What cities did WNBA players think would suit expansion? Not where the league picked

New York Times

6 days ago

The WNBA is at an inflection point. The league has experienced record-breaking jumps in attendance, ticket sales and TV viewership in three consecutive seasons. A massive media rights deal valued at $2.2 billion over 11 years begins in 2026. After more than a decade of staying stagnant at 12 teams, the WNBA finally expanded to Golden State this season and will have welcomed five teams, Valkyries included, by 2030.
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All of this growth comes with the looming backdrop of collective bargaining negotiations. The current collective bargaining agreement expires on Oct. 31, 2025, and the players and league appear far apart on a resolution, as Satou Sabally called the league's latest proposal a 'slap in the face.' Though players fought for the WNBA's survival during the last round of negotiations in 2019, they now have leverage thanks to the exploding business of women's sports.
Today's section of The Athletic's anonymous player poll deals with player priorities for the CBA negotiations, as well as their desires for salary increases and on league expansion. Earlier this week, players weighed in on who they think will be the face of the league in five years and who's the league's best player and biggest trash-talker.
Our reporters spoke to nearly 40 players from the start of the 2025 season. All 13 teams are represented, but none of the 30 rookies on rosters are included as the survey attempted to gather veterans' perspectives, making up a field composed of nearly a third of the league's non-rookies.
Players were granted anonymity to speak freely. They were also permitted to skip individual questions; as a result, each question shows the total number of responses for full transparency. Players were not allowed to vote for their team or teammates.
The players union identified five priorities for the new CBA when it decided to opt out: a new economic model, player salaries, minimum professional standards, retirement benefits, and pregnancy and family planning benefits. Those issues are all echoed in these results, with the added priority of extra roster spots (the general consensus was 14 per team) earning three votes.
In its more recent public messaging, union leadership emphasized the importance of a more equitable revenue sharing system in this CBA so that the players can participate in the growth of the business. The present agreement has revenue sharing beyond certain targets. Although the league has brought in substantial revenue over the past three seasons, the revenue targets are cumulative, and the economic impact of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 meant that the WNBA has been playing catch-up on those targets and unable to hit them. As a result, players currently receive about only 10 percent of the basketball-related income the league brings in. Their counterparts in the NBA have a 50-50 split.
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For now, the rank-and-file membership of the union is predominantly interested in higher salaries, which earned 70 percent of the votes. What shows up on a paycheck is top of mind for most players, though the best way to ensure continually growing salaries would be through a higher percentage of revenue share. That way, as the WNBA brings in more money, players will consistently partake in that growth.
Because salaries were highlighted in the answers, we also asked players what they thought they should earn with a WNBA maximum salary.
The majority of players (25 total out of 30 answers) said "as high as possible," $1 million or "at least" $1 million. Two players said $1.5 million and there was one vote apiece for $750,000 and $500,000. Another simply answered, "something fair."
The maximum salary in the WNBA in the 2025 season is $249,244, so the majority of respondents want to at least quadruple that. The current CBA doubled maximum salaries from the previous agreement, but the players have a much stronger negotiating position this time around, and many players hope that can be leveraged into seven-figure salaries for the first time in league history.
'Raise salaries, as much as we can raise them.'
'With more money in the league, people are going to try to play around and find loopholes and all this other s---. I just want to make sure that there's clarity in terms of making sure players are protected and that they know their rights.'
'Bigger apartments, daycare stipend, little things like that'll help alleviate stress (for parents) during the season."
The timing of this survey meant that most players were polled before the announcement of expansion teams coming to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, and some were polled afterward. Even so, there wasn't much enthusiasm for those three cities. Cleveland collected only two votes and Philadelphia one.
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The winner with 37 percent of the vote was Miami, which has to make the founders of Unrivaled feel good about their choice of headquarters. Players like the idea of adding Miami to their travel schedule. That city also fulfills a geographic need for the WNBA, as its footprint continues to evade the Southeast, excluding Atlanta. Beyond Miami, Nashville (which put in a bid during the most recent expansion process) was the second-most popular answer, Charlotte third, and one answer was simply 'somewhere in the Southeast.'
Boston was tied for third with Charlotte. It seems unlikely that Boston will join the WNBA so long as Connecticut still has a franchise, considering their close proximity. (Boston hosted its second annual Sun game at TD Garden Tuesday against the Indiana Fever and played in front of a sellout crowd.) However, Connecticut has explored selling its team, and a relocation to Boston could help retain some of the fans in that market.
'Atlanta is in an eight-state radius of the next WNBA team. So somewhere else in the Southeast or that area. A Nashville, Miami or South Carolina. We need more basketball around there. There are a lot of girls that play basketball around there that have to drive hours to see a game or are forced to watch it on TV.'
'Tropical destination.'
'Somewhere down there in the South.'
'It's beautiful there (in Miami), and I think they'll have a lot of fans there as well.'
'It would be so nice to travel (to Miami) in the summer."
'I feel like it's time (for Boston), and I feel like another big market NBA franchise would be great.'
Thursday
What's the best-run franchise?
What's the worst-run franchise?
Friday
What's the best rivalry?
Who's going to win the WNBA championship?
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images, istock)