After nearly 17 months of negotiations, the WNBA and WNBA Players Association came to a tentative verbal deal on terms for a new collective bargaining agreement. Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports broke the news early Monday morning from the Langham Hotel in New York City, where marathon bargaining sessions between the two parties had been conducted over the previous eight days.
Negotiations had reached a standstill before the past week. The WNBAPA submitted a proposal to the league around Christmas of 2025, and the owners took over six weeks to respond. The two sides were divided on the revenue sharing component of the CBA— players wanted salaries based on gross revenue, while the league’s proposals centered on net revenue. Before the marathon bargaining sessions in New York began last week, the divide over gross revenue figures was reportedly over 11%.
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Other issues, such as league-compensated housing for lower paid players and salary cap figures, persisted but the revenue share divide was perceived as the biggest hurdle to a deal. Over the past eight days, the two sides submitted countless proposals as they worked to bridge the gap. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported some details of the agreement on Wednesday morning:
The most recent known proposal from the WNBAPA had revenue share at 26%, while the latest WNBA offer was still barely over 15%. With the final figure of the agreement nearing 20%, both sides met in the middle to get the deal done. The term sheet for the deal still needs to be finalized and ratified, and there are certain to be more details concerning other aspects of league operations. Still, with this verbal agreement, the league is prepared to proceed with its schedule without any delays. That means, over the next 50 days, there will be a whirlwind of transaction activity. Some tentative dates, per multiple sources:
April 6: Latest possible date for Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo expansion drafts
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April 7-11: Free agency negotiation period
April 12-18: Free agency signing period
April 13: 2026 WNBA Draft
April 19: Training camp opens
May 8: Regular season begins
Though these dates are subject to change after the CBA is formally signed, things are going to move quickly. The Dallas Wings have the first overall pick in the 2026 draft and currently only have five players under contract (Paige Bueckers, Aziaha James, JJ Quinerly, Maddy Siegrist and Diamond Miller). Over the next few weeks, the Wings need to choose who they will protect in the expansion drafts (expected to be five players minimum), fill out their roster with free agents, and decide who they want to draft first overall.
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With this CBA agreed to, the Wings will officially prepare to play the 2026 season at College Park Center in Arlington. Previous plans to move to Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas were delayed, and WFAA reported that the franchise could possibly play games at American Airlines Center in 2027. Similarly, the planned move to a brand new, state-of-the-art practice facility in Oak Cliff was pushed back. That facility, originally scheduled to be ready by Spring of 2026, won’t be ready for at least another year. Construction has yet to begin, and there have been issues and disagreements between the franchise and the city of Dallas on how to proceed.
It is not yet known if the new collective bargaining agreement contains standards and regulations for team facilities; the WNBAPA listed this as a priority during negotiations. If so, those standards could have big ramifications for the Wings and how their planned facilities upgrades materialize.
