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Australian basketball star Liz Cambage will be among the WNBA players who are set for a big rise after a new CBA was announced.
Australia's Liz Cambage and the WNBA's other elite players are set to earn more than $US500,000 a season after the US league and the players' association agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement.
Cambage has been one of the WNBA's most vocal critics, slamming the pay disparity with the NBA, the better treatment players receive in Asia and European leagues and being forced to squeeze her 203cm tall frame into economy class seats on commercial flights flying to games.
The new eight-year CBA, which commences this year, includes a 53 per cent increase in total cash compensation for players, premium economy flights, full salaries for players on maternity leave, a $US5,000 childcare stipend and other benefits for players with children.
"We approached these negotiations with a player-first agenda, and I am pleased that this agreement guarantees substantial increases in compensation and progressive benefits for the women of the WNBA," WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.
The average WNBA player had earned around $US71,000 a season and elite players $US114,000.
Players will receive performance bonuses, prize pools for newly created in-season competitions and league and team marketing deals.
The more than $US500,000 for elite players represents a more than tripling of the maximum compensation under the prior deal.
Other top WNBA players will have an opportunity to earn between $US200,000 and $US300,000.
For the first time in the league's history the average cash compensation for players will exceed six figures, averaging nearly $US130,000, resulting in rises for all players from rookies to veterans.
Cambage has openly discussed the financial pressures WNBA players faced and the risk of injuries flying in economy class cabins and then playing back-to-back games in different cities.
Cambage has also been open about her day-to-day battle with anxiety and depression.
The new deal includes enhanced mental health benefits and resources for WNBA players.
"We sign $1 million contracts in Asia and Russia and get treated like royalty but when we are here in America we are flying in the back of the plane in economy, playing back-to-backs," Cambage, on a WNBA-organised conference call with reporters in 2018, said.
The new deal includes 50-50 revenue sharing beginning with the 2021 season, based on the league achieving revenue growth targets from broadcast agreements, marketing partnerships and licensing deals.
Players will no longer share hotel rooms with team-mates and workplace accommodations will "provide a comfortable, safe and private place for nursing mothers".
Veteran players will be entitled up to a $US60,000 reimbursement for costs directly related to adoption, surrogacy, oocyte cryopreservation or fertility/infertility treatment.
