By ALANIS THAMES, Associated Press

Breanna Stewart will start her ninth WNBA season in a few days. The New York Liberty All-Star and WNBA champ has been around the league long enough to watch her peers fight for visibility. She’s seen only a small uptick in player salaries over the years amid the WNBA’s meteoric rise in popularity.

Stewart has been a part of negotiations for two collective bargaining agreements as a member of the WNBA’s players union. A third round of negotiations is ongoing, perhaps the most important of Stewart’s career. By the end, she hopes to see player salaries grow to unprecedented numbers.

“It’s been going up incrementally,” Stewart said. “But hopefully with the new TV deal that’s coming, it’ll really kind of boost itself into a category of its own.”

That’s what WNBA players were hoping for when they opted out of the current CBA two years before its expiration. The WNBA is bringing in more money than ever from sponsors and ticket sales, and will bring in much more from its 11-year media rights deal, worth around $200 million per year starting in 2026.

With its expanding reach, the WNBA’s progress has come in a few areas: More teams are being added to the league, meaning more roster spots. Full-time charter flights were added last season after years of players lobbying for better travel.

But as the league booms, players are looking for a larger share in that growth. WNBA players currently earn only a small fraction of the league’s revenue share.

Player salaries have been a longstanding point of contention between the NBA — which owns about 60% of the WNBA and leads CBA negotiations — and women’s basketball players. It’s one of the biggest financial hurdles the league still faces, and players have said they’re willing to sit out games if negotiations don’t lead to a pay structure they feel is fair.

“The talent is there, the product is there,” Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale said. “Now we need to be compensated for it.”

The current WNBA CBA, which was signed before the 2020 season, boosted the maximum salaries for star players from $117,500 in 2019 to $215,000 in 2020.

FILE – Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) plays against the Dallas Wings in the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

But that was long before the league’s recent popularity burst, before star players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese brought in record numbers of fans.

“The league has only soared since” 2020, said Risa Isard, an assistant sports management professor at UConn. “And so this is the chance for the players to kind of recoup all of the value that they’ve produced in the last five years that they hadn’t gotten to see themselves so directly.”

What WNBA players are paid compared to NBA players

Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in last month’s WNBA draft, signed a rookie deal that will be worth just over $78,000 in base salary, which is around what Clark received as the No. 1 pick a year ago. They’ll make much more in marketing deals and performance bonuses.

Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers poses for photos during a WNBA basketball media day in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Both are considered generational talents. Both are regarded as franchise-altering players. Both will make significantly less in base salary than most players in other leagues who have been just as hyped for their potential to change the trajectory of their teams.

That’s true for established stars like Stewart and three-time MVP A’ja Wilson, too. Players of their caliber can make at most around $240,000.

FILE – Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) plays against the Seattle Storm in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball first-round playoff game Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

The minimum salary for NBA players is $1,157,153. Victor Wembanyama, the superstar San Antonio Spurs center drafted No. 1 in 2023, earned $12.2 million as part of his $55 million rookie contract.

The NBA’s numbers are much bigger in part because of the huge difference in profit margins of both leagues. The NBA generated around $11 billion in revenue last season. The WNBA does not publicly release its revenue numbers, though Bloomberg reported the league made around $200 million in 2023.

WNBA player salaries are also significantly less than what the NBA paid its players when it last generated around $30 million — $200 million today, when adjusted for inflation — in the early 1970s, said David Berri, an economics professor at Southern Utah University. It’s top players then were making around $300,000, which today would be roughly $2 million, he said.

“They’re paying the women today so very, very little relative to what they were paying the men 50 years ago,” Berri added, “and the explanation of that to me, (is) you’re obviously just treating the women differently than the men.”

How much WNBA player salaries could increase

How much of a salary increase players receive remains to be seen. Berri said a 50% share of $200 million revenue earnings would equal an average player salary of at least $1 million, with max salaries going anywhere from $3 million to $5 million.

That’s easier said than done, he added.

