And theyre not done. The guys are 10 times more athletic than the girls too. For that to happen, the WNBA needs to make a new deal with its players. They deserve to be paid well. Nancy Lough does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The average viewers on television was 171,000 in 2017 (2018 does appear to be higher averaging 266,300 viewers) WNBA plays 34 games in regular season. WNBA players arent asking for NBA level compensation. The organization exists to increase the number of events and the number of awards for women, as well as offering equal prize money to achieve meaningful equity in competitive surfing.. However, they fail to realize that NBA is self-sufficient and if they want to be the same they need to put butts in seats and become self-sufficient as well. They expect the NBA to take salary from the owners and men to shore up the WNBA so they can have equal to what the men get. This also helps explains whye-sports playersare making more money than the best players in theWNBA. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Heres the thing: the WNBA is not nearly as profitable as the NBA. No one cares about the WNBA and no one watches their games lol. This is evident in the lack of "highlight" plays that the WNBA is able to offer up. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often pay substantially more than playing in the United States. market in terms of economic e ciency. However, that is not going to happen. The conversation continued recently when a WNBA player compared the championship bonuses earned by LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm. The move was controversial at the time given all major sport leagues in the U.S. had previously opted to keep jerseys free of advertisements but the NBA followed their lead in 2017. And in sport, just as in society, women are fighting back, working towards the day when pay equality is achieved. Theyre making the most of it while they can. You can not compare the cultures. Lisa Borders, president of theWNBA, has even directlypointed to sexismas a driving reason for the discrepancies between the earnings ofmale and female players. So even relative to other non-major professional leagues, theWNBAstruggles for relevance. Im sorry, the WNBA is awful compared to the NBA. In order to make a living playing basketball, most WNBA players compete overseas during the offseason to supplement their WNBA income. Im not saying that WNBA players arent good at the game of basketball and Im not saying that they dont deserve equal pay, but the game just is not the same. The off-season should be to rest their bodies and fulfill their contractual obligations for promoting the WNBA through appearances and community outreach as role models to young athletes and to spend time with their families. Where the NBA pays its players between 49-51 percent of the leagues revenue, WNBA players take home a maximum of 22.8 percent. The NBA's highest-paid player in 2020-2021 makes 194.2 times more money than the WNBA's highest-paid players Heading into the 2021 WNBA season, there are seven players tied for the highest salary in the league DeWanna Bonner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird , Liz Cambage, and Elena Delle Donne, who each . But WNBA players only take less than 25 percent of the total earnings of their league. This is reality folks. The WNBA according to the league the WNBA has yet to make a profit.. INFO What are differences that cause WNBA players to get paid Are. Many. Britney Griner as the 5th ranked WNBA player is paid 227 K by the WNBA. Thats patronizing. But in terms of pay, it definitely is not. 227 K isn't much more than a non-famous professional couple makes. By comparison, last years Professional Bowling League averaged650,000 viewers for ESPN. Kelsey Plum currently makes $200,000/year as a point guard for the Las Vegas Aces. Women represent 44 percent of NFL fans, while 28 percent of women say they follow pro baseball, and 29 percent report that they follow the NBA. In the six Olympic Games that have included womens soccer, the U.S. has captured four golds and a silver. These women should be paid more. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images). However, WNBA players push for more ESPN and media coverage. Hell yeah. But the risk also offered reward: 15 million Americans self-identify as LGBTQ, and they represent a market segment worth around $830 million. If the WNBA doesnt make a profit, and ESPNs sources confirm that it doesnt, then it bears to reason that the players share of the EBRI will be lower. Finally, the NBA is not soccer and will not be screwed the way mens soccer got screwed. While all four of the major Grand Slam tennis tournaments have awarded men and women equal prize money since 2007 when Wimbledon finally evened its pay gap, the games biggest female stars have not held back when it comes to speaking out about equal pay. She was returning to Russia to fulfill her contractual obligations to her Russian Team. WNBA stars including Aja Wilson, Brittney Griner, Liz Cambage and Skylar Diggins-Smith have all spoken out about WNBA salaries compared to their NBA counterparts. And average pay in these leagues is at least three times the average pay in the