The WNBA’s current collective bargaining agreement will expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, and there has been no announcement from the league or the Women’s National Basketball Players Association regarding a new CBA or an extension.
While the WNBPA released a statement on Sunday evening saying it has proposed a six-week extension, it’s unclear if the league will agree to those terms. With just hours remaining until the current CBA expires, four options remain on the table. Let’s quickly run through them.
A new collective bargaining agreement
It’s unlikely that the two sides will announce a new CBA late on Sunday night.
Earlier this month, the WNBA made a new offer to the players that included substantial salary increases including a new minimum salary (more than $220,000) that would be more than the 2025 regular max salary ($214,466), according to the Associated Press. However, the players did not believe that offer moved negotiations forward, per ESPN.
While the players want more money, a new revenue-sharing model is their top priority, not just higher salaries.
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“If me and you aren’t set on going to the correct restaurant, who cares what we’re ordering as an appetizer?” WNBPA first vice president Kelsey Plum said earlier this year. “First, second, third is rev share (and) salary. So when I say that we continue to propose and the counter proposals that are coming back are further away from where we thought we would be, that to me is — and I think a lot of the players are in agreement as a union — this is literally the meat and potatoes.”
Under the current CBA, however, the salary cap — and thus, player salaries — increases at a fixed rate of 3% per year. The players are pushing for a new model where salaries grow with the business.
Currently, players reportedly only receive about 9% of all revenue, a far cry from the 49-51% of basketball-related income that NBA players receive. While the current CBA does have a clause to trigger revenue sharing if the WNBA hits certain benchmarks, they have never been met, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ESPN’s report on the players’ response to the WNBA’s latest offer came 10 days ago, and there’s been radio silence since then. If the two sides were moving closer to an agreement, we likely would have heard rumblings about progress in the past few days.
Another extension to the current CBA
The current CBA was originally set to expire on Oct. 31, but the two sides agreed to a 30-day extension on Oct. 28, which set Nov. 30 as the new expiration date.
The WNBPA issued a statement late on Sunday night saying that it has proposed a six-week extension. “We expect substantive movement from the league within this window,” the WNBPA wrote. It’s unclear whether the league will agree to this extension.
A status quo period
If 11:59 p.m. ET passes without a new CBA or another extension, there would not automatically be a work stoppage. Instead, the two sides would enter a status quo period, which appears to be the most likely next step.
Per the Cornell Law Review: “Courts developed the ‘status quo’ doctrine from the Katz prohibition of unilateral changes. This doctrine requires employers ‘to maintain, during ther period of negotiations, the status quo concerning conditions of employment in order to avoid committing [a violation of the duty to bargain in good faith].'”
The key difference between status quo and an extension is that either side could announce a work stoppage at any point during status quo, while an extension would lock in the current CBA until a set date (or until a new CBA is agreed upon).
A work stoppage
At any point during a status quo period, either side could enact a work stoppage. That would most likely come via the owners locking out the players, though the players could also go on strike.
In the event of a lockout, all league business would cease and players would be prevented from accessing team facilities. That would mean no expansion draft, no free agency, no trades, no 2026 WNBA Draft, nothing until a new CBA is in place. Depending on how long the lockout lasted, it’s possible that the 2026 season could be delayed or, in a worst-case scenario, cancelled.
The WNBA has never lost games due to a work stoppage.
