WNBA Collective Bargaining

[bballnut90]

Latest development is multiple players per team could rake in a max salary of 1.1 million per year. Whether or not the proposal will be accepted is a different story.

I’m not sure what current players deem as “fair” and I’m not an economist so I won’t offer a strong opinion about what is the right amount to pay, but if they settle on this figure, most star players will be netting a 4x salary increase which is pretty incredible.

Also worth noting, Unrivaled is paying players an average of $220,000 + equity for their short season, and other stars are opting for Project B in Saudi Arabia (worth a thread on its own) where salaries start at $2million per year + equity.

The earning potential is higher than ever for women’s basketball players. Love to see this after 30-40 years of players grinding and playing in remote locations overseas to get to this point.

 

[Bigboote]

I’d be shocked if the teams go from a 1.1M salary cap to several players making that much all at once. If the teams really are all losing money (nyuk nyuk), then they’ll all be losing more.

 

[DEpup]

I don't think it is enough. It should probably be around 10 times the current salaries.

 

[bballnut90]

Per this article, still no rev share offer which appears to be one of the top demands:


This proposal is going to test their resolve, however. The minimum salary would more than triple for players with 0-2 years of service and nearly triple for players with 3+ years of service. The regular maximum salary would more than quintuple and the average salary would more than quadruple.

2025	$66,079 (0-2 years) / 78,831 (3+ years)	$214,466	$102,249
WNBA's reported offer	$220,000+	$1,100,000+	$460,000+

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[oldhusky]

I’d be shocked if the teams go from a 1.1M salary cap to several players making that much all at once. If the teams really are all losing money (nyuk nyuk), then they’ll all be losing more.

Even going to one player max at what used to be a team salary cap is an amazing increase if they get it. With a huge increase in compensation, many more teams from expansion, and new leagues like Unrivaled and Plan B as alternatives during the W off-season, it is hard to imagine any sport having such a quantum leap in income opportunities.

But of course the opportunities for the players to now earn significant money while in college just adds even more to that. Even the players who are not quite WNBA level will benefit. First with more expansion teams there will be many more jobs available. Second they can make some money in school even if they can't play professionally, and third, I suspect there will be many more jobs available in foreign leagues for players a notch below WNBA level.

For years foreign leagues got the top US players to play to complement their meager W earnings. Now with alternatives like Unrivaled and plan B they don't have to. That is a real opportunity for the next tier of US players who may not be good enough for the W, but can still play professionally abroad, with more roster spots available there, since many of the US stars that used to go there, now have better options.

With the new WNBA contract, more teams from expansion, new alternative leagues, more next tier players playing for pay in Europe, and players now making NIL money in college, the change in opportunities and compensation for female basketball players over the last few years has been staggering and well deserved.

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

This latest offer appears &2 not much different from the last offer &1. The wording of the leak implies that it is the WNBA that leaked it — par for the course for Engelbert.

&1 “And the share seems to be declining since the Media Rights Deal allocation is reportedly 6x the old one, whereas the fixed salaries in the latest proposals are reportedly 4x of the old one.”

&2 There was also revenue sharing in the old CBA, with absurd triggers not found in other sports. The salary structure being the same essentially means the latest proposal still has a hard salary cap (and not a soft salary cap).

 

[DEpup]

Oh yeah they probably leaked it. The wnba wants to sort of shame the players into accepting the deal if they can get the public to think those increases are really big. They want to distract from the fact that the current salaries were too low and womens basketball business has taken a big jump. I'm sticking with salaries should go up about 10X.

 

[GamecockFam]

Yeah, that looks like low balling to me.

 

[GamecockFam]

I just did some NBA comparisons based on revenue. The NBA makes about 55x the revenue of the W. NBA minimum salary is $1.27 million but they're max salaries go way higher. I just looked up the on-court salaries (excluding endorsements) and Steph Curry makes over $59.6 million. When doing that comparison, those numbers aren't all that bad. BUT, NBA players make much more money off endorsements, effectively doubling their salary, so if the WNBA doesn't want to increase rev shares, then salaries should be double or triple of what they are offering.

 

[bballnut90]

I just did some NBA comparisons based on revenue. The NBA makes about 55x the revenue of the W. NBA minimum salary is $1.27 million but they're max salaries go way higher. I just looked up the on-court salaries (excluding endorsements) and Steph Curry makes over $59.6 million. When doing that comparison, those numbers aren't all that bad. BUT, NBA players make much more money off endorsements, effectively doubling their salary, so if the WNBA doesn't want to increase rev shares, then salaries should be double or triple of what they are offering.

WNBA players can make money from endorsements too, though? I'm not sure how that's relevant when comparing it to NBA player earnings.

 

[bballnut90]

AP news is reporting that rev share is included in the latest proposal. The specific of that could vary greatly, but glad to see there is a revenue share component being added in.

WNBA's latest CBA proposal would put max salary over $1.1M with revenue sharing, AP source says

The WNBA’s latest collective bargaining proposal would include revenue sharing with a maximum salary of more than $1.1 million available to more than one player per team growing each year, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

apnews.com

 

[GamecockFam]

WNBA players can make money from endorsements too, though? I'm not sure how that's relevant when comparing it to NBA player earnings.

I think rev shares is bundled in the NBA endorsement calculations. I'm not expert so I could be way off base.