Natasha Cloud reveals WNBA's strategic delay in TV deal talks, framing it as crucial leverage in upcoming CBA negotiations.
As the WNBA approaches February without a new collective bargaining agreement in place, Natasha Cloud believes the most consequential issue in negotiations has little to do with the present and everything to do with what comes next.
Cloud addressed the league’s stalled talks with the WNBPA this week, arguing that the absence of concrete discussion around the league’s next television deal is not accidental. In her view, the looming expiration of the current media rights agreement — and the expected growth that follows — sits at the center of why negotiations have reached an impasse.
Cloud’s remarks, which circulated widely on social media, framed the dispute as one of leverage rather than logistics. She suggested that the league has deliberately avoided placing future television revenue percentages on the table during bargaining, despite players being fully aware of what lies ahead.
"I'm just kind of like, upset, frustrated all of us and in a lot of ways, just like disgusted with the W and how they're handling this," she said. "And their lack of value, their lack of worth for us, their lack of even trying to attempt to move the needle with us like we know what is on the horizon we know in two years our TV deal is up and there's a new TV deal that's going to come, that they're not even putting on the table for us the percentages."
According to Cloud, that future value is precisely why those figures remain absent from negotiations. She argued that acknowledging the scale of the next media deal would immediately expose how much upside exists, shifting leverage further toward players at a time when talks are already strained.
At issue is how revenue is defined and shared. The WNBA has proposed a model that would allocate up to 70 percent of net revenue to players, a framework that would substantially raise salaries across the league. Players, however, continue to push for a share of gross revenue, along with higher salary caps and stronger guarantees — protections they believe better reflect the league’s rapid commercial growth.
Cloud said the frustration is compounded by timing. From her perspective, the league is negotiating as though the business is static, despite unprecedented momentum, increased investment interest, and expansion on the horizon. She argued that players are being asked to commit to revenue-sharing terms without transparency into what the next television agreement could generate.
“If we actually told you the percentages of what they’re giving — that they’re sending to us — it would absolutely piss y’all off,” Cloud said. “So just know when we’re standing firm in our feet and ten toes down.”
Her comments come ahead of a pivotal in-person meeting scheduled for Monday in New York, where league officials and union leadership are expected to meet face-to-face for the first time in months. Union vice presidents Kelsey Plum and Napheesa Collier are among those expected to represent players as talks resume.
The meeting follows weeks of stalled communication during a status quo period that has effectively frozen free agency and delayed offseason movement. According to multiple reports, the league has not responded to the union’s most recent proposal, believing it does not meaningfully differ from earlier submissions.
Cloud’s stance reflects a broader shift among players, who increasingly view the next television deal as the true measure of the league’s value — and of their own. As negotiations drag on, that future revenue looms large, shaping not only the current bargaining posture but the balance of power moving forward.