The WNBA players union is officially opting out of the league’s current collective bargaining agreement.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association voted to opt out of the current CBA with the league on Monday. The announcement, which came just one day after the New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA Finals, is something that had long been expected.
“The players made the decision to opt out of the last CBA to realign the business and save the league from its own limitations,” WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson said.
The union and the league had until Nov. 1 to opt out of the current deal, which was first agreed to ahead of the 2020 season and is set to expire in 2027. Monday’s announcement does not mean that the league will enter a lockout immediately, however, as the current CBA will still be in effect next season. The two sides now have about a year to come to an agreement. If that is not reached, a work stoppage could start after the 2025 campaign.
A timeline for the negotiations or a new deal is not yet known.
“With the historic 2024 WNBA season now in the books, we look forward to working together with the players and the WNBPA on a new CBA that is fair for all and lays the foundation for growth and success for years to come,” commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
The decision to opt out came after a record year for the WNBA in both viewership and attendance. The playoffs saw a viewership increase of more than 140% before the WNBA Finals even started, which marked the highest viewership since the league’s inaugural season in 1997. Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark played a big part in that, as one of her playoff games generated an incredible 2.5 million viewers alone. The semifinals averaged 850,000 viewers, too, which is nearly double from last season.
While the league will reportedly lose around $40 million this season, its finances will change when its new media rights deal kicks in in 2026. In July, the league signed an 11-year media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC for around $200 million a season that begins in 2026. The current media deal is valued at about $60 million a season. The WNBA is rapidly expanding, too. The Golden State Valkyries will join the league starting in 2025, and then teams from Portland and Toronto will enter in 2026.
There are a number of items players have advocated for in the new CBA, including increased player salaries, retirement benefits, pregnancy and family planning benefits, implementing new, consistent minimum professional standards across the board and introducing an “equity-based” economic model to the league.
Here’s what Terri Jackson, WNBPA executive director, said: “The players made the decision to opt out of the last CBA to realign the business and save the league from its own limitations.”
The WNBPA put out its priorities in the next CBA: https://t.co/Dbmg7SlBQg pic.twitter.com/XyFH51Fsvy
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) October 21, 2024
“This is going to be an opportunity to listen to one another and take this league to the next level for generations to come,” Engelbert said ahead of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals when asked about the CBA negotiations, via The Associated Press. “I look forward to building the future of the league and sitting down with the players. Whether they opt out, not opt out.
“I suspect that given the transformation of the league that we’ve been working so hard on, building this long-term economic model, we’ve already returned to the players through charter, through increasing playoff bonuses a couple years ago by over 50%. So we’ll continue to do that, and when we get to the bargaining table we’ll continue to talk about the issues that are most important to the players.”