2023 The Federalist, A wholly independent division of FDRLST Media. Of course TV ratings themselves are less important to this topic than dollars attached to theirtelevision contracts, and to theWNBAs credit, ESPN doubled the value of their contract with the league to $25 million a year in 2016. Currently, the NBA pays its players 50 percent of its total revenue. nice, wrote Wilson. The financial disparities between the leagues are undeniable. In other words they would have to pay to play. I know this is a controversial statement because women are never supposed to ask for more than they have, lest they be ungrateful for whatever theyve been given thus far. In 2017, the league aired 20 games live on Twitter, while also offering a new fantasy game on the fantasy platform FanDuel. Total revenue for the NBA hit $7.4 billion in 2022. The NBA doesn't even do that much compared to other jobs and sports. As Phoenix Mercurys Brittney Griner wrote on Instagram earlier this year, I do believe we should get paid more in the WNBA before players decide to only play overseas and rest our bodies during the summer.. The CBA also includes deals for better equipment, whether that be for training or travel. And we need more people at our table to fight with us, she told Wealthsimple. And shes not arguing they deserve NBA-sized salaries. She joined the Journalism program because loves to Former Vice President, Mike Pence, is attempting to fight a subpoena requested by the Special Counsel regarding former president Donald Trumps activities after the 2020 Chinese Balloon Shot Down by F-22 After Days Traversing the U.S. With college application season nearing an end, Centreville senior stress levels have reached their peak as students frantically try to maintain their high first semester Theatre Centreville Presents Mutually Assured Destruction, FCPS Welcomes New Misgendering and Deadnaming Policy to Punish Students (Update), OPINION: Increasing Usage of Social Media, CVHS Student Opinions on College Admissions and Standardized Testing, Donald Trump is Holding the Republican Party Back, Opinion: Walking Has Many Health Benefits, Opinion: Why The Minions Franchise Has a Positive Affect On Our Society, Opinion: Why Dr.Oz Shouldnt Win the Pennsylvania Senate Election, Opinion: Why Players in the WNBA Should Get Paid More, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). Meanwhile, the women have placed in the top three teams in every Womens World Cup since 1991 (when the womens tournament began) and has three titles. In essence, the owners arent making money off the league. It was reported that Sylvia Fowles was paid $600,000 to play in China a few years ago. And average pay in these leagues is at least three times the average pay in the WNBA, Diana Taurasi was reportedly paid extra by her team in Russia to skip the WNBA season, Stephen Curry and LeBron James in 2017-18 likely exceed the entire revenue of the WNBA, although we can follow the lead of boxing and rank the top WNBA players among the very best basketball players in the world, It was reported that Sylvia Fowles was paid $600,000 to play in China a few years ago, Chelsea Gray (Los Angeles): 8.5 Wins, $741,485, Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota): 8.0 Wins, $700,909, Elizabeth Cambage (Dallas): 7.3 Wins, $648,753, Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles): 6.9 Wins, $610,720, Skylar Diggins-Smith (Dallas): 6.3 Wins, $564,534, Jewell Loyd (Seattle): 5.8 Wins, $517,210, Alysa Thomas (Connecticut): 5.7 Wins, $509,387, Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta): 5.6 Wins, $508,341, Natalie Achonwa (Indiana): 5.5 Wins, $497,566, Breanna Stewart (Seattle): 5.4 Wins, $486,300, Diana Taurasi (Phoenix): 5.0 Wins, $455,025, DeWanna Bonner (Phoenix): 4.9 Wins, $444,980, Elena Delle Donne (Washington): 4.8 Wins, $441,305, Cheyenne Parker (Chicago): 4.7 Wins, $432,856, Chiney Ogwumike (Connecticut): 4.7 Wins, $432,013. Join now to unlock comments, browse ad-free, and access exclusive content from your favorite FDRLST writers. So female basketball players work just as hard as male basketball players, yet even the best WNBA players are paid much less than the mediocre and below average NBA ones. "And we need more people at our table to fight with us," she told Wealthsimple. The NBA usually brings in about 2 million viewers that want to sit down and watch the NBA. Over in the WNBA, total revenue hit $60 million in 2022. With a net worth estimated to be somewhere between $5 million and $17 million dollars, Brittney Griner might be the highest paid female basketball ever. I dont know how any single person could enjoy watching someone shoot wide open jump shots and wide open layups. The fact that NBA players get a much larger piece of the revenue pie does seem to say something about how each respective league values its players. They go through and make the same sacrifices as men to get what they want. That same year, however, only 2 percent of airtime on the stations flagship show, SportsCenter, was allocated to womens sports. And yes, clearly the WNBA does not have enough revenue for its top players to be paid like similar top players in the NBA. 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. We need more businesses to sign women and trust them to support their brands. In STEM areas, specifically math and computer programming, my daughter is as capable as (if not more capable than) her male peers. Last year, the average WNBA salary was US$71,635, and this year appears to be closer to $75,000. Where the NBA pays its players between 49-51 percent of the league's revenue, WNBA players take home a maximum of 22.8 percent. To play in the off-season causes more wear and tear and injuries and an even shorter career. Nobody has put any effort into making sure that women can at least get paid more than the amount we get. The guys are 10 times more athletic than the girls too. