Katie BarnesJan 8, 2026, 10:24 PM ETCloseKatie Barnes is a writer/reporter for ESPN.com. Follow them on Twitter at Katie_Barnes3.Follow on X
The WNBA CBA is scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, and the league and its players union will likely enter into a stage of “status quo,” where both sides can continue to negotiate, no player benefits are lost and a work stoppage or lockout can be declared without notice.
The WNBPA opted out of the previous CBA in October 2024, and 15 months later, there is no deal in place. According to sources on both sides, negotiations have netted minimal progress.
“We know what we’re asking for,” Collier told ESPN on Thursday. “We know that it’s not too much, like they’re saying.”
Ogwumike and Collier shared their thoughts on the tenor of the negotiations, their relationship with commissioner Cathy Engelbert and why they believe their involvement in other leagues is not a conflict of interest.
Ogwumike: Phee’s right. I’m really proud of how professional, and really patient, we’ve been as a collective. But quite frankly, this is my third CBA that I’ve been a part of, so I feel like I’ve been a part of three different eras, and this is by far the most transformational era that we’ve been a part of.
Ogwumike: We’ve made it very clear for more than a year now that our priority is most certainly a new salary system that is tied to a meaningful share of the revenue. I, as a player, don’t feel like I’ve seen any negotiation in good faith that reflects stepping somewhere closer to the middle, as we have in not just the CBA, but in CBAs before. Phee is right. It’s the tone, it’s the process.
ESPN: The players are reportedly looking for 30% of gross revenue. What went into the decision to ask for that percentage and ask for gross revenue, as opposed to net revenue?
ESPN: It has been reported that the league has said your proposal would result in a $700 million loss over a certain number of years. From your perspective, how does the WNBPA plan balance the players’ desire for compensation with a desire to run a sustainable business in the long term?
ESPN: Breanna Stewart said earlier Thursday that a formal extension would not be signed before Friday’s deadline and that a status quo would be observed while negotiations are ongoing. What is the benefit of that approach versus doing another extension?
ESPN: And when you say that you’re waiting on the league’s response, does that mean that you’re waiting on a counterproposal in response to your latest proposal?
Collier: Things like maternity, childcare, charter planes, maintaining those. But I think, quite frankly, the list is not very long.
ESPN: Both of you are involved in other leagues and have stakes in those leagues to different degrees, and you also sit at the negotiating table for the WNBA players association. How do you respond to those who say that’s a conflict of interest?
Collier: We absolutely agree. We just feel like the league is not agreeing. I mean, I think that we have been very compromising, like we’re not asking for anything crazy. I think we’ve been very respectful, very realistic with what we’re asking, and we are compromising. It just feels like that’s not being reciprocated by the other side.
I feel as though in these negotiations there’s kind of a similar approach that we saw in the last CBA negotiations. And of course, you know, the stakes were much different. Our league was in a different place. The union was in a different place. And it doesn’t feel like there’s any kind of innovation or creativity around understanding that we’re in such a different time that can’t lead to something that is more historical. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. And we as players know that first and foremost. And so it doesn’t appear as though that there’s any type of different approach than what we saw back in 2019 and 2020, at least for me, and I’m one of the few players that was, you know, in the situation room. So I would anticipate that with all this group, all of the headlines that the league loves to display around all the revenue that we’re getting, and the amount of viewership that we’re getting, that that would also be applicable to creating a transformational deal in negotiations, and quite frankly, we haven’t seen that.
Ogwumike: It’s interesting that that was propagated because a lot of players’ first questions to that, that we would be losing, or the league would be losing, money was if that was also money that was inclusive or exclusive of expansion-fee payments in the calculation. Secondly, we’re wondering if those same people have looked at franchise valuations. We can kind of run the numbers on teams that were sold for $10 million years ago, six years ago, and are worth nearly half a billion today. We’re wondering if any of those things are factors. The league and teams saying that they’re losing money is like saying their pockets are empty while you’re also holding the keys to a brand-new Ferrari.
Ogwumike: I feel as though the opportunities for women, in a lot of ways, have been limited. When perhaps the one opportunity that we’ve built is now matching the social consciousness, it almost feels as though others can be omitted, or others are not as valid. And I really do; I really do stand against that. You know, we’ve seen so much amazing progress and all the opportunities that we’ve been afforded. We entered this league with our vets telling us to play overseas. [Athletes Unlimited is] in the mix. Two of our union’s leaders have created a league for players that values player compensation and salary, and now we have more opportunity with a global aspect of the game in Project B. I just feel like the threat of change and the threat of something new, especially to women, is always going to shake things up. It’s always going to be disruptive. But anything that is more opportunities for women in sport is good. And I really implore upon others to understand that, because there is no conflict when we’re creating more opportunity.
Collier: I think that as players, it just gives us even more leverage. The WNBA is something that everyone has looked up to and has grown up watching, and it’s obviously the height of women’s basketball. No one is trying to get rid of the WNBA. We all want this to work. We just want to be valued in the work that we’re doing. We want to reach that pinnacle together. So that’s all we’re asking for. No one is trying to replace the WNBA or anything like that. We want women to succeed, and I think these other opportunities just give us more leverage basically to make them do the right thing and to pay us what we’re owed. This could be so transformational; we just didn’t have the leverage that we have now. We didn’t have the opportunities to play in other places. And with that, I think it just gives us more leverage to be able to ask what we’re owed.
Ogwumike: Realistically, other professional leagues have never been a new concept since the WNBA has existed. There were leagues that existed prior to the WNBA. There’s people who still today don’t know that we had to play overseas for years, and now these opportunities are bringing themselves to our domestic audience, where we do want to be seen, and to a global audience as we see more players from around the world entering the W. We’re just asking to be paid our worth and treated as elite professional athletes. And if we have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C to do that, then players are going to use that leverage to be able to maximize on the little time that we do have to be professional athletes.
Ogwumike: I really do feel like the league needs to really pay attention and listen and take notice of exactly what we’re coming to the table with time and time again. Because we’ve been in the room trying to figure out what we can do to get both sides to be closer. We’ve been more than flexible, more than reasonable. And it’s really sad, and disappointing, to see that the league doesn’t see players’ wins and league wins. We’ve shown up in creative ways, innovative ways. And there’s, there’s still resistance that we’re experiencing. There’s still roadblocks from the other side of the table that, in my opinion, is disappointing and a bit surprising, especially as we are here, now approaching a time where everybody wishes that they could be getting ready for free agency. We want to get a good deal done, and we want to play.
Ogwumike: I think that we’ve been doing a really good job of making sure that players have been informed and ready for whatever. And because of that, all options are certainly on the table. As leadership, our responsibility is not to propose that that’s what’s going to happen. But a union is always prepared for that type of action, and when we, as an executive committee, receive a recommendation from our staff and our legal team that we may determine a strike is warranted, then that’s what’s going to happen. So I think that our membership’s confidence in us as leadership, our unity as a collective, is strong, and we recognize our power and responsibility in that. We are trusted to use that power, but we are first and foremost and always committed to the negotiations.
CloseKatie Barnes is a writer/reporter for ESPN.com. Follow them on Twitter at Katie_Barnes3.Follow on X
On the eve of the negotiating deadline for a new WNBA collective bargaining agreement, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and vice president Napheesa Collier told ESPN that they are proud of the union’s solidarity and vowed to keep working for a transformational agreement despite their frustrations with the process.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
ESPN: Where would you say the players have compromised so far?