The current WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, or the CBA, expires Friday, October 31. Players and the league have spent months at the table, but a new deal will not be ready in time.
That much became clear Tuesday when the senior advisor and legal counsel for the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, Erin D. Drake, recently voiced her concern while speaking on The Athletic’s “No Offseason” podcast.
According to her, both sides will keep meeting this week, yet the gap remains wide.
WNBA Will Miss CBA’s October 31 Deadline
For those still seeking a clear answer, the primary issue is money, specifically how player salaries relate to league revenue. Players want a direct percentage of everything the WNBA earns.
However, the league prefers a salary cap that rises on a set schedule, with extra sharing only if revenue passes certain marks. Both plans would raise pay, but the union sees the league’s model as another version of the old system that has kept compensation low for years.
Almost all sides of this discussion became crystal clear after Drake’s latest comment on the matter. Better or worse, only time will decide.
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“We have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen,” Erin D. Drake told The Athletic. “In a dance, it takes two to tango. And it has been difficult to find a beat, to find a rhythm and to find the same sense of urgency (from the league), just to be frank, to get this done.”
WNBA, WNBPA extremely unlikely to agree to new CBA by deadline on October 31, per @benpickman.
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) October 28, 2025
Even if it’s hard to understand, consider this approach. The revenue sharing sits at the center of the deadlock. The WNBPA proposes salaries tied to a fixed percentage of the total league revenue, including media deals, ticket sales, and merchandise sales.
The WNBA counters with a capped system similar to the 2020 agreement, where base pay increases 3 percent each year, and players get a bonus pool only if revenue exceeds targets. The 2025 salary cap was $1.5 million per team, with rookies starting around $66,000.
WNBA Is Still Far From Finding Any Potential Resolution
According to the League officials, their plan includes uncapped upside if business grows fast enough. Context matters here. The WNBA opted out of the 2020 CBA last November, betting on record attendance, rising franchise values, and a new $2.2 billion media package starting in 2026.
Players now take home roughly 9 percent of revenue, a figure the union calls unsustainable as the pie expands. And Drake has stressed the resolve, saying, “The players are so stalwart in their commitment to having a transformational CBA, and it’s our job to get it done.”
Public shots have flown both ways. Last week, WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson called the league’s math “bad” and accused officials of stalling. The WNBA responded that the union has not offered a workable counter and has ignored parts of its proposals.
With all sorts of resolutions still in limbo, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has left the door open to an extension past Friday, a step that would delay any lockout or strike.