WNBA and Players Agree to Push Back CBA Deadline to January

The WNBA and the WNBPA have agreed to a second extension of the current collective bargaining agreement, minutes before the first extension was set to expire Sunday night. It now expires on Jan. 9, 2026.

“We expect substantive movement from the league within this window,” the union said in a statement. 

A 21-day extension was proposed by the league, a source with direct knowledge of negotiations confirmed to Front Office Sports. The union proposed a six-week extension on Nov. 30, the day the CBA was set to expire. Ultimately, the players and owners agreed to extend the current CBA by nearly six weeks. Similar to the previous extension, both sides have the option to opt out of the new deadline with 48 hours notice. 

The league and union agreed to a 30-day extension ahead of the original October 31 deadline. Despite meeting regularly over the last four weeks—including throughout the holiday weekend—they failed to make the progress required to ratify a new CBA. 

The main sticking point remains the salary model. 

Last week, the WNBA presented a proposal that included a maximum player salary over $1 million, which represents a historic number in the league which had a salary cap of $1.5 million  per team this past season. However, that figure was misleading according to multiple sources. While the league’s max salary could reach more than $1.1 million with revenue sharing, the supermax base salary would still be in the high six figures.

The supermax salary in 2025 was $249,244 and the minimum was $66,079. 

The league and union have continued to meet, suggesting that terms within that proposal may have since changed. 

The current CBA—which the players opted out of last October—includes a revenue sharing model that pays players a percentage of excess revenue after certain targets are reached. Because the targets were cumulative beginning with the 2020 season, the COVID pandemic made it all but impossible for players to reach them.

Revenue sharing was never triggered under the current CBA and the salary cap rose by a fixed rate of 3% every year. 

The union’s priority has been a model—similar to the NBA—that guarantees players a percentage of all basketball-related income, not just league revenue. 

In 2019, the WNBA and WNBPA agreed to a 60-day extension and were able to ratify a new CBA early in the new year, just ahead of free agency. Several parts of the league calendar will be delayed if the sides can’t reach an agreement. Last year’s expansion draft happened in the first week of December, and the league can’t conduct a draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire without a new CBA. After the expansion draft comes an unprecedented free agency period. All but two league veterans are set to become unrestricted free agents. 

In addition to a revamped salary model, the players’ priorities include improved benefits, the codification of charter travel, and league-wide standards for working conditions between franchises. According to multiple sources, while topics outside of the issue of pay have been discussed, serious headway has not yet been made on them. Other issues on the table are prioritization—a rule introduced in 2020 requiring players to be in their WNBA markets in time for training camp or face suspension—the age requirement for draft eligibility, and the core designation. The need for expanded roster sizes has also been highlighted by players.