With the clock ticking on the WNBA collective bargaining agreement, Minnesota Lynx free agent Napheesa Collier explained what the players are fighting for in a profile in Glamour magazine.
Facilities and charter flights are among the talking points in the new CBA. But revenue sharing is where the rubber hits the road for the WNBA and its players as the deal expires on Friday, Oct. 31. Very few, if any, on either side believe a new CBA will be reached by the deadline. An extension can be agreed upon before a lockout is put into place.
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“You know, everything is so great in Minnesota. We share everything with the men’s team [the Minnesota Timberwolves]. So whatever they have, we have,” Collier says. “After learning that [other teams] don’t even have practice facilities, they don’t even have changing rooms, they don’t have all these things. It just feels really unjust.”
Collier, who is the WNBPA vice president and co-founder of 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, would like to see an equal playing field. She referred to the New York Liberty being fined $500,000 in 2022 for violating the WNBA’s CBA using charter flights for travel during the 2021 season. The WNBA started a charter flight program in 2024 but it has not been codified in the CBA.
“I feel like that is not a hard thing for me to fight for because I’m a player in this league too. I want to lift this up for everyone.,” Collier said “…. I don’t mind that New York takes planes. I’m glad for you guys. But it shouldn’t be unfair [to the point] where [some] people are living in squalor.”
Last week, the sides went back and forth after NBA commissioner Adam Silver appeared on “Today” on Oct. 21 and took issue with a question about revenue sharing. Craig Melvin asked if WNBA players should get a larger piece of the revenue pie. “They get nine percent of total revenue compared to roughly 50 percent of the revenue of NBA players. Should they be getting a larger share of revenue in the WNBA?”
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“Yes,” Silver said “I think ‘share’ isn’t the right way to look at it because there’s so much more revenue in the NBA. You should look at it in absolute numbers in terms of what they’re making. They are going to get a big increase in this cycle of collective bargaining. And they deserve it.”
The WNBPA clipped Silver saying, “I think ‘share’ isn’t the right way to look at it,” to its Instagram story with the caption, “Don’t want to share?” and tagged the commissioner.
“You know they know it’s bad when the best they say they can do is more of the same: a fixed salary system and a separate revenue-sharing plan that only includes a piece of a piece of the pie, and pays themselves [the league] back first,” WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson said in a statement sent to The Athletic on Oct. 22.
“We’ve come to the table prepared to do business. They’ve responded with bad math and are hoping everyone doesn’t understand what ‘uncapped’ actually means. Adam Silver said it himself on behalf of the WNBA. ‘Share isn’t the word.’ It’s not in their vocabulary.”
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The WNBA came back with its own statement to ESPN, saying: “It is incorrect and surprising that the Players Association is claiming that the WNBA has not offered an uncapped revenue sharing model that is directly tied to the league’s performance. The comprehensive proposals we have made to the players include a revenue-sharing component that would result in the players’ compensation increasing as league revenue increases — without any cap on the upside.
“It is frustrating and counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals while also accusing the league of engaging in delay. That is simply not true.
“While we have delivered comprehensive proposals that seek an agreement that will benefit all, the Players Association has yet to offer a viable economic proposal and has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on many of our proposal terms. We stand ready to continue negotiating in good faith and hope they will do the same so that we can finalize a mutually beneficial new CBA as quickly as possible.”
The WNBA has undergone unprecedented growth since the last CBA was signed in 2020. Investment, franchise valuations, attendance, ratings and merchandise sales have all increased. The league’s $2.2 billion media deal also kicks in next season.
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For her part, Collier told Glamour the players are steadfast in getting what they believe they deserve.
“If we give in, we’re not only doing a disservice to us, we’re doing a disservice to where we have gotten in women’s sports,” she said. “We really have no choice but to stand strong again, not just for the present, but for the future of our league too.
“We are standing really firm on what we want and we’re not going to give in before we get it.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Collier warns WNBA players can’t back down in CBA fight
