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Former executive warns WNBA deal only happens on owners terms
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Of late, arguably the biggest talking point in women's basketball has been the never-ending negotiations between the WNBA and the WNBPA over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). While both sides have shown some willingness to compromise over recent weeks , there still exists a comprehensive distance between an actual agreement.
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In the midst of it all, former MLB executive David Samson has claimed that the players' association may have to accept that WNBA owners have the advantage, and an agreement will only come as a result of a strike or compromise on their end.
"Will there be a compromise at the 11th hour? You certainly would like to think so, but a compromise that is not weighted toward the owners is not going to happen. So, if you are a WNBA player out there or somebody who is involved in the WNBA Players Association, please take this message seriously," he explained during the Nothing Personal with David Samson podcast.
The former Miami Marlins president claimed that the players' demands simply do not fall in line with the business plan of WNBA franchises, and any deal will not be straightforward simply because of the nature of the payments the WNBPA continues to demand.
"When the players association wants to say to owners, you're having expansion fees, relocation fees, you're getting a one-time signing bonus from your broadcast partners. All of those one-time events are not calculated in terms of the viability of a business. And the more the players want to tell the owners to count relocation fees and expansion fees as part of going forward revenue, the more I guarantee there will not be a deal to be done," he concluded.
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Still, the latest counterproposal from the players' union reflects movement. The WNBPA lowered its revenue-sharing request to an average of roughly 27.5% of gross league revenue, beginning at 25% in Year 1 alongside a proposed salary cap below $9.5 million.
That marks a significant step down from the union's earlier ask of 31% gross revenue with a $10.5 million cap, suggesting that Samson may already have a point. Further, despite the concession, the league remains unmoved.
Ownership projections indicate the union's proposal could result in approximately $460 million in cumulative losses across the life of the agreement, which continues to be the major reason why a deal still seems some distance away. Under the league's framework, the 2026 salary cap would jump to roughly $5.65 million, a dramatic rise from about $1.5 million in 2025.
Maximum total compensation, including revenue sharing, could reach around $1.3 million in 2026 and approach $2 million by 2031, compared with a 2025 supermax near $249,000 and average salary around $120,000, per ESPN.
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That, in addition to the WNBPA's demand for guaranteed housing means that despite the ticking clock, further compromise from the players' association may be inevitable, just as Samson predicts.
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