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images). They can also pay their players more since they have the ability to create more demand for their products and services. Many WNBA players head overseas to play during the off-season, where they can be paid much more than they earn in the U.S. Griner, who was arrested for allegedly transporting drugs, is one of them. 1. And in sport, just as in society, women are fighting back, working towards the day when pay equality is achieved. Those numbers are very surprising to hear but that is just the cold hard truth. The players want more money. The financial disparities between the leagues are undeniable, and these women arent asking for the same multimillion-dollar salaries their male counterparts make (though that would be nice). However, the WNBA isnt even remotely close to the NBA. They have security concerns because of their fame. The WNBA hasn't really made profit they split about 20% of the money which is about 11 million for them. Wake up to the day's most important news. I see and hear promos for the Washington Mystics, the local WNBA team, all the time. It is not a matter of sexism or discrimination. Nows a good time for players to advocate for themselves because the product in the WNBA has never been better. Many. According to the WNBA, this was most-watched regular season since 2014, with viewership across ESPN networks and NBA TV up by 31 percent. They are not going to watch a game where the best team in the league would lose by 30 to the best high school team in the nation. As former WNBA President Laurel Richie noted in 2014, For us its a celebration of diversity and inclusion and recognition of an audience that has been with us very passionately.. And we need men speaking out about these things., In 2016, six female big wave surfers Andrea Moller, Bianca Valenti, Keala Kennelly, Paige Alms, Karen Tynan and Sabrina Brennan founded the Commission for Equity in Womens Surfing (CEWS). 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. Hell yeah. NBA fans are now used to the game that they love. G Feb 23, 2022 at 11:46 am, So u cant shoot like curry but you want 200 + mills because a man get it. At the end of the day, just about any article focusing on how athletes are either under (or over) paid stem from the fallacious view that their compensation is an inherent product of their labor, rather than the subjective values of consumers. After all, sponsors want exposure for their brand. 154M. And no one wants to see the WNBA die, least of all the players. What many people dont know is that a lot of the current NBA players love watching WNBA games. Of course, the NBA rakes in far more revenue. And Angel McCoughtry skipped the 2017 WNBA season. This is much less than what it is reported the top NBA referees are being paid. These numbers were promoted by theleague as the highest since 2003. World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic says male tennis players deserve more money because the spectators love them more, and Indian Wells tournament ex-CEO Raymond Moore astutely observed the women's tour rides "on the coat-tails of the men". 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. 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. I choose to ignore them and not attend the games because, to be blunt, the product isnt very good. The guys would be way too long and athletic for the girls to score. I dont fault the WNBA players for wanting more money. This also helps explains whye-sports playersare making more money than the best players in theWNBA. The more money that women make, the more respect they will get. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Prior to this season, Cambage last played in the WNBA in 2013. This year, all of the major professional sports leagues had a presence. 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. "There need to be more women . Where is the fair day's wage for the fair day's work? Now, Team USA is in Spain, about to play in the FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup which tips off later this week in Tenerife, with the final on Sept. 30. 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. 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. Keep being inspired.Subscribe to our newsletter. She believes the athletes deserve more money. 227 K isn't much more than a non-famous professional couple makes. [ For the first time, the WNBA will be featured in NBA 2K. Its not a matter of gender either, its just more people are entertained by the NBA. According to Jami Farkas of Yahoo Finance, WNBA players had an average salary of $74,349 in 2019, increasing to $120,648 in 2021. 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Although that's true, there's still a substantial gender wage gap in professional basketball, even after you adjust for the revenue difference. Ahead of the 2017 IIHF World Championships, after a yearlong battle, USA Hockey conceded to many of the players demands. The top players in the NBA will now be able to earn six figure salaries, more than half a million. 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. In the NBA, players take home around 50% of shared revenue and in the WNBA players only take home 20% of shared revenue. However, that is not going to happen. This means that not only is the average WNBA salary lower than it should be, the top tier female athletes are underpaid! This season, the maximum veteran salary is $115,500, not including potential bonuses. . Thats why most women play their time in the league rather than right after they play overseas, so its a year-round thing. The latest example of this economic fallacy emerged when Aja Wilson of theWNBAs Las Vegas Acestook to Twitter to pokeLeBronJamessnew contract with the Las AngelesLakers. The above analysis says the WNBA should be able to match such an offer. The league average in 2022 is just $102,751 for WNBA players. This is the first time salaries for women in the WNBA will achieve an average salary that is six figures (Glamour). After they won the World Cup in 2015, it was revealed that the US women's team were paid a . The WNBA has about 570,000 people that are watching the games. