Bright outlook after a record-setting year, but the WNBA still has challenges ahead

The New York Liberty celebrate after beating the Minnesota Lynx to win the WNBA title on Sunday in New York. Pamela Smith/Associated Press

NEW YORK — The WNBA looks promising heading into the offseason after a breakout year with record ratings, attendance and a first-time championship in New York.

Shortly after the confetti stopped falling on the packed Barclays Center crowd following Game 5 of the WNBA Finals, the league and its players turned their attention to 2025.

Less than 24 hours after Sunday night’s game and days before Thursday’s Liberty Championship parade, the players’ union has pulled out of the current collective agreement. The decision was expected with a new 11-year media rights deal worth about $200 million a year starting in 2026. The players are seeking, among other things, a bigger share of the revenue pie, including pensions and higher salaries .

The current CBA will still be in effect through next season, but both sides would like to get a deal done sooner rather than later.

Negotiations are always intense, but those associated with the WNBA have a lot to be excited about.

The league is expanding and will increase the number of regular season games to 44. The WNBA will hold an expansion draft in December for the Golden State Valkyries, who will be the league’s 13th franchise. The league will add franchises in Toronto and Portland in 2026, with at least one other team starting in 2027 or 2028.

Although the WNBA could lose one of its iconic stars if Diana Taurasi retires, league officials are looking forward to another highly anticipated draft. Next month’s draft lottery will determine who gets the first pick, and potentially Paige Bueckers, who 21 years after Taurasi could become the next Connecticut guard to be selected No. 1.

Many of the league’s top players will remain in the US this winter and play in January in Unrivaled — the 3-on-3 league that was started by two WNBA Finals standouts, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.

Stewart and Collier’s championship matchup resulted in strong ratings, with all five games drawing more than a million viewers. The deciding Game 5 drew an average of 2.2 million viewers, peaking at 3.3 million, making it the most-watched WNBA game in 25 years.

The league as a whole had the most-watched regular season in 24 years and the best attendance in 22. During the 40-game regular season, 22 telecasts topped at least one million viewers on a number of networks.

The league’s rookie class, led by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, has been a big part of that success – and they should all come back stronger and better next year.

“When Caitlin Clark announced she was going to be drafted, I remember … the rush of excitement that came from a player who wasn’t even going to play for the Lynx,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “So there was a lot of excitement and momentum for the WNBA. But to see that actually translate from a business standpoint across the league, for whatever reason. There is one very big reason and lots of other little reasons why. And I think the movement we’re in right now is exciting.”

Not everything has been positive about the league’s growth.

Nearly half of the WNBA franchises have fired coaches in the past month. Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Washington are looking for new leaders on the sidelines. All of the coaches who were let go had three years or less with their teams.

Off the court, players say they have been the target of increasing racial and homophobic threats online, including one to Stewart and her wife during the WNBA Finals.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, in her state of the league address before the start of the WNBA Finals, addressed the growing number of abusive comments players have dealt with on social media. She said the league will work with the union to figure out what they can do together to combat it.

Online abuse and the CBA are two of the offseason issues the WNBA and its players must address, but they have perhaps the strongest foundation to build on since the league’s launch.