The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game concluded with a 151-131 win for Team Collier — and with resounding chants of "Pay them!" ringing throughout Gainbridge Fieldhouse, a sign that fans are with the players as they attempt to negotiate terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the league.
The topic of the new CBA pervaded every part of the days leading up to the game, with both players and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert fielding questions about what will happen next. There were at least two face-to-face meetings between approximately 40 members of the WNBPA and the league, with varying accounts of what was accomplished at each.
What changes do players want?
Players are asking for a multitude of changes, many of which specifically pertain to their salaries, revenue sharing, and medical and family planning benefits. There's no denying that the WNBA is experiencing exponential growth, and the players are the backbone of the league — they are the reason this surge interest (and with it, a surge in investment) exists.
Players wore shirts that read "Pay us what you owe us" during warm-up ahead of last night's game (the WNBPA-licensed shirts can be purchased here), a clear call to the message they often repeated throughout the week. "Having new brands come in, having these sponsors come in, is exactly what we want," Napheesa Collier told reporters before the All-Star Game.
"We just also want to reap the benefits of that," she added. "You know, that's obviously a lot of new money coming in."
Why does the WNBA's new media rights deal matter?
In 2024 the WNBA announced a brand-new media rights deal worth $200 million a year — a huge sum of money that will pour into the league as a result. But the ownership structure of the WNBA means that the league actually only receives $84 million of that amount annually (the rest goes to the NBA and to an investor group that includes some team owners). That's still a lot of money, and players deserve to be adequately compensated for a deal that is built literally on their labor.
What has Cathy Engelbert said about the CBA?
As Commissioner of the league, Engelbert is at the center of nearly every conversation surrounding the CBA negotiations. When asked about reports from players that very little progress was made following Thursday's CBA meeting, Engelbert called the meeting "constructive" and said that the parties "had a candid dialogue" that is "part of the process."
Engelbert also said that the league is listening to both players and the team owners — two groups are who not necessarily completely aligned.
The CBA negotiations will continue to loom over everything that happens in the WNBA: the finals, the upcoming expansion drafts for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, and potentially next year's free agency and even the 2026 season. The possibility that players could strike is real, and in a lot of way it might be the strongest step they could take to achieve the results they've earned.