NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that WNBA players will receive a “big increase” in salaries in the new collective bargaining agreement, but pointed to “absolute numbers” as a way to measure that increase rather than a share of revenue.
“I think the share is the wrong approach because the NBA has a lot more revenue,” Silver said on the “Today Show.” “I think you have to look at the absolute numbers in terms of what they earn. They will get a big boost this collective bargaining cycle, and they deserve it.”
The WNBPA withdrew from the current collective bargaining agreement a year ago this week and has since been negotiating a new one, which expires in less than two weeks on October 31st.
In an Instagram story, the WNBPA posted a snippet of Silver's comments in which he repeats in a circle: “I think sharing is the wrong way to look at it” and the caption: “Don't want to share?” when tagging Silver.
A major holdup in the negotiations, players said, was the different ways each side believed player salaries should be determined in an era of enormous growth for the league.
Players are pushing for a system in which the percentage of revenue going toward salaries grows with the business—more like the NBA, where the salary cap is determined by basketball-related income (BRI), with players receiving roughly half that cap as dictated by their CBA.
Players say the league's proposals, instead, include a salary cap that increases at a flat rate over time, similar to the current CBA, where the cap increases 3% annually.
Phoenix Mercury's Sato Sabally said during the WNBA Finals that the league's recent proposal makes players feel like “we're not a part of the league's growth.”
“If we had continued with this CBA, we would have lowered our rating percentage-wise. [compensation]”, Sabally said.
The league's salary cap in 2025 was $1,507,100, with a supermax of $249,244 and minimum of $66,079.
The WNBA has seen record growth over the past two years, with attendance, viewership, merchandise sales, investment and franchise values soaring, and a new $2.2 billion media deal on the way.
When WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was asked during the Finals what issues players and owners disagreed on in negotiations with the CBA, she noted the importance of “balancing” player pay increases with the “long-term viability of the league.”
“We're just going back and forth, figuring out where that right balance is,” Engelbert said. “I think we all agree that we're trying to get every dollar we can back to the players, but we also want to encourage investment from the owners. We want owners to have viable businesses. Obviously, we are looking at expanding to 18 teams by the end of the decade. It is therefore important that incoming owners have the chance to create a viable economic model for the future.”
If the two sides don't come to an agreement by Halloween, they could agree to an extension that would allow them to continue negotiations, as they did for the last CBA, which was eventually signed in January 2020.
The new CBA must be drafted before the expansion draft involving two teams, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, and must precede the free agency period when most of the league's veteran players are unrestricted free agents.
