11-01-2024
The WNBA is coming off a highly successful season, with league-wide attendance averaging more than 9,800 fans a game, the highest total in 22 years and a 48% increase over 2023. Viewership for televised games averaged 657,000 fans, best in 24 years, with the number skyrocketing to 1.18 million for games featuring popular rookie Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
But the positive momentum the league is experiencing could hit a detour in 2025. The Women’s National Basketball Players Association has elected to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, a deal that was signed in 2020 and was scheduled to run through 2027. If the players and owners can’t come to an agreement before the end of the 2025 season, the possibility exists of a lockout by the owners or a players’ strike.
Jim Dworkin, a professor of management at the Daniels School of Business and sports labor expert, thinks it’s unlikely that the dispute will go that far.
“Both sides have power in this case,” says Dworkin, who served as chancellor at Purdue North Central for 16 years. “I think you won’t see negotiations right away, and the sides could decide to continue with the current contract. But I think they will find common ground that both sides find reasonable.”
Among the issues are salaries, pensions, and child care and family planning benefits. The WNBA operates under a hard salary cap of $1.463 million per team, with a minimum salary of $64,154 and a maximum of $241,984. Several players go overseas during the WNBA offseason to play on other professional teams, and Dworkin says prioritization becomes an issue. Owners have a set of rules on when they want players to return to the United States in order to be ready for the season, which typically runs from May until October.
The league recently signed an 11-year media deal for $2.2 billion with Disney, Amazon and Prime, and that amount could increase to $3 billion. Golden State will become the league’s 13th franchise in 2025, with Toronto and Portland set to join in 2026.
With that momentum in mind, Dworkin says it would be in everyone’s best interest to keep the momentum going.
“It just makes sense for this to be resolved amicably. The owners and players know they have a good product that is gaining steam, and it would be counterproductive for both sides if the games came to a sudden stop,” he says.
