The basketball players in the WNBA are negotiating a new collective agreement, they demand more participation in the income and more say. If there is no agreement with the team owners about a new framework agreement, a strike could face a strike in the new season.
The Allstar Weekend will take place in the WNBA this weekend, with the best basketball players of the women’s basketball profile. There is also Satou Sabally again. The German international is even nominated for the starting line -up, in the team of star player Caitlin Clark. Sabally is also in another function on the Allstar weekend in Indianapolis: in her team, the Phoenix Mercury, she is also the representative of the player union.
Sabally about negotiations with a league: “A slap in the face”
Before the Allstar game, discussions with the league line are scheduled for a new collective agreement. And Sabally set the tone for the negotiations: “The league’s proposal is openly a slap in the face”the Berliner told Associated Press (AP).
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), a framework agreement that regulates the level of salary, but also social benefits for players, expires after the end of the current season. One way to extend the existing CBA was rejected by the players in October 2024 – a clear signal to the league, the franchises and team owners.
Basketball overfircraft Caitlin Clark – $ 76,000 basic content
A central demand for the players is a further improvement in salaries: the previous CBA provides for a maximum content of $ 250,000, for the absolute top players who only screw their income up through advertising alumen or foreign engagements. Even a high-flyer like Caitlin Clark, the new face of women’s basketball, received a basic content of $ 76,000 in the WNBA in her first season. And that with a player who had sparked a monster hype before she even got into the WNBA.
The players market themselves with social media like pop stars – and are partly also about follower numbers and advertising sales: Sabrina Ionescu and Angel Reals have their own signature shoes, like the male colleagues from the NBA. Cameron Brink most recently played in the commercial of a large US sports brand, together with Tennis champion Coco Gauff and Baseball megastar Shohei ohtani. A status that the German professional footballers are still far away, which are currently being pushed into the spotlight, like every two years at a big tournament.
WNBA and Women’s team sport As a growth market in the USA
The basketball players from the WNBA also repeatedly comment on socio-political issues, for example the mouthpiece of the “Black-Lives-Matter” movement “. Hollywood stars like Natalie Portman acquire shares in women’s teams in football, basketball or even volleyball, where a completely new professional league was founded.
Stronger participation in revenues – especially from the media business
The basketball players want to participate more on the boom in their sport – especially when it comes to revenue from TV and streaming business that make up a large part of the revenue for the franchises. The player association therefore also demands that you will have a say in the negotiations on transfer rights in the future.
With the new media rights deal, which is to apply from the 2026 season, the WNBA will redeem $ 200 million a year, three times as before. However, the league is still undervalued, criticized Terri Jackson, Chair of the Player Association, in view of the “Unstoppable growth” of the past few years. The players made the largest part in strengthening the league as a brand, Jackson said to the “Guardian”.
Further increase in the WNBA planned by 2030
The three new WNBA locations also stand for the growth course of the league. In addition to the Golden State Valkyries, who are currently playing their premiere season, two franchises from Portland and Toronto will also be added from 2026. The league should then grow on 18 teams by 2030.
Each of the new franchises pays an “expansion fairy” of $ 250 million to the previous teams. Nneka Ogwumike, chairwoman of the player union, criticized Nneka Ogwumike, criticized the participation of the players in these extra income. “This is not understandable”The experienced player of Seattle Storm told AP and announced that this topic also makes this topic the subject of negotiations with the league management.
Star players threaten to strike
The players already presented the league a corresponding offer in February, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has played temporarily. All the more, the interior of the player urges the fact that there is now progress in the Allstar Weekend, the first direct conversations with the clubs and the league: “So far it has been going very tough, hopefully it is now going on when you put your proposal on the table. It will be an important meeting and it will be high”said Breanna Stewart, Vice President of the Players Union.
The players seem determined to keep the pressure on the teams up – and also reach the sharpest weapon: Napheesa Collier, which the other team leads to the Allstar game, also spoke of a possible strike, should there be no agreement until the end of October.