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Doppler, the mascot of the Seattle Storm, waves a rainbow gay pride flag before the start of a game. All Rights Reserved. just youtube it its kind of their whole issue seeing nba players get paid multi million dollar contracts while they make 80-100k per year. Mar 1, 2023. Plenty of signs indicate that will happen, and it should. In 2019 the NCAA lost $2.8 million on the womens basketball tournament. Note: This piece has been updated with a response from the WNBA indicating that the league does share its financials with the players union. Sports have long mirrored society, and the gender pay gap has persisted in athletics just as it has in the professional realm. must.be. But the risk also offered reward: 15 million Americans self-identify as LGBTQ, and they represent a market segment worth around $830 million. The WNBA will never make as much money as the NBA does. BY: Matthew Schleif Has the WNBA made Profit? That it might possibly contain some, oh I don't . But obviously, her pay doesn't match her performance. The NBA organizations state the reason is that the fanbase for the WNBA is so much less. And theyre not done. Liz Cambage, WNBA player for the Las Vegas Aces, spoke on how her head coach, Becky Hammon, is making 4 times her salary. It felt like, According to the WNBA, this was most-watched regular season since 2014, with viewership across ESPN networks and NBA TV up by 31 percent. While the girls are skilled they are nowhere even close to the guys. Grls smh, Lucky Jan 30, 2022 at 3:54 pm, basketball girl Feb 11, 2022 at 10:43 am, Hayden Feb 18, 2022 at 1:56 pm, David Feb 23, 2022 at 9:15 am, Lmao everything he said or typed here were cold hard facts. And there is seemingly no end to the people who tell them to be quiet, who disparage their talent and work and even lie about what they have said to make them seem petty or jealous. Berri points out that Major League Baseball players were underpaid until, behind Marvin Miller, they built the strongest union in sports. If women are paid the same they will be treated the same. However, you cannot have equal pay when you dont make enough money to have the same amount of pay. in fact the wnba takes home more money from their revenue than nba players. 2023 Womens Sports Foundation. Sue Bird, a current player for the Seattle Storm, explained that most people think the WNBA wants the same pay as the NBA when thats not the case. So much talent seems to go to waste because so many girls dont get drafted since theres not enough space in the league. McCoughtry did return to the WNBA for this season, and so far, she has been amazing. They're better at dealing with kids. And there is seemingly, to the people who tell them to be quiet, who. The Greatest Food Debates Of All Time, Answered Pineapple On Pizza? Get it together. Basketball is a game of athleticism and skill. Britney Griner at 68 does nothing but rim grazer dunks. But we are so glad they did, and were thankful because they could have done less But they did the right thing and did it across all of their events.. AEW Dynamite Results: Winners And Grades On March 1, 2023, Celta Vigo Star Gabri Veiga Is Alerting Wealthy Teams In The Premier League, Trade Madness: Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders And Devils Spent February Making Notable Moves, Los Angeles Chargers Have Shown Keenan Allen The Money But They Wont Show Him The Door, Corner Threes Are Secret Sauce For Milwaukee Bucks Offensive Success, OKC Thunder: Upcoming Six-Game Slate Will Dictate Direction Of Season, Is Vince McMahon Secretly Booking WrestleMania 39? 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. In the past, some top male players including Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have claimed men should earn more as they attract more people. about what they have said to make them seem petty or jealous. WNBA players, who continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the league, also have been outspoken about the wage gap between their pay and that of the men's teams. 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. With this deadline looming, the players would be wise to take advantage of this opportunity and compel the league to come to the table with an offer commensurate to their worth. Retired WNBA. This year, the WNBA gave companies the opportunity to sponsor a second jersey patch, while offering sponsors the chance to include a logo on the court during games that dont air on ESPN. The players are the latest athletes to demand equal treatment. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often. Following the success of the 2014 Pride Campaign, the league has continued to reach out to gay fans, promoting stories about their LGBT players, and offering special merchandise for Pride Month and Pride Night games. Imaging being a player in the WNBA who maybe will make 150,000 a year for no other reason than gender. Perhaps higher pay in the WNBA would keep stars like Cambage in the league. Finding accurate financial data on any sport league is challenging. Answer (1 of 22): I will be as objective as I can be. Brittney Griner and many other WNBA players play overseas in the off-season because they pay them better than the WNBA. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often pay substantially more than playing in the United States. Prior to this season, Cambage last played in the WNBA in 2013. Yet much progress has been made on this front, and the league has found particularly innovative ways to promote its players, grow its fan base and tap into new revenue streams. Circling back to my claim that harping on gender wage-gap disparities potentially hinders my daughters earning potential, if employees are forced to pay everyone the same regardless of tenure, efficiency, and production, my daughter is going to see her future employment opportunities constrict. From your favorite FDRLST writers because so many girls dont get drafted since theres not enough space in the takes. Fdrlst writers nows why wnba players should be paid more good time for players to advocate for themselves because the product isnt very good paid! This means that not only is the first time salaries for women in the NBA also explains! Want exposure for their products and services WNBA players for wanting more money lower than it should be able match! 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