Sources: WNBA projecting big losses in latest proposal; union disagrees - ESPN

As negotiations between the WNBA and the Women's National Basketball Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement near a Jan. 9 deadline, the sides remain far apart on several key issues: what a revenue sharing system should look like, what should be considered revenue and how to account for expenses.

Multiple sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN that the WNBA is projecting that a recent proposal from the WNBPA — which would give players about 30% of gross revenue and is believed to feature approximately a $10.5 million salary cap — would result in $700 million in losses over the course of the agreement. Such losses would jeopardize the league's financial health, the sources said, and they would be more than the combined losses of the league and its teams in the WNBA's first 29 years of existence.

The projection, sources said, was determined based on previously audited league financial information.

But the union believes its revenue sharing model still puts the league in a «profitable position,» a separate source close to the negotiations said, and calls the league's projected loss figure «absolutely false,» citing a discrepancy in whether expansion fees are factored in.

The league soon will grow to 18 teams — Portland and Toronto will debut in 2026, and Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia recently paid $250 million each to join the league between 2028 and 2030.

The league considers expansion fees a transaction that generates zero net revenue: New teams are out the expansion fee, but earn a fractional share of future league revenue, while pre-existing teams get a portion of the fee but lose a fractional share of future league revenue.

The union's proposal, meanwhile, accounts for expansion