Pay the Players Solidarity Campaign with WNBA Players
With just weeks remaining until the WNBA’s current collective bargaining agreement expires on October 31, 2025, youth athletes from Equality League are joining the calls for equity in women’s professional sports by standing in solidarity with WNBA players demanding fair compensation and benefits, and equitable investment—#PayThePlayers.
From the courts where young girls compete to boardrooms and offices everywhere, the message is clear: gender fairness must not be optional. The WNBA players' push for just pay is not only a fight for athletes—it is a fight for the principle that women and girls deserve equitable compensation, respect, and opportunity.
Below, find our solidarity letter penned by the Equality League Youth Council and supported by individuals, organizations, and companies who support women’s equity.
Equality League Youth Council
October 16, 2025
Cathy Engelbert
Commissioner
Women’s National Basketball Association
645 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Dear WNBA Commissioner Engelbert,
We are youth athletes writing on behalf of our generation—the girls who play today and the women who will lead tomorrow. We stand in solidarity with WNBA players who are demanding fair pay, comprehensive benefits for themselves and their families, financial security, and safe, equitable working conditions.
WNBA players are more than athletes. They are role models and trailblazers, fighting for workplace dignity and the rights of future generations. Denying them equity sends a message to girls everywhere: our talent and labor are undervalued.
This fight is bigger than basketball. It is a workplace battle that will echo across industries. The standards you set in the WNBA can shape what girls expect, demand, and deserve when they enter the workforce.
We urge you to:
Negotiate a timely agreement guaranteeing fair pay and benefits worthy of WNBA players’ talent and impact.
Establish equitable workplace standards ensuring safety, health, family, and financial security.
Avoid a lockout that deprives fans of our joy and players of their livelihood.
Show the next generation that women’s work and leadership should never be treated as second-class.
This is about justice, respect, and the future of every girl.
As youth athletes and allies, we believe in a future of equity, fairness, and opportunity. We ask you to make the WNBA the model for that future.
Respectfully,
The Equality League Youth Council
Solidarity Signatories
Organizations, Companies, and Individuals
UltraViolet
Supermajority
Women Employed
The New York Women's Foundation
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research
American Association of University Women
Girls for Gender Equity
Girls on the Run International
Girls for a Change
Champion Women
Trajectory
Women and Girls Foundation
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina
Abigail Disney
Cheryl Whaley, 55 Liberty Productions
Minky Worden
Jamie Zimmerman, Litespeed Capital LLC
Tuti Scott, Changemaker Strategies
LILLY (Ledbetter) Film, Social Action Campaign
Rachel Feldman, LILLY Director
Simone Pero, LILLY Producer
Jyoti Sarda, LILLY Producer
Kate Kelley, LILLY Associate Producer
Fans
Women's Sports Rally
Women's Basketball Club, DC
Women's Basketball Club, St. Louis
Women's Basketball Club, LA
The Sports Bra
Set the Bar
A Bar of their Own
Queens Collective Sport House
Hysteria Sports Bar
Watch Me Sports Bar
As You Are Bar
Babe's Sports Bar
Knox Joseph Distillery
Whiskey Girl Tavern
This letter is being distributed by Equality League, a global advocacy organization advancing gender equality in and through sports by changing discriminatory and abusive policies, practices, and laws. We advance gender equality by dismantling barriers to safety, equality, and access so that women and girls stay in sports to reap lifelong health, academic, financial, and leadership benefits.