For the first time in its history, the WNBA has generated sufficient profits to distribute earnings among its players. This marks a significant milestone and is largely attributed to the new wave of talent that has entered the league, including Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. After Clark entered the league, ticket and jersey sales have skyrocketed along with tv revenue.
According to ESPN, 2025 was an extraordinarily strong year for the women’s basketball league, as it finally produced remarkable profits that will allow revenue sharing with players. This development was confirmed by union leadership. According to those at the helm, in early February 2026, they were notified that a historic revenue benchmark had been surpassed. As a result, the league’s 13 teams will receive a total of $8 million from the WNBA to be distributed among active players.
To understand how the matter has evolved in recent years, it is important to recall that the goals of the collective bargaining agreement between the players and the league were established in 2020 based on the previous year’s figures, with a planned 20% increase in subsequent seasons.
When the pandemic struck in 2020 it significantly reducing revenues for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. This setback made the accumulated targets unattainable.
Soon 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/16wlFqG07G
— WNBA Louvre (@WNBAlouvre) February 23, 2026
The announcement appears to be well-received by players as negotiations continue for the next collective bargaining agreement, which remains stalled amid differing priorities between both sides.
Under the terms defined in the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, players are entitled to 50% of shared revenues, calculated as the amount exceeding a predetermined threshold minus 30% in expenses.
For 2025, revenues reached $16 million, according to the union. Of that total, 50% -or $8 million- belongs to the players who were active during the season.
The remaining portion will go toward league marketing agreements provided to players during the season, enabling them to promote both the league and its partners. Thus far, neither side has disclosed the exact revenue threshold required to trigger the profit-sharing mechanism.
According to the collective bargaining agreement, the union now has 30 days to present its proposed payment structure to the league. League representatives have indicated they intend to do so within the next two weeks.
