Sources: WNBA’s new CBA proposal includes housing provisions


The WNBA’s latest collective bargaining agreement proposal from Friday included some concessions on housing and facility standards, but it did not include a significant update on the league’s proposed revenue sharing system, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

As part of the housing concessions, players on their applicable minimum salary and those with zero years of service would be provided a one-bedroom apartment for the first three years of the new deal, sources said. Developmental players would be provided studio apartments, according to sources.

It is unclear how the players have received the new CBA proposal, which came Friday, more than six weeks after the players’ association made its last offer around Christmas time.

The league previously did not include any housing provisions in its proposals. WNBA teams have been required to provide housing for players since the first CBA was ratified in 1999. In the previous agreement, teams could provide housing in the form of a one-bedroom apartment or a stipend.

By far the biggest area of disagreement between the parties has been how revenue sharing should work in a new deal.

The league has proposed that players receive on average over 70% of net revenue, defined as revenue after deducting expenses. Its latest proposal included a $5.65 million salary cap in 2026 (up from roughly $1.5 million in 2025) and it would grow in subsequent years in line with revenue growth.

In its previous proposal, maximum salaries, including revenue share payouts, would amount to $1.3 million in 2026 and were projected to approach $2 million in 2031. The supermax in 2025 came in at $249,000. The average player salary, including revenue sharing, was projected to reach $540,000 in 2026 and $780,000 by 2031, up from $120,000 in 2025.

The players, meanwhile, have proposed a $10.5 million salary cap and pushed to receive 30% of gross revenue — defined as revenue before deducting expenses — while saying the league’s proposal constitutes less than 15% of gross revenue.

Multiple sources told ESPN that the league projected the union’s plan would result in $700 million in losses over the course of the agreement and that it would jeopardize the league’s financial health. The union believes its revenue sharing model still puts the league in a “profitable position,” a separate source close to the negotiations said, and calls the league’s projected loss figure “absolutely false,” citing a difference in whether expansion fees are factored into those calculations.

On Monday, the league and players union met in a pivotal bargaining session that also included players and owners. According to presentation slides from the meeting obtained by ESPN, the league showed players it is also offering more allowable guaranteed contracts per team and two new developmental player roster spots.

The slides also indicate the league’s previous proposal includes pregnant player trade consent, elimination of marijuana testing, higher team contributions to players’ 401(k) retirement accounts, new team staffing requirements and a recognition payment for current retirees.

A source said that in Monday’s meeting, players emphasized the importance of housing and facility standards and that the league’s new proposal also contains some of the latter, though it is unclear what those new standards are.

WNBPA leadership will meet in the coming days to review the league’s proposal, another source told ESPN. The WNBPA player body gave the executive committee the right to call a strike in December, something the players have referred to as being in their back pocket.

The league’s 2026 season is scheduled to tip on May 8, but first a new CBA must be agreed upon, plus a two-team expansion draft and free agency for all but two of the league’s veterans must occur.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.



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