The WNBA established a March 10 deadline to agree to a new pact during its most recent meeting with the Womens National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), as to not disrupt the beginning of the 2026 season, which begins on May 8. But theres been failure to reach a framework for a deal that both sides agree on, which has been the case for quite some time.
, the WNBA superstar who plays for the New York Liberty and serves as a vice president of the WNBPA, knows both sides want the season to happen. But shes not sure a deal will be done by the proposed deadline.
“I dont know,” Stewart told Fox News Digital after a long, thoughtful pause. “I dont know if a deal gets done by March 10. Part of me wants to say yes, but part of me is like, Negotiations have been really slow going back and forth. There needs to be some serious movement within the next week. Literally, I dont know.”
The latest move was the WNBA sending a counterproposal to the players union where good things, like paying for housing for all players for the upcoming season, are in play.
However, Stewart revealed the biggest roadblock in negotiations, and it shouldnt come as a surprise considering the tension between the league and players this past season.
“The one thing is what we really cant agree on, and thats the revenue-sharing model,” Stewart said.
Revenue sharing and increased player salaries are the two biggest areas surrounding these negotiations. While Stewart didnt go into specific dollar amounts, she did say why both sides dont see eye to eye right now about how revenue sharing is being negotiated.
“The PA is asking for gross and the league, the WNBA, is asking to deal in an SBI, which is a shared basketball income, where you negotiate how much money goes into that pot and thats shared to players,” she explained. “Thats the sticking point, thats the part where any time we get to those conversations, we never are on the same side.”
In its offer to the league last week, the players union offered an average 27.5% of the WNBAs gross revenue, which is revenue before expenses, over the course of the CBA. The union had previously asked for more than 30% of revenue. But the league said that model would cause “hundreds of millions of dollars of losses for our teams.”
To Stewarts point, the WNBAs proposal would give players more than 70% of net revenue – the profits after expenses being key. And those expenses would be upgraded facilities, charter flights, five-star hotels and more for the teams.
Its been clear since last year that the players want what they feel they deserve, even going as far as to wear “Pay Us What You Owe Us” shirts during warm-ups at the WNBA All-Star Game. Indiana Fever star was among those, and she said in December that these current CBA negotiations is the “biggest moment in the history” of the league. Many players feel the same.
So, while players like Stewart are standing their ground, the Liberty star also knows the clock is getting much closer to midnight now.
It also feels imperative for womens basketball to get things done for the sake of the games momentum in terms of exposure, engagement and all-around viewership. The 2025 WNBA season was record-breaking with 2.5 million fans total attending over 226 games, and that was only with 13 teams.
ESPN also revealed that, across 25 regular season games, the WNBA on the ESPN networks averaged 1.3 million viewers, which is up 6% year-over-year. The postseason saw 1.2 million viewers, marking the most-watched WNBA postseason on the ESPN networks to date.
And theres also the 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal the WNBA secured with Disney (ESPN/ABC), Prime Video and NBCUniversal, which includes USA Network.
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