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"We got to split $8-9 million" - Lexie Brown on players getting proof WNBA was making money
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- "We got to split $8-9 million" - Lexie Brown on players getting proof WNBA was making money
WNBA players spent much of the league's recent CBA negotiations pushing for a bigger share of the money they help generate. The previous agreement also included a revenue-sharing offer, but it used a formula that made the system more complicated than necessary.
Under the 2020 CBA, players could receive 50 percent of shared revenue once the WNBA crossed a specific financial goal. However, the league could deduct 30 percent as the considered cost of generating that revenue before the players' share was even calculated.
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That structure became a major talking point as the WNBPA fought for a new agreement that would tie player earnings more directly to the league's growth, similar to the NBA's. But the players kept hearing from many analysts and fans that the league just doesn't earn that kind of money for their fight to hold.
However, according to former WNBA champion Lexie Brown , there was already evidence under the old CBA that the league was making more money than some people believed. Speaking with Michael Porter Jr . on his Curious Mike podcast, she recalled the moment when players found out they had actually triggered the revenue-sharing.
"For people saying like, 'Oh, the league doesn't make money.' In our last CBA, we had that if we reached a certain revenue goal, it would activate the rev share, and for the first time ever, we hit the goal," Brown said . "But the league held on to that information for three months. They didn't tell us in the middle of negotiations."
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WNBA players got proof
The former WNBA champion shared that the league had 120 days to provide the revenue information under the old agreement. According to her, the players received that information on the final day while negotiations over a new CBA were already underway.
Eventually, the players received money under the revenue-sharing model. The 2025 season generated roughly $16 million for the player and league marketing pools, with approximately $8 million going directly to the players. For Brown, it served as proof to shut the voices that said the league is not generating any profits.
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"So, when people are like, 'Y'all don't make money,' now we got proof. We got to split what $8-9 million between the whole league equally. So, that was like a check that none of us were expecting," she added.
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New CBA, bigger piece of the pie
The league's growing popularity has brought massive changes to its business side. WNBA's new media deals with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon were set to begin in 2026 and were reportedly worth around $200 million per year, compared with roughly $50-60 million per year under the previous deals.
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The WNBA players fighting for their rights banked on the kind of growth they saw. The agreement reached in March 2026 moved the league closer to the revenue-sharing structure they wanted.
The salary cap jumped from $1.5 million in 2025 to $7 million in 2026, while the maximum salary increased to $1.4 million, and the average salary was projected to exceed $583,000.
The player surely did not get the exact percentage of gross revenue the WNBPA wanted in the beginning. But the new agreement gave them a much larger piece, and that unexpected check? It gave players something they could point to when people argued that the league was making money to give better salaries.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Sep 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
