WNBA Stars Sign Majestic $10 Million Agreement for Elite Contract Enhancements!
The WNBA and Women's National Basketball Players Association reached a verbal agreement on a collective bargaining agreement. the league said..
The 2026 WNBA season is slated to tip off May 8. File Photo by Corey Sipkin/UPI March 18 (UPI) -- The WNBA and Women's National Basketball Players Association reached a verbal agreement on terms of a collective bargaining agreement, the league confirmed Wednesday. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert informed reporters of the agreement inside the lobby of The Langham Hotel in New York.
Engelbert, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson and executive committee members Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner had started negotiation sessions for an agreement last week at the hotel. A formal term sheet is being finalized and the agreement must be ratified by the players and WNBA board of governors. Neither the league nor players union shared details.
Sources told ESPN and Front Office Sports that the WNBA's new supermax salary will be more than $1 million, up from the previous top of about $250,000. The deal is expected to increase average player compensation to more than $500,000 and raise other professional standards for facilities, staffing, housing, retirement and more. The pact also contains a new salary cap starting at $7 million, up from $1.
5 million, and an increase in average revenue share of nearly 20% . "We're just really grateful to be able to come to a deal," Ogwumike told ESPN. "We're proud of ourselves.