The WNBA has experienced record viewership, sold-out arenas, and signed a new media deal worth $2.2 billion. That growth has propelled the league into greater cultural significance, yet with more money comes more problems for the women’s professional basketball league, which started with eight teams in 1997, including the New York Liberty.
CBA Negotiations
Players are demanding a bigger slice of the pie they bake in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) after the current agreement expires on Oct. 31.
The union's demands include higher salaries, a larger revenue share, pensions and long-term benefits, codified charter travel and enhanced player safety protocols. Meanwhile, the league, led by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, cites financial challenges, pointing out that the WNBA still operates at a loss despite franchise values soaring and attendance up 22% from 2024.
In a fiery exit interview, Napheesa Collier, star forward for the Minnesota Lynx, condemned the league for a "lack of accountability." She accused executive of undervaluing players while the business booms.
Melanie Vanderveer, writer and editor for The Blast, who has covered the NY Liberty and Las Vegas Aces, told BK Reader, “The league has made proposals, but players have described them as insulting, and it seems the relationship between the union and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is strained, possibly beyond repair.”
Coaching, Success and Representation
Wins, playoff appearances and championships are typically the metrics used to measure success for coaches, and Sandy Brondello, former Liberty coach, checked all those boxes. She notched two finals appearances, helping the team win its first championship in 2024, and, in the process, pushed the Liberty to the second-highest team evaluation in the league. And yet she was fired in September.
Several WNBA coaches have salaries in the $1 million range, led by Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts, who signed a record-breaking contract in 2023, and teams want value for their money. Tibbetts took Phoenix to the finals this year, defeating the Liberty in the first round, after he dealt with an injury-plagued regular season. That’s in contrast to Brooklyn, where sports chatter suggested Brondello didn’t maximize the depth of her roster to manage injuries effectively enough.
"This is not a results-based organization; it's about how we position ourselves to be at the top of the league in a sustainable way as the league evolves," Liberty General Manager Jonathan Kolb said during the season-ending press conference.
Brondello's ouster isn't isolated. Seattle fired Noelle Quinn days earlier, despite four playoff appearances in five years. Las Vegas Aces Becky Hammon, coach of the 2025 WNBA champions, decried the volatility: "When you have a good coach, you keep the good coach."
But amid the turnover, there exists a glaring inequity. For the first time since 2020, the WNBA has zero Black head coaches. In a league where over 60% of players are Black, this sparked outrage. "Black women are being kicked out," tweeted Emmy-nominated sports analyst Chris Williamson, while Andscape urged teams to prioritize Black women for the four open jobs, or risk alienating the very talent driving the surge.
Officiating, an Achilles' Heel
Then there are the referees. Officiating has been a powder keg all season, with players and coaches railing against inconsistency and unchecked physicality. Injuries spiked to 252 in 2025 (up from 203 in 2024), fueling talk that lax calls are to blame.
Stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have been vocal about dangerous hits going unpunished. Coaches including Minnesota Lynx Cheryl Reeve called a finals-clinching non-call "f*****g malpractice," earning a $15,000 fine and one-game suspension, the harshest in league history.
Although Engelbert finally addressed the issue during the WNBA Finals, saying a new task force will tackle "misalignment" on officiating, promising more training and reviews, critics like Indiana's head coach Stephanie White said it's a league-wide crisis, that "Bad officiating is bad officiating."
The WNBA's fault lines are ready to shift the league's foundation. Players united in CBA demands, coaches pleading for stability, Black leaders calling for equity and refs under the microscope: This is the league reckoning with its rise, reminding us that women's hoops isn't just a game or a movement, but is foremost a business.
Richard Burroughs is a sports and culture reporter for BK Reader, as well as a DJ and curator.