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese (5) shoots against Brazil forward Manu Alves (21) in the second half a WNBA exhibition basketball game in Baton Rouge, La., Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

“Is the NBA going to acknowledge how little they were paying them?” Berri said, “and suddenly just come out with an agreement and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to pay you $5 million now?”

No WNBA player has ever earned close to $1 million in salary, but Stewart said reaching that number could set an important precedent.

“There are players in this league that are valued at more than $1 million,” Stewart said. “That’s just the reality of what it is. But for everyone else, seeing that number and realizing that, OK — now by that point, the league will be probably 30 years into it — and look what we’ve done.”

Pros and cons of WNBA players sitting out games

CBA negotiations have never led to WNBA players sitting out games, and many are hoping that it doesn’t come to that point.

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Though the WNBA, which is only 29 years old, has experienced a financial boom, it is still very small in terms of revenue compared to the NBA, which has been around for 80 years. That means WNBA players’ leverage is limited if they decide to sit out games, Berri said.

“Because if you walk off the job and don’t show up, the owners, the NBA owners are like, you’re actually not costing me much money,” he added.

Berri pointed to the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s fight for equal pay as a blueprint for potential success. Many of those players constantly brought attention to the gender pay gap in soccer through the media and their own online accounts. It ended in the U.S. House passing an equal pay bill in 2022, and Berri expects WNBA players could use similar methods.

If players do decide to sit out games, Isard, the UConn professor, said it wouldn’t be surprising given their history of standing up for causes they believe in.

“Often, they’re really selfless in what those causes are,” Isard said, “and they’re looking out for everyone and anyone else and the community, and what is happening in the Senate race, and what’s happening in reproductive justice and what’s happening in gun legislation — so many ways that they stand up for so many populations across this country.

“And I guess when I hear them say, ‘We would consider that,’ What I hear them say is, ‘Why wouldn’t we stand up for ourselves? We stand up for everyone. So us, too.’”

AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg and AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report.

By ZEKE MILLER and JON GAMBRELL

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has an American proposal over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as negotiations between the two countries go on.

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Trump’s remarks represent the first time he’s acknowledged an American proposal is with Tehran after multiple rounds of negotiations between U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Negotiations have gotten into the “expert” level — meaning the two sides are trying to see if they can reach any agreement on the details of any possible deal. But one major sticking point remains Iran’s enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists it must be allowed to do and the Trump administration increasingly insists the Islamic Republic must give up.

Trump discusses proposal on Air Force One

Trump made the comment aboard Air Force One as he ended his trip to the United Arab Emirates, the last stop on his three-nation tour of the Middle East that also included Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

At nearly every event he attended in the region, he insisted that Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear bomb — something American intelligence agencies assess Tehran is not actively pursuing though its program is on the cusp of being able to weaponize.

A reporter asked Trump: “On Iran, has the U.S. given them a formal proposal? Has Steve Witkoff handed that over?”

“They have a proposal,” Trump responded. “But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.”

Trump did not elaborate on the substance of the proposal and Iran did not immediately acknowledge having it.

On Thursday, Araghchi spoke to journalists at the Tehran International Book Fair and said that Iran did not have any proposal from the Americans yet.

Araghchi also criticized what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the Trump administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy. Witkoff at one point suggested that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying that all Iranian enrichment must stop.

Friday night, Araghchi wrote on the social platform X: “Iran has not received any written proposal from the United States, whether directly or indirectly.”

“In the meantime, the messaging we—and the world—continue to receive is confusing and contradictory,” he added. “Mark my words: there is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes.”

Talks have been held in Oman and Rome

Iranian and American officials have been in Oman and Rome for the negotiations, always mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a trusted interlocutor between the two nations. The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer sentiment fell slightly in May for the fifth straight month, surprising economists, as Americans increasingly worry that President Donald Trump’s trade war will worsen inflation.

