Why WNBA’s Next CBA Negotiations Have Huge Ramifications

October 17, 2024

During a livestream earlier this week, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese revealed her WNBA salary does not cover her bills.

Reese, who was the No. 7 pick in the 2024 draft, made around $73,000 this season, and Caitlin Clark, the top pick of the draft, only made about $3,000 more.

The salaries of WNBA players—which go only as high as about $250,000—have been a topic of discussion for years, but have been under a spotlight this season given the unprecedented attention the league has received since the arrival of the 2024 rookie class. The current collective bargaining agreement awards just 9.3% of the league’s revenue to players, a deal signed in 2020, well before the WNBA consistently drew more than a million viewers for prime-time games. That percentage speaks to the economic realities of the league; without the coming influx of TV money, it is still losing money and subsidized by the NBA. FOS