WNBA completes – The WNBA and its players’ union finished the long-form version of a collective bargaining agreement running through 2032, two months after reaching a landmark deal. The new contract sharply boosts salaries, puts 31 players over $1 million this season, creates
NEW YORK — The long-form collective bargaining agreement is finally complete. two months after the WNBA and its players’ union agreed on the transformative deal. By Friday. the paper version of the pact was finished—closing a sprint that moved from a term sheet to ratification in a matter of weeks and. in the process. rewired how the league’s money is expected to work.
The new CBA runs through 2032 and brought the league to a new salary ceiling. It produced the first million-dollar players in league history, with salaries rising nearly fivefold from the previous contract. This season. 31 players are set to earn more than $1 million. including four-time MVP A’ja Wilson. who is among those expected to make the maximum of $1.4 million.
The agreement also adds a major structural change: the first comprehensive revenue-sharing model in women’s professional sports. For a league that has long fought for financial stability on the business side, it is the kind of shift that can outlast any single season.
While the salary jumps and revenue sharing are the headline outcomes. the union also negotiated a specific protection for players after they step away. The CBA includes a one-time veteran recognition payout for retired players based on years of service. In the final version. any retired player who has won the league’s MVP award would be bumped up to the maximum payment of $100. 000. the figure designated for players with 12 years or more of service.
The details were described by a person familiar with the document, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the CBA had not been made public.
Elena Delle Donne is the clearest example in the story the payout tells. The two-time MVP played 10 years before retiring, which had placed her in line to receive $50,000 under the earlier service-based structure. Under the final language, she is set to receive the maximum of $100,000.
The path to the finished agreement started with an agreement on a term sheet on March 19. after eight days of in-person negotiations. The players ratified the deal four days later. and the WNBA Board of Governors followed a day after that—setting the timeline for what was already a signed framework. but not yet the finalized long-form paperwork.
Now. with the long-form version completed. the WNBA and its players move from negotiation to implementation—one contract designed to reshape pay and create an earnings system that. for the league’s athletes. starts to look more like the top tier of professional sports rather than an exception within it.
WNBA collective bargaining agreement CBA players union A'ja Wilson Elena Delle Donne revenue sharing salaries 2032