The WNBA’s pay explosion, plus more buzzer madness

The Women’s National Basketball Association will tip off its 2026 campaign on schedule after the league and the WNBA Players Association ratified a landmark collective-bargaining agreement that rewrites the financial landscape for professional women’s basketball.

Under the new pact, the league’s salary floor vaults to $300,000—more than the 2025 super-max—while elite stars can earn up to $1.4 million. The average cash compensation, once revenue sharing is included, is projected at roughly $600,000. The salary cap itself balloons to $7 million, nearly quintuple last season’s $1.5 million figure. Players will also receive 20 percent of gross league revenue, a first for the WNBA.

The numbers are so dramatic that a 2026 rookie at the minimum—projected to be former UConn standout Azzi Fudd—will out-earn 2025 super-max guard Kelsey Mitchell, an eight-year veteran. Stars such as A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart are expected to occupy the new $1.4 million tier, each making only $100,000 less than an entire franchise’s 2025 payroll.

The windfall arrives six years after the 2020 CBA doubled the top salary and introduced maternity benefits, a deal celebrated at the time but rendered obsolete by the league’s explosive popularity, fueled in part by the 2024 rookie class headlined by Caitlin Clark. With free-agency negotiations already compressed into an abbreviated off-season, front offices are expected to move quickly to lock up talent under the enlarged cap.

While the financial structure has dominated headlines, the hardwood delivered its own theatrics. In the men’s NCAA tournament, No. 11 Texas halted a late-season slide with a ferocious second-half defensive effort, eliminating No. 3 Gonzaga on a late Camden Heide corner triple. The nightcap produced an even tighter finish: Nebraska and Vanderbilt swapped the lead four times in the final two minutes, with Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner missing a half-court heave at the buzzer that danced on the rim before falling away, sending the Cornhuskers to their first-ever Sweet 16.

No. 12 High Point, fresh off shocking No. 5 Wisconsin, pushed No. 4 Arkansas before succumbing to freshman phenom Darius Acuff Jr. On the women’s side, No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson flirted with history, pulling within two points of No. 2 Iowa in the final four minutes before falling 58-48. FDU coach Stephanie Gaitley and Iowa counterpart Jan Jensen both voiced support for shifting early-round women’s games to neutral courts, echoing a growing chorus for format equity.

Other quick hits across sports: LeBron James passed Robert Parish for most career NBA games played, Kevin Durant leapfrogged Michael Jordan into fifth on the league’s all-time scoring list, and MLB umpire Bill Miller was caught on a hot mic pleading for a challenged pitch to be called a strike—then hoping he was wrong. Meanwhile, the United States flag-football squad dominated a collection of NFL pros, and Arsenal prepared for a heavyweight Carabao Cup final against Manchester City with quadruple dreams on the line.

The 2026 WNBA season tips off with unprecedented financial might, and if the opening rounds of March Madness are any indication, dramatic finishes have become the rule, not the exception.