike getting more invested in teams, tea, stars, and storylines.

“We know that our player leadership has set high expectations for this next CBA, so we’re committed to meeting, if not exceeding, those expectations,” Jackson said. “Everything is a fair game and on the table. There’s so much riding on this year. … We’re going to look back five years from now on the last three seasons as having made the most impact on the game,” she said, “and that’s in large part because of our leadership and because of who the players are.”

Jackson continued that the WNBA is a tested, proven product, but there’s still so much room for growth. Through OneTeam partners, the union knows many more companies are willing to invest.

“Are we going to continue to be creative in how we think about growing this business on the league side?” Jackson asked. “Or are you going to get in your own way and hold yourself back, as you have been known to do?”

As we were talking over Zoom, a sign behind Jackson in support of last year’s Screen Actors Guild contract negotiations read “SAG AFTRA on strike.” And while she doesn’t see a work stoppage in the WNBA’s future, Jackson and the WNBPA are prepared to stay at the negotiating table as long as it takes for the union to achieve its goals. But the sport of women’s basketball can’t afford anything that would slow its current momentum and buzz, which both sides acknowledge.

So while the league continues to grow on the court and increase viewership, attendance, and jersey and merchandise sales, the future of how the WNBA looks structurally and economically is at stake while your favorite players and teams are in action. Buckle up, because it seems like the W is in for its wildest, most consequential, and perhaps bumpiest ride yet.