Seventeen months in, and the WNBA CBA negotiations are still stuck in a limbo. There’s still no clarity on whether the two sides will reach an agreement, but the league’s pressure tactic seems to be working. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and her team issued a March 10 ultimatum to the union, warning that if a handshake deal isn’t in place by then, the 2026 season schedule will be affected. That seems to be working.
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EXCLUSIVE: WNBA players had a tense meeting Tuesday that the union executive director later called “spirited, passionate, and at times tough.”
One cause of disagreement among players is how to approach a potential strike, sources said.
By @AnnieCostabile ⬇️
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 27, 2026
As reported by Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports, the WNBPA hosted a virtual meeting with players Tuesday night to address ongoing labor talks, and there appears to be disagreement among players over how to approach a potential strike.
We all know by now that in December, WNBA players sent a strong message by overwhelmingly voting to authorize a strike if negotiations didn’t progress between the two parties. But the March 10 deadline now appears to be working in the league’s favor, as some players are reportedly starting to reconsider their stance.
As Annie Costabile reported, “A letter sent from WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson to union members and obtained by Front Office Sports verified the tone of Tuesday’s meeting. In it, she wrote, “last night’s conversation was spirited, passionate, and at times tough.”
Terri Jackson also stressed in the letter that the discussion reflected the strength of the union. “Honest debate is not division,” she wrote. “It is engagement.”
It’s becoming clear that tensions are building. As ESPN’s Alexa Philippou reported, “WNBA player agents sent a letter Thursday to WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson expressing ‘our collective preference for transparency and coordinated communication’ with agents moving forward in collective bargaining agreement negotiations,”
Agents have now stepped into the conversation, and it’s clear that some players believe the union leadership may be pushing negotiations too far and failing to meet the moment. It could be younger players eager to get on the court versus veterans focused on securing their future. It could be anyone. Right now, no names have been mentioned, so it wouldn’t be fair for us to speculate.
“Everyone has different experiences in the league and in their life,” veteran guard Lexie Brown told FOS. “So I did not expect all of us to come into these meetings, week by week, and just kumbaya and everybody agree on everything. That’s not reality.”
She continued, “We all want to play. We all want a fair CBA, but fair looks different to different people. So how do we get to a place where fair looks good to everybody: to the majority, to the minority, to the max players, to the role players, the rookies. How do we get to a place where fair looks the same?”
You can understand why there might be a divide among players right now, but it would be unfair to suggest the union leadership is negotiating in bad faith. If that were the case, there wouldn’t be a provision requiring the entire league to vote before a new CBA is implemented.
It may sound like the union has had a change of heart after almost unanimously empowering a seven-player committee, featuring Nneka Ogwumike, to call a strike when deemed necessary. However, Front Office Sports reports that more than half of union leadership has reiterated its willingness to strike if the league pushes players into that position. So, for those wondering if there’s a civil war brewing… that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least not yet.
But as things stand, there’s still a huge gap between the two sides, and we don’t see how the WNBA CBA negotiations come to a fruitful end unless one of them makes a significant sacrifice.
Where do things stand in the WNBA CBA negotiations?
Let’s just say the league and union reach a verbal agreement by March 10. If that does happen, the league plans to hold the expansion draft between April 1 and 6, with qualifying offers and core designations issued April 7 and 8. The signing period would then run from April 12 through April 18, just one day before training camp begins. And for those wondering about the college draft, the league intends to hold it on April 13.
But for any of that to happen, both sides must first reach an agreement, something that currently looks unlikely. Here’s why.
At the heart of the standoff is one issue: revenue sharing. The league’s latest proposal includes a $5.65 million salary cap for the 2026 season, which would push the average salary to roughly $535,000 in year one. That’s a massive jump from about $120,000 in 2025.
But there’s a problem. Under the current proposal, players would receive around 15 percent of gross revenue, which falls well short of what the union wants. They’re pushing for 27.5 percent, and that’s where the gap lies. Right now, neither side appears willing to compromise.
To be fair, the union has already lowered its demands. When negotiations began, they were pushing for more than 30 percent in revenue sharing, but that figure has now come down. It’s clear that the union wants to get the WNBA CBA deal done, but both sides still need to find common ground.
Do you see it happening? Let us know in the comments down below!
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