Salaries and revenue sharing are the biggest changes in the new WNBA CBA

Yesterday, after months of negotiations and countless deadlines come and gone, the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) reached a verbal agreement over the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that fundamentally reshapes the economics of the league and marks a major win for the women’s sports labor movement. 

According to ESPN, the salary cap will jump from roughly $1.5 million to around $7 million per team. Individual salaries follow the same trajectory: Supermax contracts are expected to rise from just under $250,000 to approximately $1.4 million annually. Average salaries will land near $600,000 up from $105,000, while minimum salaries are projected to exceed $300,000, up from around $66,000. For a league where many players historically earned less than six figures and spent offseasons playing overseas to make ends meet, the shift is significant. 

Increased WNBA salaries are going to reshape women's basketball

With such sizable numbers, the WNBA can realistically position itself as the primary financial destination for its own players. The long-standing dynamic where talent supplemented income in overseas leagues in Russia, Turkey, or China will become less necessary, if not obsolete, especially with the rise in popularity of other domestic leagues like Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited. 

Though the salary increases are substantial, the shift in revenue sharing suggests a deeper redefinition of the player–league relationship. With players set to receive 20 percent of gross revenue — up from roughly 9 percent under the previous CBA — the deal positions players as drivers of league growth entitled to share of the value they create, rather than a cost to be covered.

Under the prior system, compensation was tied to net revenue, meaning ownership covered costs before paying players, and growth did not consistently translate into player earnings. The new structure begins to close that gap. Still, the outcome falls short of the union’s initial ask of 40 percent, which is more consistent with the roughly 51 percent of revenue share allotted to NBA players.

With free agency, expansion, and a new season all converging around the deal, the league is setting itself up for a groundbreaking 2026 season. Around 80 percent of players are free agents, who enter a market defined for the first time by financial flexibility and strategic choice rather than financial scarcity.

The implications of the deal extend beyond the WNBA. By establishing a more robust revenue-sharing model and dramatically increasing salaries, the league sets a new benchmark for women’s professional sports. Other leagues will likely face increased pressure to match or respond. Beyond that, the deal challenges the long-standing assumption that growth— especially in women’s sports— must precede investment, signaling instead that the two can happen in tandem.

In one sense, the new CBA represents extremely overdue compensation. In another, it establishes a new baseline, one that future negotiations across women’s sports can build upon. 

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