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Mark Cuban stepped into the WNBA’s ongoing labor negotiations with a Shark Tank style idea, offering an unconventional fix as talks intensify between the league and its players’ union. The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Front Office Sports reported that the union submitted a counterproposal Tuesday seeking team-provided housing for players in the early years of the deal and a 25 percent share of total league revenue, averaging about 27.5 percent over the agreement’s life. The union also lowered its proposed salary cap to under $9.5 million, down from roughly $10.5 million.
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The league responded swiftly. In a statement to Front Office Sports, a WNBA spokesperson called the proposal “unrealistic” and warned it would create hundreds of millions in losses for teams. The league added that it must complete two Drafts and free agency before training camp and suggested the union’s offer could delay the season.
Cuban highlighted reality.
“The crazy part,” Cuban wrote, “is that no matter what the WNBA does with salaries, every star college player will take a pay cut to play in the WNBA.” He said athletic directors told him elite players in power conferences earn between $500,000 and $1.2 million, while also receiving room and board and transfer flexibility.
Cuban Proposes WNBA ‘NIL’ Model
Cuban argued that college basketball runs on a subsidized model backed by donors and shared school revenue, which he compared to European club systems. In the NBA, teams cannot negotiate direct sponsor payments for players. In college sports, NIL deals effectively allow that.
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“When I have written checks to IU,” Cuban explained, “I knew which players were trying to get with the money, although I never tie the money to specific players. It’s up to them.”
His suggestion, allow WNBA teams to build sponsorship packages that include direct payments to players. “Let WNBA teams pay ‘NIL’ money to its players,” he wrote. Cuban acknowledged that WNBA teams lack the ticket, sponsorship, and television revenue margins to significantly raise salaries through cash flow alone. With league support, teams could structure sponsor-funded deals that supplement income without straining finances.
Larger markets could secure stronger sponsorships, so Cuban proposed directing a percentage of those NIL-style deals into a shared pool, similar to how jersey ad revenue gets distributed.
“Obviously I’m just spitballing this,” Cuban added, “but if they came on Shark Tank, that’s what I would suggest!”
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