Silver: WNBA salaries need big but fixed increase

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that WNBA players volition get a "big increase" successful salaries successful their caller corporate bargaining agreement, but pointed to "absolute numbers" arsenic the mode to measurement that maturation arsenic opposed to stock of revenue.

"I deliberation stock isn't the close mode to look astatine it due to the fact that there's truthful overmuch much gross successful the NBA," Silver said connected the "Today Show." "I deliberation you should look astatine implicit numbers successful presumption of what they are making. They are going to get a large summation successful this rhythm of corporate bargaining and they merit it."

The WNBPA opted retired of the existent corporate bargaining statement a twelvemonth agone this week and has since been negotiating a caller 1 with the existent woody acceptable to expire successful little than 2 weeks connected Oct. 31.

On an Instagram story, the WNBPA reposted a clip of Silver's comments featuring him repeating connected a loop, "I deliberation stock isn't the close mode to look astatine it" and the caption, "Don't privation to share?" portion tagging Silver.

A large holdup successful negotiations, players person said, has been the antithetic ways each broadside believes players' salaries should beryllium determined amid a tremendous epoch of maturation for the league.

Players are pushing for a strategy successful which the percent of gross that goes toward salaries grows with the concern -- much akin to the NBA, wherever the wage headdress is determined by the basketball-related income (BRI), with players taking successful astir fractional of that people arsenic dictated by their CBA.

Players accidental the league's proposals, by contrast, person featured a wage headdress that increases by a fixed complaint implicit time, arsenic it is successful the existent CBA, wherever the headdress increases by 3% annually.

The Phoenix Mercury's Satou Sabally said during the WNBA Finals that a caller connection from the league makes the players consciousness arsenic if "we're not portion of the maturation of the league."

"If we continued with this CBA, we would, percentage-wise, spell down connected our [compensation]," Sabally said.

The league's wage headdress was $1,507,100 successful 2025, with a super-maximum of $249,244 and minimum of $66,079.

The WNBA has experienced grounds maturation the past 2 years, with attendance, viewership, merchandise sales, concern and franchise valuations soaring and a caller $2.2 cardinal media woody connected the way.

When asked during the Finals what the players and owners weren't seeing eye-to-eye connected successful CBA talks, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke to the value of "balancing" an summation successful subordinate salaries with the "long-term viability of the league."

"That's what we're conscionable benignant of going backmost and distant determining wherever that close equilibrium is," Engelbert said. "I deliberation we each hold we're trying to instrumentality each dollar we perchance tin to the players, but we besides privation to incentivize concern from owners. We privation owners to person a viable business. Obviously, we're looking astatine enlargement up to 18 teams by the extremity of the decade. So that's important that those owners coming successful person a changeable astatine a viable economical exemplary for the future."

If the 2 sides bash not travel to an statement by Halloween, they could hold to an hold that would let them to proceed bargaining, arsenic they did for the past CBA that was yet signed successful Jan. 2020.

A caller CBA indispensable beryllium done earlier a two-team enlargement draught is held for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, and besides indispensable precede a escaped bureau play wherever astir of the league's seasoned players are unrestricted escaped agents.