It’s obvious that the WNBA and the WNBPA need to compromise on the upcoming CBA. “That’s literally what a negotiation is,” one player told ESPN. However, it’s been more than a year at the negotiating table, and we are still looking at an agreement through a telescope. Despite understanding the need for compromise, each side is currently sticking to its guns. So much so that the WNBA is ignoring the WNBPA’s latest proposal.
The divide remains in revenue sharing. The players have reportedly proposed a 30% of net revenue, which is profit before expenses. On the other hand, the league is offering 70% of the gross revenue. That was almost a month ago. One would think the sides would have improved to getting that number somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, they are exactly where they were at the time, as the WNBA has not even bothered to send its reply.
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“The Women’s National Basketball Players Association is still awaiting an official response from the league since sending it a proposal a month ago,” reported Alexa Phillippou of ESPN. “The league believes the proposal didn’t warrant a response, since it wasn’t that different from the past ones the union has submitted — and instead, sources told ESPN, it’s waiting for the players to submit what it would consider a more “realistic” proposal.”
With the 2026 tip-off date of May 8 around 3 months away, the mood around the 2026 season is getting gloomier. The WNBPA has already conducted a vote to grant the leadership the power to call a strike when necessary. The fans are feeling helpless amid these ongoing negotiations and the lack of updates, as many have turned to criticising the WNBPA.
Tables Turn On The WNBPA As Latest CBA Proposal Backfires
“Asking for way too much,” wrote a fan. “Shot themselves in the foot lol,” pitched in another. You wouldn’t have expected a comment like this just a couple of months ago. You could have, but those fans would have been a minority. Slowly but surely, fatigue has caught up. Some fans no longer sympathise with the WNBPA. Because, in their perception, it is the WNBPA that is now holding up the negotiations. The league has offered the players record salaries of $1 million +, including revenue sharing. That should be enough, according to some fans. In addition, the WNBA has reportedly deduced that the WNBPA proposal can cause losses of $700 million.
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Rebecca Lobo already warned the players of this arising sentiment. “As these negotiations have gone on, it feels like some of (the fan support) is waning,” she said. “And I think some of it has just been the language and the verbiage and that sort of thing that we’ve heard from the players’ association.” The WNBPA leadership, which includes Nneka Ogwumike and Napheesa Collier, has stood its ground, but there are calls among the fan base to replace them.
The change matters for every player in the league, but to a different extent. At the absolute top of the earning table, players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and others are earning millions via their off-court deals. Sure, they deserve much higher salaries, but their banks aren’t exactly empty right now either. On the other hand, the players on minimum salaries who are not as popular or anyone in the lower bands have to play an offseason league to get by. This salary bump matters most to them, and their heart will remain in their mouth until everything is signed and delivered.
“At what point is a mediator brought in? The WNBA seems to be pretty unserious about trying to broker a new agreement,” asked a fan. NBA commissioner Adam Silver offered to be one. But after Silver said “share isn’t the right way to look at it” and urged focusing on “absolute numbers,” the WNBPA responded with hostility. In any case, he wouldn’t be the ideal negotiator as the NBA has a significant stake in the WNBA. The players won’t look at him as a neutral party. Without a solution, we are heading to the worst possible scenario, a strike.
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“Hopefully, everyone involved understands that 2027 isn’t gonna matter if there’s no 2026 season. And whatever leverage the players have will cease to exist,” wrote a fan. “A lot of fans will be ok with it because they’re fine with 3×3 reality tv hoops. It’s gonna suck for the rest of us.”
This has a tinge of reality mixed with some heavy assumptions. If we don’t have the 2026 season, the interest will be affected. In today’s market, an average basketball fan won’t stand around and wait for the WNBA to sort things out. They will move away from the league, and the competitors are waiting as well. However, Project B could be thebeneficiary rather than Unrivaled.
It has the same 5v5 format as the WNBA, without the gimmicks and the funding to back it up. Ideally, each fan is hoping that the WNBA finds a way out of this precarious situation. What worries fans most isn’t who wins the negotiation, it’s whether there will even be a 2026 season left to win.
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