Copyright The Boston Globe
But WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson used the phrase “cautious optimism” to describe the players’ outlook, and Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder carefully chose the words “shared risk.” “Everybody gave up something and everybody got something,” Gilder said. “And that’s exactly what both sides wanted. Both sides won.” The agreement was supposed to last eight years, but when the players’ union opted out in October 2024, it was a sign that the league’s undeniable growth wasn’t aligned with the way players believed they should be compensated. The decision to opt out set up the scenario the sides currently face, unable to establish a new agreement by the Friday deadline. Both sides all but conceded publicly earlier in the week that a deal wouldn’t be reached by the deadline. Erin Drake, the union’s senior adviser and legal counsel, said Tuesday on The Athletic’s “No Offseason” podcast, “For a year, we’ve known that this was a deadline, and for us it’s always been a very real deadline, and we have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.” Later that day, the WNBA offered the Players Association a negotiation extension, according to a report from ESPN. The sides needed two extensions to get the deal done in 2020. There was a 60-day extension in October 2019, then another three-week extension in December, before reaching the deal in January 2020. A work stoppage would be a first in WNBA history. The closest call came in 2003, when negotiations lasted until April. The draft was delayed by a week, but the season started on schedule. The 2019 negotiations, while lengthy, weren’t nearly as combative, at least publicly. Engelbert was in her first year on the job, she came in with a business background as the first female CEO at Deloitte, and had the stated goal of transforming the league economically, ultimately increasing player salaries. This time, players have been openly and vehemently critical of the league overall, and Engelbert specifically. Lynx star Napheesa Collier, one of the faces of the league and vice president of the Players Association, held a news conference after her team lost in the playoff semifinals, and said, “We have the best players in the world, we have the best fans in the world, but right now we have the worst leadership in the world.” As contentious as it’s gotten between the players and the league, the core issue isn’t complex. With the growth of the league, players don’t just want increased pay, they want a share of revenue that grows as the league continues to grow. There’s no greater example of the league’s exploding value than Mark Davis buying the Aces in 2021 for $2 million. The team is now valued at $290 million, according to Sportico. The Valkyries paid a $50 million expansion fee to join last season. The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are set to join next season after paying $50 million and $75 million, respectively. Future franchises in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia each paid $250 million. Meanwhile, player salaries are higher than they were in 2019, but most aren’t as high as promised, according to HerHoopStats data. This past season, the mean salary was $107,000, but that was just the second time since 2021 that it exceeded six figures. At the same time, 54 percent of the players in the league made less than $100,000 (compared with 63 percent the year before). The sticking point in the WNBA’s 2020 agreement was a 50-50 revenue-sharing model that was supposed to start in 2021. The arrangement depended on the league hitting revenue growth targets from its television contracts, plus marketing and licensing deals. But despite setting records for attendance and television viewership over the past three years, that never came to fruition. Across most other major American professional sports, players salaries are based on a share of league revenue. In the NBA, players receive 51 percent of basketball-related income. NFL players receive 48 percent of league revenue. NHL players split revenue 50-50 with the league. Major League Baseball salaries are not tied to revenue. Due in large part to a complicated split between the WNBA, NBA, and investors, players in the WNBA reportedly share 9.3 percent of league revenue. In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, NBA commissioner Adam Silver weighed in on WNBA player salaries, saying, “I think share isn’t the right way to look at it because there’s so much more revenue in the NBA. I think you should look at absolute numbers in terms of what they are making. They are going to get a big increase in this cycle of collective bargaining, and they deserve it.” But his comments only added to the fracture between the sides. Jackson told The Athletic, “Adam Silver said it himself on behalf of the WNBA. ‘Share isn’t the word.’ It’s not in their vocabulary.” Now, the sides are at an impasse.
