WNBA Swing: A Lockout Could Spell Disaster for the League

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While the 2025 WNBA season is just over two months away, there’s a strong possibility they could be heading towards their first lockout in the 2026 season. First reported in December 2024, discussions of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement began between the WNBA Players Association and team owners after the WNBPA exercised its option to opt out of the CBA in October 2024. The current CBA was originally set to expire following the 2027 season.

Via the WNBA, the 2024 season had a record of over 54 million unique viewers across numerous channels. In addition, over 30 games averaged at least one million viewers. In the postseason, the W would see a 139% increase in viewership compared to the 2023 postseason. The finals would average 1.6 million viewers, a 115% increase from 2023, making it the most WNBA Finals in 25 years. The league would also have its highest attendance in over 20 years, with 2.3 million fans. The W would also set records for merchandise and social media engagement.

Many would attribute the record growth of the W to Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, who continued her outstanding play from Iowa. Clark would be a part of the league’s two most watched regular season games, one between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky and one between the Fever and Seattle Storm.

With the explosion of women’s basketball, WNBA players saw an increase in benefits including chartered flights. Unfortunately, their salaries remain low due to the league’s revenue sharing. Via CBS Sports, a minimum salary for a player with three or more years of experience is $78,831 while a max player can receive up to $214,466 and a supermax player makes up to $249,244. Many of the league’s players have gone overseas in the offseason to make more money.

One of the biggest differences between the WNBA and their NBA counterparts, players from the W only receive a 10% cut of all basketball-related income while NBA players get 50%. During an appearance on CBS Sports’ “We Need to Talk”, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier spoke on what WNBA players are looking for:

“We’re not asking for the same salaries as the men, we’re asking for the same revenue shares. That’s where the big difference is. We get such a small percentage of revenue share right now affects our salary. We’re asking for a bigger cut of that, like more equitable to what the men’s revenue share is. It wouldn’t get us anywhere close to their salaries, we’re not asking for the same salaries, we’re asking for the same cut of the pie of what is made in our league.”

Despite all the success of the WNBA in 2024, the league is still operating at a financial loss. This past season, the W lost over $40 million. The league was originally predicted to lose over $50 million this season. Starting in 2026, the league will start a multi-year media deal that could land them up to $2.2 billion. Much of that will go to the NBA and a 2022 investment consortium, which owns 42% of the league and 16% of the league, respectively.

At the same time, the league has expanded the regular season and playoff schedules to generate more revenue. The league has also the Golden State Valkyries joining the W in 2025, and newly introduced teams in Toronto and Portland joining the league in 2026, in addition to reports of a group trying to bring an expansion team back to Detroit.

With the WNBA already struggling to make a profit, a lockout before the 2026 season is one of the worst things that could happen to the league. A lockout heading into the 2026 season could put Golden State, Portland, and Toronto all at risk of failing early. The lockout could also put the league’s media deals and millions of dollars of new revenue at risk.

The WNBPA and team owners have through the entire 2025 WNBA season to discuss and come to terms on a new CBA. If the two parties cannot come to terms on a new CBA, the W will enter the league’s first lockout.