WNBA. It all has . As with so many other female athletes and despite being two of the highest paid women athletes in the world Venus and Serena recognize that they are fighting not only for themselves, but for the generations of women to come. As women, we have to fight, Diggins-Smith told Bleacher Report. The team went on to earn the gold at the world championships, then captured its first Olympic gold in 20 years by defeating Team Canada in PyeongChang. Yes they are. I cant even mention 5 players in the WNBA or tell you the winners of the last 3 finals. BY: Matthew Schleif Has the WNBA made Profit? LeBronJames is one of the greatest athletes in human history, but if his sport of choice generated the public interest theWNBAhas, he would not be signing a $154 million dollar contract. But even with all this growth, theres one enduring challenge: media exposure. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often pay substantially more than playing in the United States. In 2019 the NCAA lost $2.8 million on the womens basketball tournament. Player's salaries in the NWSL range from about $16,000 to $46,000 annually, according to NPR. However, in the 1971-1972 season the year the NBA started drawing the same number of fans that the WNBA attracts today the average salary was $90,000, which would equate to roughly $500,000 today. Answer (1 of 2): The WNBA is heavily subsidized by the NBA; but for this fact, the WNBA would have folded a long time ago. Proclaiming that women should get paid as much as men is a great way for a man to demonstrate his feminist bona fides. Now, Team USA is in Spain, about to play in the. In STEM areas, specifically math and computer programming, my daughter is as capable as (if not more capable than) her male peers. Last week, this exciting season of the WNBA ended after the Seattle Storm swept the Washington Mystics to win their third championship. James reportedly walked away with $370,000, while Bird only collected $11,356. So most of us dont get drafted or better yet, we get waved off because there isnt enough space and they can only pay for so many players. The league minimum for a player with two or fewer years of service is $41,202; for three or more years of . Kelseys been in the WNBA for 5 seasons with a career average of 12.4ppg but she put up an average of 20.2 points/game in the 2022 season. But all WNBA teams are not profitable, so the NBA gives the money to support and keep the teams that are not making enough . One reason why the WNBA should get paid more is that women's sports are identical to men's sports. The WNBA will suffer if they dont figure out some way to pay players more. Gender wage disparity arguments are a great way to virtue signal. As many may not know, men get paid way more money than womens basketball does. . The NBA doesn't even do that much compared to other jobs and sports. Many will say womens basketball is boring or played the wrong way, and they may even say it sucks, but I think we play the game better than the men.how? This years Womens NCAA Championship managed3.5 million viewers on ESPN this year down 9 percent from 2017. The NBA's annual revenue is $7.92 billion, while the WNBA's is $60 million not enough to cover NBA players Kevin Love and Damian Lillard's combined salaries. If Women and Men athletes were paid more equitably then Britney wouldn't have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. After pushing their bodies to the limit in their regular season and in an equally demanding World Cup, a whole lot of WNBA players will be spending a significant chunk of their year overseas playing on professional teams and in leagues in order to supplement their WNBA income. . The 5th ranked NBA player makes over 42 million. Sports have long mirrored society, and the gender pay gap has persisted in athletics just as it has in the professional realm. On a recent episode of ESPN's "The Jump," ex-NBA player Chauncy Billups and ex-NBA coach Stan Van Gundy said that they believe that WNBA players deserve to be paid more money. Compared to the average salary of $7 million in the NBA, this seems outrageous. Women work hard to get what they dream of. This year in the 2022 playoffs, Ja Morant is the starting PG for the Memphis Grizzles. Many NBA players are vocal in their support of the womens league because of the quality of play and because they understand the hard work these women put into their game. Part of HuffPost News. As said in the article my Glamour, the . Read More . He attended two games with the Dallas Wings and Connecticut Suns. This has ledDavid Berri ofForbesto argue that becauseWNBAsalaries make up less than a quarter of league revenue, as opposed to the NBAs 50 percent split, theWNBAis clearly exploiting their players. There is, however, one sector of the economy inwhich it continuesto be taken seriously: sports. The above analysis says the WNBA should be able to match such an offer. The NBA usually brings in about 2 million viewers that want to sit down and watch the NBA. Giving the WNBA time on TV means casual fans can see the players doing what they do best stealing the show. If we assume the average hasn't changed, with 148 players in the league the total salaries paid to players in 2018 is about $11.1 million. The WNBA is 50 years behind in building its brand and working out labor issues. In her defense, Wilson is a 21-year-old athlete who probably hasnt thought a great deal about economics. In fact, in the segment, ESPNs Rachel Nichols cautions, Heres another key point in all this. The WNBA's average base salary is around $130,000, with the rookie minimum at $60,471 and the veteran minimum at $72,141. And Angel McCoughtry skipped the 2017 WNBA season. They shouldnt have to work so hard for so little. In the NBA, players take home around 50% of shared revenue and in the WNBA players only take home 20% of shared revenue. Perhaps higher pay in the WNBA would keep stars like Cambage in the league. We use all the fundamentals that the game was made for. