COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A new collective bargaining agreement is on the table, and WNBA players say the clock is ticking.
The players’ union opted out of the current CBA last fall, and while it doesn’t expire until the end of the 2025 season, players want real progress by the All-Star break on July 18. On Sunday, they made their case more public.
The WNBPA posted on Instagram: “It’s time. As the league grows, it’s time for a CBA that reflects our true value. We’re fighting for a fair share of the revenue we generate. If not now, when?”
Before the Sky’s game in College Park, union secretary Elizabeth Williams echoed that urgency.
“We come out here and we play almost every night for these fans, and we’ll continue to do that,” Williams told the Sun-Times. “But the current system is unsustainable for us, and that means it’s unsustainable for the business we create. Nothing short of transformational change will do for the future we see.”
She pointed to a disconnect between how the league is growing and how players are compensated.
“Every category across the business has grown,” she said. “Media, rights, ticket sales, team values. The only thing that’s still capped is player salaries. We deserve a fair share, and we’re demanding salaries that reflect our true value.”
Over the past several months, players have pointed to priorities like higher salaries, expanded benefits including maternity leave, and a more flexible salary cap.
The WNBA currently operates under a hard cap of $1.5 million per team. That’s less than half the NWSL’s new cap of $3.3 million, which doesn’t include additional player revenue sharing. It also contrasts sharply with the NBA’s soft cap system, which allows teams to exceed the cap using exceptions and pay a luxury tax if they do.
Williams emphasized that players aren’t making radical demands. “We’re not fighting for anything unreasonable,” she said. “We’re fighting to share in the growth that we’ve created.”
The most significant evidence of that growth is the WNBA’s next media rights deal, which begins in 2026. It’s worth about $2.2 billion over 11 years — roughly $200 million per year. That’s a fourfold jump from the current deal.
It’s a direct reflection of the WNBA’s rising viewership and attendance. In 2024, league attendance rose 48%, averaging nearly 10,000 fans per game. National TV viewership jumped 170%, with ESPN games averaging 1.2 million viewers.
The momentum hasn’t slowed in 2025. Opening weekend shattered records, with the Fever–Sky game drawing 2.7 million viewers — the most-watched regular-season game in league history. Meanwhile, the expansion Golden State Valkyries are selling out every night at Chase Center, averaging more than 18,000 fans per game.
“We see the fans showing up, tuning in, buying merch, growing the game,” Williams said. “And we want to grow with it.”
These are all reasonable demands, players argue. But there’s a structural challenge that could complicate negotiations: the WNBA doesn’t own a majority of itself. The NBA holds a 42% stake in the league. A group of private investors owns another 16%. That leaves just 42% under the WNBA’s own control.
As a result, players aren’t bargaining with team owners in a traditional labor setup. They’re negotiating with a coalition: the NBA — which may weigh WNBA growth against its broader business interests — as well as league headquarters and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Union leadership has emphasized its commitment to negotiating a deal, but WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson told reporters in May that a work stoppage remains on the table if meaningful progress isn’t made.
“We’re 25 days away from All-Star,” Williams said. “And the clock is ticking.”
She repeated her statement at the postgame press conference and said follow-ups should be directed to union staff.
Elizabeth Williams’ full statement is below:
“On behalf of my teammates and every member of the Union, I want to be clear that we remain committed to negotiating the next CBA with the league and the teams in good faith and privately.
But we want to set the record straight.
Not just for the headlines, but for the fans who support us. They deserve transparency about what’s at stake right now.
This is a defining moment for the W. As the league grows, it’s time for a CBA that reflects our true value. We’re fighting for a fair share of the business that we build.
It’s business. We’re not fighting for anything unreasonable. We’re fighting to the share in the growth that we’ve created.
Every category across the business has grown. Media, rights, ticket sales, team values. The only thing that’s still capped is player salaries.
We deserve a fair share, and we’re demanding salaries that reflect our true value. Again, it’s business.
We see the fans are showing up. We see them filling up arenas, tuning in on TV, buying merch, growing the game, and we want to grow with it in historic record breaking fashion.
We’re 25 days away from All-Star, and the clock is ticking. We come out here and we play almost every night for these fans, and we’ll continue to do that.
But the current system is unsustainable for us, and that means it’s unsustainable for the business we create. Nothing short of transformational change will do for the future we see.”