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The WNBA’s recent CBA was a victory for the players. The salary cap was raised to $7 million, which in turn increased the minimum salary to $300K and the average salary to $500K. Also, players received better benefits, such as housing provisions, chartered flights and pregnancy protections.
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But while the pay and benefits structure in the WNBA has improved significantly, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said that if she were to replace Cathy Engelbert as WNBA commissioner when she retires at the end of the year, she would ensure that every team in the league has its own practice facility.
“The first thing that I would do is make sure that every team legit has a functional practice facility. There are teams in the WNBA, which we are the best league in the entire world, that there are people that are practicing in YMCAs. They’re sharing a court by a curtain when there’s like YMCA youth camps going on on one side, and a team practicing on the other,” she said during the first episode of her new podcast “No Hesitation Show” with trainer Drew Hanlen.
Sophie Cunningham says she should be the WNBA commissioner.
“I could get this s*** on the right track.”
(via @NoHesiShow) pic.twitter.com/zF6SLIMeTo
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 11, 2026
This is known issue
Having their own practice facility has been an issue for many WNBA teams since the league’s inception. The issue isn’t sharing space with other groups of people.
In 2023, Hall of Famer Candace Parker admitted that she never had her own locker in her first 16 years in the league. That only changed when she played for the Las Vegas Aces in 2023, at the end of her career.
“A lot of the facilities were nice,” Parker said, “but they weren’t ours.”
Meanwhile, current Phoenix Mercury associate head coach Kristi Tolliver, who played for the Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks and Washington Mystics during a 14-year NBA career, had this to say:
“We went from high school to high school to a small college … we just bounced around. We just didn’t have a home. That’s what I felt like. You feel like a nomad,” she added.
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A lot has changed in the last three years, though, as 12 of the league’s 15 teams either have their own facility or are constructing one. But Cunningham wants everybody to have their own.
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The Fever will have its own facility by next season
Of course, Sophie is speaking from experience because currently, the Fever doesn’t have its own practice facility and shares the Gainbridge Fieldhouse with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. However, it’s not that the Fever and Pacers are divided by a curtain. The women have their dedicated practice court, locker room and weight room.
But at least the Fever are working on theirs. Last April, the franchise shared the first renderings of the $78 million Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center located near Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis. The 108,000-square-foot, three-story facility is currently under construction and is expected to be ready before the start of the 2027 WNBA season.
“Every element of this facility has been intentionally designed around our players, including how they train, recover, connect and live day to day. This will set a new standard for women’s sports and continue to position Indianapolis at the center of that momentum,”said Indiana Fever Team President Kelly Krauskopf.
Related: Sophie Cunningham on the reason she picked basketball over volleyball: “I can’t elbow someone”
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This story was originally published September 11, 2026 at 1:10 AM.