The WNBA’s latest proposals for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) keep coming and, frankly, they get more confusing by the day. Now, we know that negotiating points are often dramatic when they are first brought to the table, so they can be talked about, but some of these new rules the WNBA is suggesting make little sense. Beyond making sense, they don’t even seem like offers that the WNBA can seriously implement without damaging fan engagement, viewership and the relationships the players have with the university system and its international federations.
Not only that, but they seriously undermine the players in the league, as well as the players who will enter the league in the coming years. Players like Juju Watkins and Sarah Strong will undoubtedly immediately become some of the WNBA’s biggest stars and do not deserve to have their earning potential reduced by policies proposed and agreed upon by parties they are not yet a part of.
To begin with, negotiating a collective bargaining agreement raises many issues about labor rights, equality and fairness, but when the league negotiating your contract is a women’s league, these injustices come to light much more quickly. Female athletes have a lot more to negotiate in their contracts, especially when you think about the history of global pay inequality and the differences in healthcare for women, just to name two important points.
Players’ Union president Nneka Ogwumike told The Athletic this week that players “don’t feel valued in these conversations as they are today.” He went on to say that his players feel “heard, but not listened to.”
Here are some things the WNBPA (the WNBA players union) is proposing to add to this new collective bargaining agreement, according to The Athletic’s Ben Pickman:
- Eliminate central appointment and exclusive team negotiating rights (reserved contracts).
- Shorten the length of rookie-scale contracts, which are currently 3 years with a team option in the fourth year.
- Invalid maternity leave for fathers who are not mothers’ children.
- “Significant” retirement benefits.
- Uniform league-wide standards for private practice, training and recovery facilities.
- League-wide staffing requirements, including strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, physicians, etc.
- Reimbursement for mental health services.
- A revenue sharing program that grows in line with the growth of the league per season.
On the other hand, these are some of the WNBA’s proposals, according to Pickman:
- I will no longer pay for team accommodation.
- A mandatory draft combine for incoming rookies, with absent players’ salaries cut in half.
- Limit the number of guaranteed contracts each team can have each season.
- Advance the start of the season.
- One week of paid parental leave other than birth.
Even comparing these proposals, you can see the ways in which players are being undervalued, and that’s without getting into salary and revenue share points. As Ogwumike states, the players feel it too. In previous years, perhaps the league could use financial negotiations or lack of reach to explain some of the things they didn’t want to offer, but this is a different women’s sports landscape. The WNBA has seen tremendous growth over the past five years, and the fact that there is no language in the CBA requiring teams to have sports coaches on their staff is incredibly outdated. Much of the treatment of WNBA players is outdated.
Interestingly, much of the way the WNBA markets its league and its players has to do with this “girl power” mentality. Highlight the ways in which women are breaking barriers and glass ceilings, being very adamant in publicizing audience growth and how the numbers reflect the ways in which the league has grown. Gamers are the reason for all the growth and the main theme of the content that drives that growth; However, they are still not considered valuable enough to be treated the way they want in a contract?
That growth in women’s sports has meant that we now have research showing that female athletes must train differently than their male counterparts to reduce the risk of injury. That growth has made more women comfortable growing their families during their careers and making comebacks that didn’t happen as often before. This growth has made female athletes stop being forgotten regarding the numbers of their teams and become businesswomen and global ambassadors.
However, his own contract doesn’t even reflect that growth, and these proposals make it seem like the next one won’t either.
To compare negotiating points with another American-based women’s sports league, let’s take a look at the NWSL’s collective bargaining agreement, signed in August 2024. The NWSL was able to double its team’s salary cap, while also adding a revenue-sharing program tied to media rights and sponsorship money from the previous season. On top of that, the NWSL eliminated its draft and made it so that all players automatically enter free agency as rookies. They were also able to guarantee all contracts, enforce no-trade clauses, and expand family planning and health benefits.
All of these points help NWSL players have more autonomy over their lives and careers, where they play, and financial security. It also sets a precedent for what female athletes deserve, and WNBA players hope to gain a new level of autonomy in this new contract, just as the NSWL achieved.
There is nowhere to hide either. The WNBA has a vocal and devoted online fan base who are not afraid to make noise about these issues. The WNBA’s online fans were a big part of why the league ultimately enacted the charter program, and fans’ vocal support for the players in these negotiations puts pressure on a deal. However, it is not just any agreement, but one that reflects the wants and needs of the players as a workforce.
This new collective bargaining agreement should make WNBA players feel valued for the work they did for the league, and they will hold firm until that happens.