Last week's WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix was "probably the greatest spectacle in the league's history," longtime Minnesota Lynx and U.S. national team coach Cheryl Reeve said.
Transcendent rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese battled established superstars Diana Taurasi and A'ja Wilson, with celebrities Jason Sudeikis, Aubrey Plaza, the Bryant family and some 16,400 others watching at the Footprint Center. All-Star MVP Arike Ogunbowale led Team WNBA past the U.S. Olympic squad in a showcase viewed by 3.4 million people on ABC, the league's most-watched game ever on ESPN platforms.
It was the latest example of the surge in popularity of women's basketball, an explosion that over the past nine months has been punctuated by the announcement of the league's first two expansion franchises since 2008, the shift to full-time charter travel at the beginning of the 2024 season and, most recently and arguably most significantly, the signing of an 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert believes will fuel a sustainable, long-term economic model.
"This moment in the WNBA," Engelbert told ESPN recently, "is really important to set this league up for decades."
The WNBA is experiencing unprecedented success behind shattered TV ratings and its highest attendance in 26 years, but those involved say there's still work to be done. ESPN spoke to WNBA players across eight teams, including five members of the Women's National Basketball Players Association's executive committee, and Engelbert about what they consider the league's most pressing issues moving forward. Players' answers ranged from salaries and pensions to scheduling and family care, and there was mostly optimism about how this new rights deal would make those improvements possible.
"Salaries are going to go up, player benefits are going to go up hopefully, benefits for families, working moms are going to get better. And then pension, I think that's something that we need to start dissecting a little bit," reigning MVP Breanna Stewart said Friday. "But now, the investment is there."
Before specifics are determined, a decision looms ahead of the current collective bargaining agreement's Nov. 1 opt-out deadline. While the CBA runs through 2027, the opt-out would go into effect following the 2025 season.
No matter the timing of the next negotiations between the players and the league, the growth the WNBA is seeing could bring lasting change -- while also raising yet-to-be-answered questions.
"With this surge of attention, accessibility, visibility and, of course, investment in dollars, the most pressing thing to consider right now is how we use those dollars to continue to grow and also value the players," WNBPA president and Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN, "and seeing what that looks like in what feels like a very transformational period in our league."
DIANA TAURASI HAS seen all the ways life for WNBA players has changed since the Phoenix Mercury drafted her in 2004 -- and all the ways it hasn't. A 20-year veteran and the league's all-time scoring leader, Taurasi played overseas in Russia and Turkey for years during the WNBA offseason to supplement her income.
"That's the one thing I always have been talking about: player salaries," Taurasi, the league's longest-tenured player, said Friday. "How do we move that forward? How do we make sure our players don't have to go overseas for 10 years? We can grow the league. Hopefully the All-Stars and young Olympians can be here in our country and make that same amount of money for the next 10, 20 years."
In conversations with ESPN, several other players also identified raising salaries and changing the salary structure as a top priority. The player supermaximum currently sits at $241,984 for 2024, while the minimum salary for players with 0-2 years of service is $64,154 and $76,535 for those with 3-plus years. Each team operates with a hard cap of $1,463,200 for 2024.
"The most pressing thing to consider right now is how we use those dollars to continue to grow and also value the players, and seeing what that looks like in what feels like a very transformational period in our league." Nneka Ogwumike, WNBPA president
Teams that prioritize signing multiple higher-salaried veterans might only be able to afford 11 players instead of the maximum 12. (Phoenix, Seattle, the Connecticut Sun and the Las Vegas Aces are carrying 11 players this season.) Some midlevel veterans get squeezed out in favor of rookies on cheaper salaries.
Potential changes could involve more than simply bumping salaries and the cap. Terri Jackson, the executive director of the WNBPA, wants to see creativity in how salaries are structured and how the cap system works, particularly if the league adopts a more malleable cap.
"We're getting to a point where the salary cap and the systems and that part of the business needs to start looking like a professional league that's not a startup, that properly values the labor and properly values the players," Jackson told ESPN. "We haven't really done that with this kind of rigid, hard cap system that we have, and it's unfortunate."
Engelbert has often said top players can earn up to $500,000 in total wages, which includes additional compensation through merit bonuses and marketing opportunities on top of salary. The WNBA might explore ways to augment those compensation routes, especially as players arrive to the league with pre-existing brands and platforms via name, image and likeness deals.
"We're seeing even a new wave of players that are already coming in with the money from NIL," Chicago Sky forward and WNBPA secretary Elizabeth Williams told ESPN, "and I think we're going to have to think a little bit outside of the box as far as how players can be compensated and ways that salaries can continue to grow moving forward."
"Whenever negotiations are next, it's not groundbreaking or landmark that we're aiming for. We're aiming for transformational." Terri Jackson, executive director of the WNBA players' union
The salary discussion is closely tied to prioritization, a set of rules implemented in the last CBA requiring WNBA players with overseas commitments to arrive on time for training camp. Revisiting prioritization remains a priority for players, Jackson said, though Ogwumike believes higher salaries would help keep more players stateside. Expanding the season would also drive higher salaries.
The current CBA allows a maximum of 44 regular-season contests per team. But scheduling can be tricky in World Cup and Olympic years like this one. In early June, Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu lamented the cadence of playing seven games in 12 days. Phoenix guard Natasha Cloud quipped, "Do you see these designer bags under my eyes? It's a lot."
But as Engelbert told ESPN, "If you want to be considered a legitimate sports media and entertainment property, you play more games." And so the players and the league will have to find the sweet spot between increasing the league's footprint and ensuring player health and recovery, and determine what the schedule could look like.
