Although the WNBA and WNBPA agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) around 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, March 18, details about what was described as “a fair win-win deal for all” by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert were scarce.
Since then, reporting from ESPN’s Shams Charania and Alexa Philippou has begun to fill some of the void.
Here’s what we now know about salary cap and contract numbers for the 2026 season:
- The salary cap will be $7 million.
- The supermax salary will begin at $1.4 million.
- The average salary is projected to be $600,000, with the minimum salary exceeding $300,000.
Sources also indicated to Charania and Philippou that “the average revenue share would be nearly percent across the length of the deal.”
Presumably, this revenue sharing is based on gross revenue. As revenue sharing was the crux of the protracted negotiations between the league and union, it will be interesting to learn more about the revenue sharing model and how revenue sharing will evolve over the term of the deal.
No dates have yet to be established for all the league business that must be completed before the 30th WNBA season tips off on Friday, May 8.
According to Philippou, back in February, teams were provided prospective dates for the expansion draft and free agency, with the expansion draft tentatively scheduled for April 6 and free agency targeted for April 7 through April 18. The college draft is firmly scheduled for April 13, while training camps are still set to begin on April 19.
