WNBA labor negotiations appear far from resolved. And according toSophie Cunningham, the league still hasn't addressed the issue the players care about most.
On the most recent episode of herShow Me Somethingpodcastwith West Wilson, Cunningham offered a blunt assessment of the current state of talks between players and the WNBA.
"There’s so much to get into," Cunningham said. "I think a lot of people who are on the outside are like, ‘Just sign it. Your salary increase is four or five times higher.’ But that’s not it at all."
The proposed salary for players is, in fact, much higher than it's ever been. Under the new structure proposed by the league, maximum salaries in 2026 would jump from roughly $249,000 to more than $1.3 million, while average salaries would increase from about $120,000 to $540,000 in the first year of the deal.
Sophie Cunningham says the players are unified over the issue of revenue sharing.
(Photo by Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty Images)
But Cunningham says the league has yet to address the players' central concern: revenue sharing.
"They came back and zero — nothing happened with the revenue share," Cunningham said. "And that is the whole thing that we’re fighting for."
The league has proposed players receive roughly 70% of net revenue, while the union has continued pushing for a share of gross revenue. WNBA leadership is adamant that the model proposed bythe players' associationis simply not financially sustainable.
Cunningham said that players believe the current economic structure of the league is dramatically out of step with other professional sports.
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