WNBA, players union agree to 6-week extension as CBA negotiations continue

The WNBA and the league’s players union agreed to a six-week extension on Sunday night, pushing back the expiration deadline for the current Collective Bargaining Agreement until Jan. 9, 2026, the league announced Sunday.

Nov. 30 marked the expiration deadline for the 30-day extension that the two sides previously agreed to, creating a need for resolution this past weekend. Even with the Thanksgiving holiday falling near the expiration date, the league and the WNBPA met virtually on Saturday and had multiple conversations on Sunday as well, sources with knowledge of the negotiations told The Athletic.

The WNBPA opted out of the current agreement in October of 2024, kicking off more than a year of negotiations. As was the case in the prior extension this cycle, the latest extension also has a clause that allows either side to terminate the extension with 48 hours’ notice. The league had proposed a three-week extension in recent days, sources said. Before proposing a six-week extension on Sunday, the WNBPA had also proposed a 24-hour extension in an effort to give the league time to evaluate a recent proposal, sources said.

“We expect substantive movement from the league within this (six-week) window,” the WNBPA said in a statement to The Athletic.

During the last month, the two sides met regularly and exchanged updated proposals. However, significant gaps remain in the talks, especially regarding the league’s future salary system, as The Athletic previously reported.

The WNBPA has repeatedly proposed a system in which player salaries are linked to a percentage of the revenue generated by the league. The league, meanwhile, had sent a proposal in late October that would have allowed players on maximum-level contracts to potentially earn more than $1.1 million in total compensation per season, with that sum being made up of a combination of base salary and a revenue-sharing component. Players have remained frustrated by the league’s proposals that do not reflect an overhauled system and instead have a fixed base salary component at their center.

The two sides reached multiple extensions in past CBA negotiations as recently as in the 2020 talks. During those talks, the league and union first agreed to a 60-day extension, then another two-week extension before signing a new agreement.

While the salary system in the next CBA remains a key hang-up, other issues have been discussed since the WNBPA opted out of the current agreement last year. Formalizing the league-wide charter flight program, improving family planning benefits and formalizing benefits for retiring and retired players have also been discussed. Prioritization remains important to league management, and rules related to the core designation are also expected to be discussed further as the talks continue.

The extension also assures that the timing of some key events this offseason will differ from last year. The Golden State Valkyries conducted their expansion draft on Dec. 6, 2024, but no date is currently set for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire’s expansion draft. Expansion draft rules are also not finalized, as the CBA dictates them as well.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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