The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association have agreed in principle on a new six-year labor agreement to extend through 2013 that establishes a more flexible salary cap and gives star players more free agency rights.
The new deal, which the players were expected to vote on over this past weekend, increases the team salary cap by a guaranteed 3 percent, but allows teams that want to spend more on player salaries to raise the cap by an additional 3 percent the first year, 4 percent in years two through five and 5 percent in year six. Last year, team salary caps were set at $728,000. Under the new deal, team salary caps could go as high as $772,000 in year one, and as high as $913,000 in year six.
The old WNBA collective-bargaining agreement guaranteed a 4 percent increase per team per year. Players were willing to accept the lower 3 percent guaranteed increase, in exchange for a more flexible salary cap. Additionally, the new deal provides for increases in minimum and maximum salaries and improvements in quality-of-life issues.
“We went into this and we wanted flexibility in the system, salary increases and some serious effort to improve players’ quality of life, and we made significant strides in all three categories,” said Pam Wheeler, director of operations of the WNBPA.
“We are very pleased to be able to have long-term stability and to emerge from this negotiation with a unified outlook, players and owners alike, on how we will continue to grow this great league,” WNBA President Donna Orender said.
For the first time since the WNBA was launched in 1997, the two sides were able to reach a deal without threats to lock out the players or shut down the league. The new deal, which begins in February, replaces a CBA that expired in September.
A key issue for the players in this negotiation was providing more flexibility for players to move to other teams. Under the old deal, teams could designate two “core” players, who were restricted from playing for other teams, similar to the franchise tag system in the NFL. Under the new deal, WNBA teams will be able to designate only one “core” player per team after 2008, the first year of the agreement.
Under the new deal, the rookie minimum salary will start at $34,500 this year and increase to $37,950 in the sixth and last year of the CBA. Veteran minimum salaries will start at $50,000 in the first year and increase to $55,000 in the sixth year. Maximum salaries will start at $95,000 in the first year and rise to $107,500 in the sixth year.
