The League Showed (some) Math... Tipped Their Hand

Every time the League says a Union proposed Gross Revenue share would lose them money, I've said they need to respond with what percentage wouldn't. Instead, they keep throwing back non-responsive counterproposals that cling to a fixed-salary schedule plus bonuses based on Net Revenue.

However, in the course of their last two responses to Union proposals, they've indicated the percentage they claim they CAN afford. It's \~21%.

Now, I'm not sure we should believe their math (duh), but here's what they've said:

If 31% of Gross Revenue were dedicated to player compensation, the League would lose \~$700M over the life of the CBA. If 27.5% of Gross were dedicated, the League would lose $460M (reported by CBS Sports this morning).

31%-27.5% = 3.5%; $700M-$460M = $240M.

So the League is arguing that for every percent of Gross dedicated to player compensation, they "lose" $68.5M over the life of the CBA, or $10M/year.

$420M divided by $68.5M would be \~6.1%, which means the WNBA is tacitly admitting they could give the players 21.4% of Gross Revenue WITHOUT LOSING MONEY, which works out to just over 1.4% of Gross per team. As the League adds more teams, they need to increase the players' share by 1.4% per team. So when the League gets up to 18 teams, players' compensation should be 25.6%.

If the League wants more profit, well, they can argue for more than a 3% share of the NBA/WNBA media deal. There, the math works out to the WNBA getting between 8-10%. If the WNBA negotiated a 9% share, that would give everyone $400M more Gross Revenue per year to share.

TL;DR: The League's own numbers tacitly state that the WNBA can pay over 21% of Gross Revenue in player compensation without incurring any loss. Thanks!

EDIT: I tried to edit my post to incorporate the wonderful arithmetic corrections u/HiEveryoneHowsItGoin provided, but they didn't stick. But, yeah, it's 22.25% that the League is admitting to. Also, the valid point was raised that perhaps the raise for each expansion team could be less than 1.4%. Thanks again!!