The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) began play in 1997 with a game between the New York Liberty and the Los Angeles Sparks. Ever since, the league has captured the attention of sports and fans of pop culture alike. WNBA coverage pales in comparison to that of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Despite disparities in media attention, WNBA players continue to push the envelope and serve as role models for young girls and women worldwide.
Throughout the league’s history, salary has remained a focal point of conversation. The current average salary for a WNBA player comes in at approximately $102,000 to $147,745, compared to the likes of the average NBA salary, a whopping $11.91 million. On multiple occasions, players like forward Napheesa Collier (24) stated that they wanted the same payment structure of the NBA, not equivalent pay. Despite the argument that the WNBA does not turn a profit, it does create revenue. This means that the league does not fail to generate any money. The NBA pay structure allows for revenue to contribute to players’ salaries. The WNBA payment structure does not reflect the same.
“So I started liking women’s basketball around 2022, when my uncle introduced me to the WNBA and Diana Taurasi. Back then, I was a big Phoenix Mercury fan because it was pretty much the only team I knew. Between late 2022 and early 2024, I didn’t pay much attention to the WNBA, but then I stumbled upon a TikTok edit of Paige Bueckers (5), which introduced me to the world of college women’s basketball. I started watching both college and professional women’s basketball after that, and I instantly loved UConn and the Las Vegas Aces,” magnet sophomore Ara Momoh said.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), defined as the agreement between the league and its players, stands in place of a formal constitution for the league. The current deal, set to run through the 2027 season, provided the opportunity for players to opt out of the agreement at the end of the 2025 season. Since the last CBA negotiations in 2020, the league has skyrocketed, driven by increased media coverage and up-and-coming college talent. Though the 2020 negotiations proved monumental, the parameters no longer fit the state of the league. The current bargaining between the league and the players will affect the league moving forward.
Should the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) and league executives not come to an agreement in time for the upcoming regular season, the WNBA will enter a lockout. Lockouts occur when neither side reaches an agreement with the current CBA and causing league officials to shut down facilities, team events and possibly games as well. A similar situation occurred in Major League Baseball (MLB). In the 1994-95 season, the league faced a 232-day strike that cut into the World Series. The cancellation of the 1994 World Series affected MLB numbers for years. A similar fate awaits the WNBA should a lockout occur.
“That lockout was in 1994, and [the MLB’s] numbers still haven’t recovered. I think the biggest problem right now is [that the WNBA] doesn’t have the generations of numbers. Major League Baseball had been a constant in the media, and it dominated as one of the three major leagues in the United States. In a sense, they have never fully recovered. The money has come back, but the numbers never come back in terms of audience. The numbers in the WNBA have only started, and they need to land those numbers hard so they can justify the amount of money they make in the media,” Professor of Communication and director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California, Annenberg, Daniel Durbin, Ph.D, said.
Major change in the 2026 offseason does not stop at the CBA. The WNBA plans to add two new teams, the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire. Both teams will allow for a combined addition of 24 new roster spots. In addition, the new openings expand the league to a total of 15 teams and 180 players. In contrast, the 2024 season boasted 12 teams and 144 total roster spots. For a majority of the league’s existence, players dubbed themselves the “144” to honor the extremely limited number of positions in the elite league. The new roster spots allow for players who did not receive previous contracts another opportunity to play in the WNBA.
The WNBA signed a new media deal totaling 2.2 billion over the next 11 seasons. The amount of revenue the deal generates alone suggests salaries could increase, along with merchandise and ticket sales. The combination of these factors will push revenue forward. WNBA players receive 9.3% in revenue shares from the league. In contrast, the NBA, National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL) receive 49-51% of their respective leagues’ revenue. This structure of compensation allows for players’ average salaries in those leagues to total over one million dollars.
In past agreements, players created several strides in advancements for salary and other rights. The finalized deal in 2020 hit just before the “wubble” and included new benefits such as daycare options for mothers and expanded career development opportunities. Since the start of the league, teams lacked the privilege of flying charter. Chartered flights failed to go into effect until 2024, with the arrival of a historic and record-setting season. Despite the league refusing to provide chartered flights in prior seasons, several owners paid for their teams to fly without the chaos of public airports.
“The landscape has changed with money in college athletics. But from the pro point of view, they likely don’t feel their game has changed one bit. They have what they have. I’d tell you that one of the primary reasons for the surge in WNBA popularity is the emergence of today’s younger stars – starting with Caitlin Clark (22). People want to see her play, and want to see their teams play against her. Start there, it’s a good foundation. Someone who has collegiate experience could be helpful and useful in the position, should it become open. Maybe a college commissioner, or an athletic director? Certainly someone with a business background,” sports columnist at the Providence Journal, John Rooke said.
The success of the WNBA and other professional women’s sports leagues, such as the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), Unrivaled, AU Pro Basketball and League One Volleyball (LOVB) only strengthens the argument for a raise in salary. These leagues endured compensation turmoil as well. For example, from 2016 to 2022, the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) and U.S. Soccer engaged in a legal battle for equal pay. The movement, pushed forward by stars Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, garnered support from soccer and sports fans alike. An agreement for an improvement in pay came in 2022; however, the fight continues as women’s soccer rises in popularity.
Women’s Soccer and Basketball join another sport in their ascension with women’s hockey. The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)’s first season in 2023 gained massive attention from hockey fans. In turn, the league brought in expansion teams after the inaugural season. The base salary in the PWHL comes in at around 35,000 dollars annually. While low, the compensation significantly outpaces the inaugural WNBA average salary.
Critics of the current negotiation process cite start-up leagues like Unrivaled for the stall in conversation. Unrivaled, founded by stars Breanna Stewart (30) and Collier, takes on a format different from the WNBA. The three-on-three (3v3) league stays stationary in Miami and allows players to own equity within the league. The economic setup permits player salaries over triple those of their WNBA contracts. Unrivaled nearly broke even in their first season, a feat virtually no business comes close to achieving. Despite the success, social media users speculate whether Stewart and Collier, WNBPA vice presidents, negotiate with ulterior motives. Collier later came forth to negate those claims.
“Just a few years later, a friend of mine, David Neal, was the executive producer for Fox Sports. [He] developed their old sports win. And they were promoting the women’s World Cup. The women’s World Cup had one good thing: the American team had a chance of winning. The bad thing is, the American team was so dominant that everybody looked at them. It was like the size of the account, too. So, David had to figure out a way to sell that. So, Fox, to their credit, put the money in, and he developed an advertising campaign that was about the stars for winning the World Cup in America,” Durbin said.
On September 30, during her exit interview, Collier decided to speak out against the leadership of the league. She claimed that conversations with Commissioner Cathy Englebert fell short in the need to create progress toward a mutually beneficial solution. Players throughout the entire season stood in solidarity for the payment, equality and treatment of players from officials and the league as a whole. Over the course of the past five years, since the last CBA, the league’s spotlight from the media has exponentially grown along with the increase in merchandise sales. Players hope the time of equal pay for the WNBA will set the league up for an even brighter future filled with successful stories on the court.