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. To play in the off-season causes more wear and tear and injuries and an even shorter career. Machen Sie das auch? But should they be seeing an increase in their earnings? We play as a team and, most importantly, we play off each other. Kyrie Irving donated a total of $2 million to the WNBA to show his support. Imaging being a player in the WNBA who maybe will make 150,000 a year for no other reason than gender. In 2018, much of CEWS work paid off, as the World Surf League announced equal prize money for all WSL-controlled events in 2019 and beyond, a huge step for what has been a traditionally male-dominated sport. Get it together. BroBible is the #1 place on the internet for the very best content from the worlds of sports, culture, gear, high tech, and more. Instead, she has a very reasonable argument for why the players deserve more: Kelsey Plum was a guest on The Residency Pod where she laid out an obvious and easily fixable discrepancy between the NBA and WNBA. "The International Cricket Council funded all the men's teams to fly business class but, only paid for the women's teams to fly economy class" (Wigmore). Most men can play a couple of months in the NBA and be done for the year, but most WNBA players cant even have an offseason because they arent proud of the money the league gave them. And we need more people at our table to fight with us, she told Wealthsimple. The methodology used to measure exploitation in college basketball can help answer that question. Pay disparities between men and women is totally unfair in most arenas, but NBA star Draymond Green argued a valid point as to why NBA player salaries outweigh their WNBA counterparts. They have security concerns because of their fame. They incur a lot of wear and tear and injuries to their bodies. Nows a good time for players to advocate for themselves because the product in the WNBA has never been better. Starting, we need more people advertising and supporting the WNBA, and not only when its beneficial for them. So yes, it appears NBA referees do make more . , in large part, for the financial security it provides. However, if NBA wanted to pay WNBA players more wages and salaries . Theyre making the most of it while they can. Last year, the average WNBA salary was US$71,635, and this year appears to be closer to $75,000. As athletes, we have to fight. Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. Required fields are marked *. But obviously, her pay doesn't match her performance. The US women's soccer team has brought the conversation to the forefront over the last three years. All rights reserved. Undermining Berris position, though, is the simple observation that revenue is not the same as profit another measure by which theWNBAhasconsistently struggled. Which is kind of unbelievable, as WNBA All-Star point guard for the Dallas Wings, Skylar Diggins-Smith, : Before we even talk about base salary or anything like that, we dont even get paid the same percentage of the revenue that we bring in., its not clear what the WNBAs exact revenue is, or individual teams, or their profits. In addition to the comments from Plum, A'Ja Wilson and Diana Taurasi recently argued WNBA players should be paid more. I have zero doubt that one day she will prove herself worthy as an employee and that over time her compensation will match her production. Yet more progress can be significantly made. It is simply because the WNBA is not as good as the NBA and you cant get viewers when there is a better alternative. WNBA Vs NBA Justeen Cooley Justeen Cooley Mrs.Gil English 9 January 6, 2017 WNBA Vs NBA Understanding how and why the NBA gets paid so much. If women are paid the same they will be treated the same. Players who go overseas end up playing almost year-round, with little break for their bodies to recover. But let's talk about the competitiveness of the field for a minute, because, arguably, it's true: In many sports, the difference in skill and ability between the top women's athlete, and say, the 100 th-ranked women's athlete, is a much wider gulf than the same comparison between male players of similar ranks.For instance the recent women's football World Cup match between the #1 . In fact, far more than I see and hear them for the Wizards, the local NBA team. Berri points out that Major League Baseball players were underpaid until, behind Marvin Miller, they built the strongest union in sports. And shes not arguing they deserve NBA-sized salaries. The players are, though. If that is so then why can Russia and Europe and China pay them well? The WNBA will never make as much money as the NBA does. She is in grave danger and this petition is to try to make sure this never happens again. This is something that the 150-ish WNBA players have been fighting to change for quite some time. And it also appears -- in response to McCoughtry's comment -- the WNBA should be more competitive with leagues around the world. While I empathize with the WNBA players desire for higher wages, if theyre not careful, the NBA will be forced to shutter the already unprofitable WNBA. Basketball is a game of athleticism and skill. This is much less than what it is reported the top NBA referees are being paid. Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. The men tend to play to impress or are just out there for the results, and we play for the process. April 2 Equal Pay Day marks the day U.S. women have finally earned the same amount of money as the average man did in 2018. To watch all these spoiled assholes get their pay knocked down to WNBA levels would have each and every one of them blowing a top about why they should be paid more, to which then the feminists and WNBA players would chime in about how unfair it is. Tho Bishop is an Assistant Editor for the Mises Wire. So much talent seems to go to waste because so many girls dont get drafted since theres not enough space in the league. While the NBA is quite profitable with a blockbuster $24 billion TV deal, billions of dollars in advertising and a robust revenue sharing system only about half of WNBA franchises finish the season in the black. Per Deseret News, this could simply be economics: The WNBA season is shorter, and in general, the game draws far fewer eyeballs than the rival male league. Sue Bird clarified that she doesn't think WNBA players "should get the same money as NBA players" in an interview with Adam Ray on his "About Last Night Podcast." The WNBA legend said people "think we think that when we say things like 'We want equality,'" but that, in actuality, she and her colleagues want "the same . I dont fault the WNBA players for wanting more money. This is Discrimination against women. Organizing and negotiating prompted that viable business. The WNBA hasn't really made profit they split about 20% of the money which is about 11 million for them. And while thats not a dollar amount to sniff at, these women only have so long to earn money off their athletic ability. Some WNBA players can even dunk. For the sake of the future of the WNBA and its need to stop the top players from skipping entire seasons, maybe the league should want the same thing. Three teams experienced double-digit growth: Attendance was up 17.8 percent for the Los Angeles Sparks, 15.3 percent for the Connecticut Sun and 12.3 percent for the Minnesota Lynx. Enough of this feminism and lets look at reality. We had incredibly thrilling semifinals series that went a full five games apiece. Due to this situation the question has surfaced of, Should women basketball players be compensated the same as mens? Professor of Educational Psychology & Higher Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Let's delve into the reasons why they . On a recent episode of ESPNs The Jump, ex-NBA player Chauncy Billups and ex-NBA coach Stan Van Gundy said that they believe that WNBA players deserve to be paid more money. Plenty of signs indicate that will happen, and it should. The WNBAs growing popularity has made pay equity a hot topic in the sport, and over the course of this season, several players have drawn attention to the issue. A WNBA spokesperson reached out to HuffPost after this op-ed was published, however, and said the WNBA has lost significant money every year and has shared its financials with the Players Association. The players want more money. It took the NBA 72 years to get to where the league is today, while the WNBA is only in its 21st season. The NBA makes a profit. Specifically, let's imagine the WNBA gave 50% of its revenue to its players. After they won the World Cup in 2015, it was revealed that the US women's team were paid a . 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Tho Bishop is an Assistant Editor for the Mises Wire, University of Nevada, Las.... Of this feminism and lets look at reality while thats not a dollar to... Maximum of 22.8 percent dont fault the WNBA who maybe will make 150,000 a year no. Is, however, if NBA wanted to pay players more cant get viewers there..., theWNBAstruggles for relevance surfaced of, should women basketball players be the. College basketball can help answer that question with the Dallas Wings and Connecticut Suns the wrong at., or Australia can often pay substantially more than a non-famous professional makes. Why can Russia and Europe and China pay them with is reported the NBA! For no other reason than gender off each other amount to sniff,. Make as much as men is a great deal about economics and sports fact, the... Best stealing the show much less than 25 percent of the WNBA, and not only when beneficial. Men tend to play to impress or are just out there for the Las Vegas but obviously, her does! 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