The WNBA’s players and league owners are in the middle of a bargaining battle.
The WNBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement – the agreement in which player salaries are determined by – expired following the 2025 regular season. The most recent deal, signed in January 2020, was an improvement, but the league’s players are hoping for even more money moving forward. If a deal is not worked out by Oct. 31 – or an extension is not agreed to – there will be a work stoppage.
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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert acknowledged during the WNBA Finals that she is hopeful that a deal – or an extension – will be agreed to.
“We have extended deadlines in the past,” she said.
WNBPA senior adviser and legal counsel Erin D. Drake said recently on The Athletic’s “No Offseason” podcast that no agreement is coming by Friday, which is Halloween.
“We have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen,” Drake said in the podcast episode, which aired Tuesday, according to ESPN. “In a dance, it takes two to tango. And it has been difficult to find a beat, to find a rhythm and to find the same sense of urgency [from the league], just to be frank, to get this done.”
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Team WNBA guard Caitlin Clark (22) against USA Women’s National Team player Kelsey Plum (5) at Footprint Center.Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Longtime WNBA star Kelsey Plum has made it clear that the league’s players do not want to be paid as much as NBA players. However, they want to be get as big of a piece of the revenue.
“We’re not asking to get paid what the men get paid,” she said on The Residency Podcast.. “We’re asking to get paid the same percentage of revenue shared.”
Under the WNBA’s latest agreement, players get a 50-50 split of incremental revenue, not all revenue, according to Her Hoops Stats. The WNBPA receives 50 percent of revenue from player-specific jerseys, too.
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“In the NBA, they have percentages of revenue shared for the players — so, jersey sales, obviously their TV contracts,” Plum said. “But that’s because their CBA negotiates, where the owners are making certain types of money, [the players] get that as well. In the WNBA, that’s not the case.”
Plum added: “I don’t think I should get paid the same as LeBron. But the percentage of revenue — like for example: they sell my jersey in Mandalay Bay, I don’t get a dime. So that’s the stuff we’re talking about.”
Longtime sports executive’s ‘harsh’ truth for WNBA players
Former Miami Marlins executive David Samson, who now works for Meadowlark Media, suggested that there is a “zero percent” chance that WNBA players will end up getting the same piece of the revenue as NBA players.
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“There is zero chance that the women in the WNBA are going to get the same percentage of ‘revenue’ that the NBA players get,” he said.
The WNBA will have some tough decisions to make moving forward, that is for sure.
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Oct 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the WNBA section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
