NEW YORK — The WNBA and the Women's National Basketball Players Association agreed in principle to a new collective bargaining agreement on March 18, 2026. The agreement was reached 51 days before the league's 30th season was scheduled to open.

The two sides met for eight consecutive days in midtown Manhattan, spending over 100 hours in bargaining sessions. Players had opted out of the previous collective bargaining agreement 17 months before the new agreement was reached.

The salary cap will start at $7 million under the new agreement, up from $1.5 million in 2025. The supermax salary will start at $1.4 million, up from $249,244 in 2025. The WNBA will have its first million-dollar players under the new agreement. The minimum salary will surpass $300,000, up from $66,079 in 2025, while the average salary will be around $600,000, up from $120,000 in 2025.

The agreement will tie the salary system to revenue growth for the first time in league history. The average revenue share for players will be nearly 20% across the length of the agreement. The league and the union exchanged about 15 proposals during the negotiations in mid-March 2026.

"We have aligned on key elements of a new collective bargaining agreement together," said Cathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner. The league proposed that players receive, on average, over 70% of net revenue, while the union's last known offer asked for 26% of gross revenue over the lifetime of the agreement.

"For the first time player salaries are tied to a truly meaningful share of league revenue, driving exponential growth in the salary cap, increasing average compensation beyond half a million dollars and raising the standard across facilities, staffing and support," said Nneka Ogwumike, WNBA Players Association president. Under the new agreement, the free agency period was expected to be reduced to about half its usual length.

The new agreement is pending ratification by the players and approval by the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors. Training camp is scheduled to begin on April 19, 2026, with preseason games starting April 25 and the regular season beginning May 8, 2026.

On March 11, 2026, the WNBA and the players' union met at 5 p.m. ET at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan. More than 80% of WNBA players were free agents entering the 2026 season.