With a key deadline already passed, the future of the WNBA is being hammered out in marathon negotiations that could fundamentally reshape the league’s financial landscape. With the March 10 deadline for a timely season start now behind them, the league and union are racing to reach a deal that could shape the next era of women’s professional basketball.

Central to the discussions is a bold proposal from the league: a $6.2 million salary cap for the upcoming season.

Under the plan, the average player salary would climb to roughly $516,600, while the supermax (calculated at 20% of the cap) would reach $1.24 million. If you want to compare these numbers, last year, the cap stood at $1.5 million, with average salaries around $120,000.

While the league has framed the proposal as “historic and transformational,” commissioner Cathy Engelbert has emphasized that this offer brings gains across salaries, benefits, and long-term player support.

“Huge gains and salaries, benefits, everything you’re seeing, but beyond that when you see the whole thing, huge, huge benefits,” she said as per Los Angeles Times. “We’re proud of the deal we have on the table. I think it’s, again, huge gains for the players, while again, balancing that with the health of the league.”

However, not everyone at the bargaining table is fully on board.

Revenue sharing remains the biggest sticking point for the WNBPA, which has stressed that any salary system must be meaningfully tied to league revenue. The players’ union executive director, Terri Carmichael Jackson, told the reporters that while progress is being made, there are still key concerns to address.

“A salary system tied to revenue in a meaningful way remains a top priority,” Jackson said. “The continued conversations have helped us chip away at what the concerns are for both sides and how we meet them, how we address them.”

Both sides have exchanged more than nine proposals so far, where they have also discussed core designation, wearable technology, and player benefits. While negotiators acknowledge that the $6.2 million proposal represents a significant step in the right direction, further talks are needed before a tentative agreement can be reached.

WNBA CBA Deadline Comes and Goes as Nneka Ogwumike Stresses Good-Faith Negotiations

While the league had previously indicated that a handshake agreement is the need of the hour and has to be reached by March 10 for the 2026  WNBA season to begin on time, the players’ union did not treat that date as a hard deadline.

Union president Nneka Ogwumike made it clear earlier this week that the WNBPA never viewed the timeline as something that would dictate the pace of negotiations.

“We haven’t ever really considered that as a timeline that’s been something to prioritize on our side, because we have always been negotiating in good faith,” Ogwumike said.

Even with talks continuing past that date, the league has already mapped out a tentative timeline for the rest of the offseason once a deal is reached. According to details obtained by the Associated Press, the expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo would take place between April 1 and April 6, followed by free agency negotiations involving more than 80% of the league’s players.

Teams would issue qualifying offers, including franchise player tags, on April 7 and 8 before entering a short negotiation window ahead of the official signing period from April 12 to April 18. Training camps are scheduled to open April 19, with the 2026 WNBA season currently set to tip off May 8.

However, the biggest hurdle remains the structure of revenue sharing.

The players’ union has continuously pushed for a system tied to gross league revenue, while the league’s current framework focuses on net revenue, leaving both sides still working to bridge the gap as negotiations continue.