Salaries aren't the only issue on players' minds. "Long term," Las Vegas Aces guard and WNBPA first vice president Kelsey Plum told ESPN, "it's pensions and benefits that can be really influential in people's lives."
Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale joins "SportsCenter" to discuss the increased attention the WNBA has been getting and what it was like to play with Caitlin Clark in the WNBA All-Star Game.
Several players expressed interest in the league establishing pensions -- which players could qualify for after reaching a certain year of service -- and potentially backdating funds so former WNBA players qualify. Ogwumike, one of the eldest players in the league at 34, said she will emphasize looking for ways the league can "value your players outside of just when they're active."
"You look at the players that started and paved the way for this league, and there's nothing [for them]," Stewart, a WNBPA vice president, told ESPN. "They don't get anything from where we are now. So that could be something that I think is really important."
Engelbert said the WNBA's 401(k) program, which includes an annual league contribution based on years of service on top of the employer match, is on par with other corporations' retirement benefits and pointed to the league's internship program, which provides opportunities for players to work for some of the WNBA's corporate partners as a way to gain post-playing career experience.
Some players think that's not enough.
"You put all this work, this time, this love, this passion into basketball, and you don't really do anything else. You devote your life to the WNBA," Connecticut's DeWanna Bonner told ESPN. "Afterwards, it's over and you've got to figure out, what's next for 50 years? How do you set up your benefits for the rest of your life?
"Especially when you're building a family while playing, you go from making this type of money to having nothing guaranteed. And you have to learn about things you maybe never had to do before, going through processes that maybe somebody did for you."
Bonner, whose twin girls turn 7 on Saturday, has seen benefits for parents expand since she was drafted into the league in 2009. The current CBA guarantees full salaries for players on maternity leave and covers up to $60,000 in family-planning expenses for veterans with at least eight years of service. Multiple players suggested ways to expand those benefits, including lowering the threshold to qualify for the family-planning program.
IN JANUARY 2020, less than a year into Engelbert's tenure, the league and players association agreed on what was considered a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement that increased salaries and compensation, opened up free agency opportunities and improved parental benefits.
But it might have only been the start.
"Whenever negotiations are next, it's not groundbreaking or landmark that we're aiming for," Jackson said. "We're aiming for transformational."
The sentiment is felt in the league office, too. Since Engelbert assumed the role of the WNBA's first commissioner in 2019, she has compared her job to picking up rock after rock and realizing, "We need to transform this and think differently." Her mantra for this year: "The bold will win; everything must change."
A crucial step in shaping the league's long-term future was finalized this week as the league's new media rights deal with Disney, NBCU and Amazon Prime Video was announced. (Disney is a majority owner of ESPN.)
Reaction to the news within the league has been mixed: Stewart called it "incredible" and said "I don't think we left anything on the table." MVP front-runner Wilson quipped, "It's about damn time, and we've just got to keep going from there."
Ionescu was encouraged: "I think the way the league is growing, we haven't even scratched the surface of what we're going to be able to accomplish, and that's really what's exciting."
"I think the way the league is growing, we haven't even scratched the surface of what we're going to be able to accomplish, and that's really what's exciting." Sabrina Ionescu
Others had more tepid views. Ogwumike was pleased with the larger number associated with the deal, but expressed pause over its fixed valuation over such a long period and had hoped there would be triggers when the league hits certain thresholds of growth.
"Investment is definitely being made, so that's not something that we can gripe about necessarily," Ogwumike said Friday. "But considering the numbers that are at stake, I do think that it's going to make a big difference, and we want to make sure that we can continue to make that difference while growing and also putting the product out there that we know we are."
In a statement last week, Jackson placed the onus on the NBA to value the WNBA properly, stating, "We look forward to learning how the NBA arrived at a $200 million valuation. ... Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in the last few years, we have seen unprecedented growth across all metrics, the players continue to demonstrate their commitment to building the brand, and that the fans keep showing up. There is no excuse to undervalue the WNBA again."
Engelbert has not been available for interviews since the rights deal was announced, but in a statement Wednesday called the deal a "monumental chapter" in the league's history.
The Olympic break will give way to the second half of the season and soon the playoffs. Then the CBA opt-out decision shortly thereafter. WNBPA staff is in the process of conducting a thorough review of the league's financials, Jackson said, which will be compiled into a report for players to inform their decision.
"There's maybe some people who think this decision is an automatic and an easy one," Jackson said. "And that just is not the case."
The players feel the energy and potential in this moment. They take seriously their roles of serving as "custodians of something that we've cherished for so long," Ogwumike said, "and use that in a way to educate and help grow," particularly as new stakeholders enter the ballgame.
"I think I have the attitude of, 'Hey, let's collaborate,'" Ogwumike continued. "I think we're past the days of trying to prove people wrong. I think we can kind of let that energy go a little bit, but we can still hold on to educating those who are new to this, and how you can be a part of the growth."
That sort of collaborative vision might shape the outcome of the next CBA negotiations, whenever they might be. As for Engelbert, she sees "a common narrative" prevailing between the league and the players association -- one that, if sustained, can help usher in the league's brightest years ahead.
"We all want to raise the profile of these players, the fandom of these players, because that all leads to an economic model that's going to fund higher pay and benefits for a long time," Engelbert said in early July. "And this is our moment to do that. So hopefully, we'll do that together. And we'll make history together again."
Michael Voepel contributed to this report.