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The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index, released Friday, declined 2.7% on a monthly basis to 50.8, the second-lowest level in the nearly 75-year history of the survey. The only lower reading was in June 2022. Since January, sentiment has tumbled nearly 30%.

Americans have largely taken a sour view about where the economy is headed in the wake of the Trump administration’s imposition of huge import duties, which threaten to slow growth and push up prices. In recent weeks the White House has pulled back on its most draconian policies, though average duties are still high by historical standards.

Consumers’ outlooks are also sharply divided by their political views, which has caused some economists to question the survey’s results. The University of Michigan also last year switched from using both online and phone responses to just online, which some analysts worry may have introduced a more negative bias.

The sentiment index for Democrats fell to 33.9 this month, the lowest since partisan data began in 1980 and far below the levels reached in the depths of the COVID pandemic or during the 2008-2009 Great Recession.

For Republicans, it’s 84.2, though that slipped from 90.2 in April and is the lowest since Trump’s election.

Inflation eased slightly in April. (AP Digital Embed)

Trump had slapped 145% tariffs on all imports from China, a move that effectively suspended trade with the United States’ third-largest trading partner in goods. But on Monday, the two countries said they had reached a deal that would lower U.S. tariffs to 30%, while China would cut its duties on U.S. exports to 10% from 125%.

The survey was taken between April 22 and May 13, which includes just two days after the China tariffs were reduced.

Yet on Thursday Walmart said it had started to lift prices in response to the tariffs and will do so even more in June and July just as families gear up the back-to-school season. The company counts 90% of the U.S. population as customers and price hikes at the nation’s largest retailer may start to sink in with Americans who have already been buffeted by post-pandemic inflation.

The survey found consumers are increasingly worried about rising inflation. Over the next 12 months, consumers expect inflation to jump to 7.3%, the highest since 1981 and up from an expectation of 6.5% last month. Over the next five years, they foresee inflation reaching 4.6%, the highest since 1991, up from 4.4% last month.

Those expectations typically run higher than actual inflation, which last month ticked down to 2.3%, the lowest level in more than four years. Still, economists and the Federal Reserve closely watch inflation expectations, because they can become self-fulfilling. If people are worried inflation will accelerate, they may take steps, such as demanding higher pay, that can push up prices.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said the Michigan inflation expectation numbers are an “outlier.” Market-based measures of future inflation, which some Fed officials put greater weight on, have remained mostly stable. Still, the steady rise in the Michigan survey’s inflation expectations could make it less likely the Fed will cut its key interest rate anytime soon.

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Fortnite says it’s now unavailable on Apple’s iOS globally because the tech giant blocked a bid to release the popular video game for iPhone users in the U.S. and Europe.

“Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the U.S. App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union,” Epic Games-owned Fortnite wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, early Friday — claiming that Apple’s move would now prevent the game’s iOS availability around the world.

“Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it,” Fortnite said.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Apple said it had specifically asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update “without including the U.S. storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies.” But, the company added, it “did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.”

Fortnite’s exile from the iPhone app store is the latest twist in a yearslong feud between Apple and Epic. Back in 2020, the video game maker filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple in the U.S., alleging the technology trendsetter was illegally using its power to gouge game makers.

After a monthlong trial in 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled against most of Epic’s claims, but ordered Apple to loosen its previously-exclusive control over the payments made for in-app commerce and allow links to alternative options in the U.S. for the first time — threatening to undercut sizeable commissions that Apple had been collecting from in-app transactions for over a decade.

After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27% commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system.

Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered a stinging rebuke last month — which held Apple in civil contempt and banned the company from collecting any commission on alternative payment systems.

That ruling cleared the way for Epic to finally return to the iPhone app store in the U.S., a reinstatement the video game maker was anticipating before Apple’s latest move.

Fortnite’s availability in the EU, meanwhile, was set to go in an alternative store for iPhone users — now called the Epic Games Store. Apple last year cleared the way for this last year under new regulatory pressures.

Liedtke reported from San Francisco.