🏆 THE WNBA'S NEW CBA IS HERE — AND IT'S HISTORIC

At long last, it appears we have a new WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement!

Early in the morning on March 18th, Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports broke the news we’ve all been waiting for

It took about 100 hours of in-person negotiations in New York to get it done, but you got a sense that business was starting to pick up.

On March 17, Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reported that the WNBA and WNBPA were about four percent apart on the revenue share split. Revenue splits appeared to be the biggest hurdle in these talks, and now that it appears to be resolved, we wait to see what the final terms are.

The last report indicates players will take 20% of revenue and a $7 million salary cap, up from $1.5 million. Early returns, these seem like wins for the players. The next step will be for the WNBPA and the league Board of Governors to officially ratify the agreement.

As we wait for this process, we at Black Rosie Media will be keenly looking for and analyzing the details of this deal with respect to:

The road to this moment has been taxing. The WNBPA had to find its resolve and manage pressure from all sides.

The WNBA had to step up and truly invest in the game and the players. A new CBA represents exciting new possibilities for all.

THE NCAA TOURNAMENT BEGINS

The NCAA Tournament is officially here!

In a twist, the first 16 seeds were announced on Saturday afternoon during a full day of men’s college basketball action on ESPN. That set the stage for Sunday as the entire bracket was revealed. There was debate as to who would be the number one overall seed, and the undefeated UConn Huskies earned that distinction.

There are a lot of fascinating subplots in this year’s edition of the NCAA Tournament.

Connecticut’s quest to go back-to-back is at the top of the list as they try to complete a perfect season and be the first team to go undefeated and back-to-back since 2016. These will be the final games of Azzi Fudd’s college career and the likely Lottery pick will look to enter the WNBA in style.

South Carolina is looking to make the Final Four for a school record sixth consecutive season and capture their third championship this decade. Dawn Staley’s club is also looking to exact some revenge as Connecticut denied them their second straight championship last year. If they want to do so, they will more than likely have to go through UConn to do it, as they could potentially meet in the Final Four.

After the first Final Four appearance in school history, UCLA is looking to finish the story and capture its first women’s basketball national championship. Cori Close has kept her team unified and one step ahead of the competition as they dominated Big Ten play and captured the number two overall seed.

Tennessee is hoping the Tournament can cure its late-season woes. The Volunteers have lost seven straight games, and Kim Caldwell has faced a lot of criticism for her team’s freefall. If Tennessee wants to save its season, it’ll have to beat NC State in the first round before a likely showdown against the number two seed Michigan in Ann Arbor in the second round.

On an individual level, two star freshmen will be making their Tournament debuts. Aaliyah Chavez has been outstanding for the 4-seed Oklahoma Sooners, who were one of the better teams in the SEC this year. There were some rough moments early on, but Jazzy Davidson had a very good freshman season for a USC team that fought through various injuries and tough losses. Davidson is a bit banged up, but will play in the Tournament and do the best she can.

There’s a lot to dig into, and on the latest episode of We Need to Talk, Erica L. Ayala and Alicia Jay dove into the Madness

The First Four will serve as a nice appetizer to the main course, and here’s the schedule of action on March 18

The next few weeks will be outstanding. With everything on the line, teams and players will do everything they can to win and become household names.

The Road to the Final Four is officially underway, and we can’t wait to watch it unfold.

WHICH TEAMS ARE BERLIN-BOUND?

The World Cup Qualifying Tournament is over! Up next, the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Germany. Here’s a recap of each of the four Qualifying Tournaments and who punched a ticket to Berlin:

With the Qualifying Tournaments concluded, here are the 11 teams that joined the five previously qualified teams in the field of 16 federations for the World Cup in Berlin:

In the Puerto Rico, the United States completed a solid run of play with a 84-70 win against a game Spain club. Kahleah Copper led the game in scoring with 20 points and made four three-pointers.

A lot of eyes were on the Spanish club and likely Lottery pick, Awa Fam. Fam had a solid outing off the bench as she scored ten points and grabbed two steals in 19 minutes. New York Liberty international prospect Raquel Carreras shined as she tied Meg Gustasfon in scoring with 15 points. Carrera’s play will likely draw the eyes of the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire scouting departments ahead of the WNBA Expansion Draft.

Caitlin Clark looked increasingly comfortable as the tournament progressed, and was named MVP of the San Juan portion of the Tournament. Clark was also named to the All Star Five, joining Kelsey Plum (USA), Cecilia Zandalasini (Italy), Megan Gustasfon (Spain) and Imani McGee-Stafford (Puerto Rico).

In the Istanbul region, Australia was one step ahead of the competition. The Opals went 5-0 after surviving a great challenge from Canada, 82-76. Sami Whitcomb had another outstanding outing as she led the team in scoring with 23 points and helped steady Australia after Canada made it a two point game deep in the fourth quarter.

Whitcomb won MVP of the region and was joined in the All-Star Five by Kennedy Burke (Turkey), Mai Yamamoto (Japan), Aaliyah Edwards (Canada), and Dorka Juhasz (Hungary).

France went 5-0 in their Qualifying Tournament, but suffered a pretty big loss. Dominique Malonga suffered an injury in France’s game against Colombia and was later diagnosed with a concussion. All the best to Dom.

Janelle Salaün played outstanding ball as she was named MVP of the France region. In four games, she averaged almost 17 points and six rebounds a game while shooting 79 percent from the field and 61 percent from three point range. Salaün had a breakout 2025 season with the Golden State Valkyries and was able to build on that here in the tournament. She was also named to the All-Star Five alongside Leeseul Kang (Korea), Frieda Buhner (Germany), Victoria Maccaulay (Nigeria), and Marine Johannes (France).

And in China, Belgium set the pace as they went 5-0 and punched their ticket to Germany. Julie Allemand filled up the box score for the Cats as she took home MVP honors.

In this region’s All-Star Five, she was joined by fellow Belgian Cat, Emma Meesseman, Shuyu Yang (China), Maimouna Haidara (Mali), and Emma Cechova (Czech Republic).

The World Cup should be awesome this September. The Qualifying Tournaments served as a nice appetizer for the action this fall and with a chance at history on the line, each country will be sending their very best to capture the trophy.

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