The Current - A "generational” deal for WNBA players

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

We’re just over a month away from the 30th season of the WNBA and there are going to be some big changes in the league this year. Players signed a historic new collective bargaining agreement that��s giving them an almost 400% salary increase. Savanna Hamilton, sports journalist and host of the women's sports podcast, Cinderella Stories Podcast, breaks down what this moment means for the league.

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an historic new collective bargaining agreement. It's giving them an almost 400% salary increase. Nika Ogumike is the Women's National Basketball Players Association president, help negotiate this deal. This is an agreement that is truly changing the lives of many players. Those, of course, course that play in the league, but the future that is also incoming. And quite frankly, we were also able to add value to those players who help build this league with some types of payments that are well overdue. Savannah Hamilton is a sports journalist covering the WNBA, also host of the Women's Sports Podcast Cinderella Stories. Savannah, good morning. Good morning. Players have been pushing for a long time for better pay and for benefits.

And we saw players at the All-Star game wearing T-shirts that said, pay us what you owe us. How big of a deal is this deal, do you think? Oh, it's massive, and it's generational, and it's going to carry on for, like, long after these players are done their careers. And so, you know, when they wore those T-shirts, it was because they know the extent in the success of the WMBA, and they know exactly the fact that they need to basically generate, you know, their own personal wealth, given the fact that they've generated so much, wealth for the league.

And their previous collective bargaining agreement just didn't reflect that. Why do you think this deal has been struck now? Yeah, because it had to. The players opted out of their last contract. And then in the process, you know, there was a lot of going back and forth. And at one point, the two sides were on a standstill and basically refusing to talk to each other. The players were very frustrated because, you know, as you saw in the All-Star game, as you mentioned, pay us what you owe us wearing those t-shirts. You know, at that point, the league, you know, to my understanding from what the players have said to me and have shared on social is that the league was very dismissive towards them.

And so only the past couple months and by past couple, probably more so this past month, the league really truly sat down with the players. heard them out and decided to do a deal with these crazy, crazy long meetings that they had that went over a week. And so at the end of those meetings, as I said, the players have quadrupled the minimum salary. You're going to have your first million-dollar stars in the league. What does that say about the success of the WNBA in this moment? Yeah, absolutely.

Actually, it's actually insane because the average salary before was somewhere between $120,000 on $140,000, and now the average salary for the WMBA is going to be around $600,000. So it's even more than quadruple. And it says a lot because the WMBA, they actually signed a media rights deal for $2.2 billion. And that's just one deal. There's several deals, you know, that the teams and leagues have with their sponsors. And so if you take $2.2 billion over 11 years, that deal was signed, you know, the players want to see that reflected in their paycheck, given the fact that they are the product.

They are the ones that are driving the fans and driving those numbers and adding value for sponsors to see the value in the league. So if sponsors can see the value, then the league owners and the organization, they need to see that in their players too. And so that's kind of the point that the players are really driving home. And I think they accomplished it. They were asking for a revenue share model, originally of 40%, which is pretty reasonable considering that if you look at the NBA comparison, NBA has their own structure, but their structure is around 50% of all league revenue that comes in, gets reflected back in the player's paycheck directly. And so the WMBA for this agreement actually settled for 20%, which when you think about the overall scheme of things,

is there a lot of work still left to be done in equality? Of course there is. But considering that the previous agreement was 9% revenue share, and now this is about 20, that's a pretty big jump. That's double. So they're making a lot of progress. And not just that, there's so many other elements of this CBA

that are reflected in how the league prioritizes the players. We just have a couple of minutes left. Let me ask you two quick things. One is, you said on Instagram, this isn't just a win for one league. It is a signal for the entire sports industry. What did you mean by that? Yes.

Well, this is going to be reflected into many, many professional women's leagues across not just North America, but I honestly feel like the world because the WMBA has, for the longest time, has been regarded as a trailblazer in equality and social advocacy. And so a lot of leagues look to the WMBA as a leader. And so in those departments, but now here we have on the contractual, on the business side of things, you know, kind of the valuation, the hard numbers. what is women's sports worth? What are female athletes worth? Hard numbers.

Not just, you know, saying this because it sounds great. No, it's actually we're paying them over a million dollars now if they're a superstar player. Because that is exactly what is worth. And then some, you know, so. And you're going to see, you're going to see those hard numbers come to fruition and be on the court in this country come May when the Toronto Temple appear. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, no, like, we'll see that come in, well, May very shortly, actually, really only just a couple. It sounds crazy, but it's really only a couple weeks away when the Toronto tempo comes. So that's kind of exciting.

Are you excited for that team to arrive here in Canada? Oh, of course. I think everybody is, considering the fact that, you know, there's been many places for bids in the past, but no, I guess, feasible offers until Larry Cannonbaum really put the offer through. and here we are. And I think the Toronto is like such a basketball, like, heavy market. Everybody loves basketball in the city. I could say it from my firsthand experience, you know, covering the Toronto Raptors myself and then also playing as an athlete in the city for myself. So I've always grown up with basketball and I've seen it every step of the way and

just like the excitement around the sport. And I think this is going to carry on through the summer with the women's team now. People across this country are paying close attention to the arrival of the tempo. as well. Hopefully we'll have a chance to talk once that team hits the court. In the meantime, Savannah, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Savannah Hamilton is a sports journalist covering the WNBA, also host of the women's sports podcast Cinderella Stories. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30am at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC

Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca slash podcasts.