WNBA Players’ Association Vice President Napheesa Collier is optimistic about collective bargaining with less than three months until the scheduled start of the 2026 WNBA season.
“We’re not where we want to be, but I think the negotiations are moving in the right direction,” Collier said Wednesday. Yahoo Sports 360 Hoops podcast. “And that’s what you want. You want movement. You don’t want to be in a dead end. You want there to be hope for the future and I have that. I think there has to be a lot of movement in many places in the ABC, but the fact that we’re moving forward, I think, is really hopeful.”
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The players association submitted a counterproposal to the WNBA this week, that included a concession on revenue sharing, the negotiating wedge issue, and changes to housing requirements, which became a point of contention late in the game. The union reduced its proposed share of gross revenues from about 31% to 27.5% in the first year.
As vice president of the players’ association, Napheesa Collier has been outspoken about the need for change within the WNBA. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
(Joe Buglewicz via Getty Images)
The league is proposing revenue sharing based on net revenue, alleging hundreds of millions in losses if the deal is made on gross revenue. He sent an updated proposal to the union days after the sides met in person for the first time in 2026, ending a weeks-long standoff. The WNBA’s proposal focused on facility standards and housing, two issues a source told Yahoo Sports that players discussed during the meeting.
The most recent extension of the deadline expired on January 9, paving the way for a status quo period of good faith negotiations. The talks are in their 16th month and could soon impact the 2026 calendar which is scheduled to begin on May 8. There is still a need for a two-team expansion draft and a crowded free agency period, in which almost all players are unrestricted, before players report to their home markets in April.
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Union members authorized its executive committee to strike when necessary late last year, a move some expressed support for.
“Even though we’re on strike with the W, we’re all here, we’re all playing, we’re all paid very well,” Azurá Stevens said in Philadelphia last month. during an Unrivaled tour, the 3×3 league founded by Collier and Breanna Stewart. “So I’m not that upset if the league wants to play. If we don’t have a season, I have money. I get paid by Unrivaled, and I have other income as well. It’s really their loss.”
Others are more measured and face a different level of uncertainty if the union were to strike. WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike and Executive Director Terri Jackson, who have both held their positions since 2016, visited Athletes Unlimited players in Nashville earlier this month. Contrary to Unrivaled’s headlines, these players are largely newbies and “mid-level” earners without large-scale sources of income.
Collier said the union had urged everyone to save their money over the past year and a half, knowing negotiations were ahead.
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“You never know what’s going to happen,” Collier said. “If there’s no season, we want to make sure everyone is prepared. I hope everyone does; it’s something we’ve been talking about for a very long time.”
Union leadership continually checks in with its members and one thing has remained constant, she said.
“People, it doesn’t matter (if they’re) mid-level, people at the top, rookies, everyone has been very consistent in that we want a season to happen, but if we don’t get the things that we want to stay 10 feet down on, then we’re going to sit there for as long as it takes,” Collier said. “It’s not what everyone wants, but it’s what we’re willing to do to get the things we think are right.”
