The last few days have been the busiest of the WNBA offseason by far. On Friday, the WNBA submitted a counterproposal that offered housing concessions but no change to their revenue-sharing proposal. On Monday, the WNBA informed its teams and the WNBPA that if a new agreement is not reached by March 10, the 2026 season would be impacted. That would mean training camp would not begin on April 19 as is currently set on the calendar. Finally, it was also reported that the WNBA reached its revenue-sharing target for the first time during the 2025 season. While all three of these developments are somewhat ambiguous, it is my belief that we are now, finally, getting closer to a new collective bargaining agreement. I don’t know if they will beat the WNBA’s March 10 deadline, but if not, I am hopeful it will be shortly thereafter.

I was initially disappointed when I read that the WNBA is stubbornly sticking to its revenue-sharing proposal. Every major sports league in North America has a roughly 50/50 revenue-sharing structure, and as far as I can tell, the league has not offered a single good reason why the WNBA should be different. The players aren’t even asking for 50/50, though in my mind, they probably should be.

I am hopeful that the news that the WNBA hit its revenue-sharing target under the old CBA will cause the owners to back off on their demands for a similar structure going forward. The only reason it took so long for the league to reach its target was because of the setbacks suffered due to Covid in 2020 and 2021. Unless the targets in the new CBA are unreasonable, the league should reach them pretty easily, barring something equally devastating and unpredictable as the pandemic. If that is indeed the case, perhaps the league won’t feel the need to fight so hard for those targets. Or perhaps the players will be more willing to accept the targets if they believe they are reachable.

The other reason for optimism is the idea that deadlines breed action. While it certainly appears to this outside observer that the WNBPA has been negotiating with more urgency than the teams, this new deadline will hopefully bring both sides to the bargaining table. It is unclear how much either side will care about training camp getting pushed back or shortened (or both), but it stands to reason that negotiations cannot go much beyond the WNBA’s appointed deadline without impacting the regular season schedule. That should be something both sides wish to avoid, though I suppose we will learn how much in the coming days and weeks.

There are, of course, counters to those arguments. The $16 million that goes to the players as a result of reaching its revenue-sharing target would theoretically soften the blow of any work stoppage and could make it easier for the players to hold the line. It's nice that the league made concessions concerning housing, but the league’s stance on housing was always silly at best, considering the short nature of the season.

Since the end of last season, I have contended that both sides have too much to lose to risk the first work stoppage in league history. The league has never been more popular, as indicated by a record television deal and historic franchise valuations both for expansion teams and existing franchises. The slow pace of negotiations, especially on the part of the league, has tested that belief. The news over the last few days has renewed my hope that the sides will soon agree to a new CBA so that we can begin the offseason in earnest.