Monday's sit-down in NY was supposed to make some real progress in the WNBA's CBA talks.

But after three hours with about 40 players making it to the meeting, either in person or on Zoom, frustration boiled over. No counterproposal from the league hit the table, just a lot of questions and vague promises.​​

Indiana Fever veteran Sydney Colson, on Wednesday’s We Need To Talk podcast with Alicia Jay, said what a lot of players were already thinking, only louder.

She urged her peers not to blink. “Don’t cave to [negotiation anxieties]… Don’t start switching your position,” Colson said, calling internal tension exactly what leagues hope for in negotiations. 

That's not all, Colson also made one more doubt clear. “It’s not even players a lot of times that have to debunk the things the league is putting out,” she said. “The fans and the people who care are doing that for us.”

After averaging 2.4 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in a shortened 2025 season Colson knows what is at stake. She didn’t sugarcoat the drawbacks of the old CBA as well. She highlighted it by stating, “A lot of people were without jobs when really they should have been on rosters.”

And the numbers don't lie. Even with those super-tight rosters back in 2025, the league's popularity went through the roof. The WNBA Finals pulled in an average of 9.5 million viewers, which is a massive 170% jump from 2024.

She wrapped the podcast with a heartfelt reminder as well. "You're doing this for the people coming after you," Colson said, dead serious about not screwing it up like before. 

And in this conversation, she's not the only one. Her Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham's been saying the exact same thing, pushing everyone to stand firm.

Sophie Cunningham Fires Back on CBA

Sophie Cunningham, isn't holding back on the WNBA's CBA talk either. Cunningham dropped this take on her "Show Me Something" podcast, ripping how the WNBA's not taking serious takes. "The sides are 'getting frustrated,'" she said.

"I've been around a lot of NHL people, a lot of NBA people, a lot of MLB people, and everyone is like, 'Why are you guys not using what we've already built?'" she vented out.

She's spot on since no lockout in 29 years, but other leagues like MLB (2021-22, no games lost) and NHL (2012-13, slashed to 48 games) show the risks.

Players want salary cap jumps to $5M and maxes at $1.3M from the league's December offer which is five times current, but half what the union's pushing.

Cunningham sees the real problem to the divided owners of the league. "From my perspective, it seems like half of our owners are player-first and really wanting to invest, and the other half are more league-side," she laid out. "But it's weird because they do want to invest, but you just don't have owners who are willing to spend."

Her raw take highlights the urgency, echoing Sydney Colson's message. With revenue exploding past $200M last year, why the stall? Everyone deserves an answer. And with the clock ticking down to May 8, the uncertainty about having the season keeps growing.

What do you think will happen? Tell us in the comments!

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Written by

Ishika Ghosh

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu