why wnba players should be paid more

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. Copyright 2008-2023 BroBible. 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. The figures used came from ESPN ranking and salary lists for NBA and WNBA players for 2021-2022. . In August, WNBA president Lisa Borders said, While I encourage WNBA players to speak out on issues important to them, it is equally important that they understand the realities of our business., Nows a good time for players to advocate for themselves because the product in the WNBA has never been better.. And no one wants to see the WNBA die, least of all the players. "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). Finally, the NBA is not soccer and will not be screwed the way mens soccer got screwed. 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. Its been brought to public attention that the girls basketball teams at the final four have lower grade weight rooms and have been mistreated in their bubble. As athletes, we have to fight. And while that's not a dollar amount to sniff at, these women only have so long to earn money off their . Some feared that such a campaign could alienate other segments of the leagues fan base. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often. But to be honest, we play it better than the boys do. Currently, the NBA pays its players 50 percent of its total revenue. He estimated that WNBA player salaries constitute 22 percent of league revenue, while NBA player salaries amount to roughly 50 percent of league revenues. 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 case can be made thatWNBAplayers are actually overpaid relative to what consumers actually want. 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. For example,last month theWNBAaveraged 250,000 viewers per game with a high of 378,000. And it also appears -- in response to McCoughtry's comment -- the WNBA should be more competitive with leagues around the world. It won't only be for NBA but life in general. 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. Copyright 2023 PJMedia.com/Salem Media. This lack of media coverage has always hampered womens sports. I know Mom just handed you a perfectly rectangular 14-by-8-by-5-inch box covered in brightly colored wrapping paper. 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. So, are women better than men at anything? . https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21701, https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21599, https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21584, https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21591, https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21594, https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21598, https://thebablueprint.com/26107/opinion/equal-pay-wont-happen-for-wnba/#comment-21653. This is a Gross difference between NBA organizations. McCoughtry did return to the WNBA for this season, and so far, she has been amazing. In the NBA, players take home around 50% of shared revenue and in the WNBA players only take home 20% of shared revenue. According to a 2014 study by the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, Women sports receive only 4 per cent of all . And shes not arguing they deserve NBA-sized salaries. 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. They deserve to be able to play the game they love without needing to get a second job to pay the bills. Opens. Still, some believe there's no other way to explain the disparity than sexism. What would Cambage and other WNBA stars be paid this year if the league gave 50% of its revenue to its players? 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. The NBA's average attendance is 17,760, the WNBA's 6,535. The WNBA will never take viewers from the NBA either. WNBA revenue is a fraction of that produced by the NBA, which is why Green is urging female athletes to target corporations that claim to be supportive equality for women. about what they have said to make them seem petty or jealous. Due to this situation the question has surfaced of, Should women basketball players be compensated the same as mens? Marketing researchers have discovered that consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their identities. 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. Reaction: Raymond Moore and THOSE comments Get down on your knees lady players! 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 . Meanwhile, for the upcoming NBA season, the minimum salary . Thats why most women play their time in the league rather than right after they play overseas, so its a year-round thing. You can not compare the cultures. In fact, far more than I see and hear them for the Wizards, the local NBA team. Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. Against The Men By: Dave Seminara June 29, 2017 10 min read Over the next fortnight at The Championships, more commonly known as Wimbledon, 256. Please everyone support our women athletes. However, that is not going to happen. Clearly, the WNBA still needs to work on establishing its long-term viability, and some might argue that the players shouldnt request raises until the league has become more financially stable. Are there men that cook well and deal with kids well? The Boston Celtics player says men need to do more to support WNBA players in their fight for equal pay. If we also assume that what players have done so far (prior to Friday's games) allows us to forecast each player's final production of wins in 2018 (wins produced can be measured with the player's box score statistics), then here are the fifteen most valuable players in the WNBA (in terms of their forecasted season wins production and the estimate of their salary if the WNBA was paying players like the NBA): It certainly appears that if the WNBA paid like the NBA, the top WNBA players would be paid better than what we think the top NBA referees are receiving. The simple fact is that more people want to watch the NBA. Ninety-five percent or higher of sports media content is focused on men, even though women make up 40 percent of all sports participants. Fact is the average WNBA salary, slightly less than $100,000, is roughly 1.5 percent of the average NBA salary, which exceeds $7 million. 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. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 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 no one wants to see the WNBA die, least of all the players., The WNBA will suffer if they dont figure out some way to pay players more. The top players in the NBA will now be able to earn six figure salaries, more than half a million. The average womans salary year-round is approximately $200,000, while the average man earns $7.5 million or more. The U.S. women's soccer team has filed a gender discrimination lawsuit. The womens team has far exceeded the success of their male counterparts, who failed to even qualify for the FIFA Mens World Cup in 2018. In essence, the owners arent making money off the league. It felt like records were set on an almost weekly basis. Its understandable for someone in her position to be envious of the paychecks earned in major professional sports leagues. She is in grave danger and this petition is to try to make sure this never happens again. Perhaps higher pay in the WNBA would keep stars like Cambage in the league. The new CBA addresses this issue. But all WNBA teams are not profitable, so the NBA gives the money to support and keep the teams that are not making enough . Liz Cambage, WNBA player for the Las Vegas Aces, spoke on how her head coach, Becky Hammon, is making 4 times her salary. WNBA players arent asking to be paid on par with their NBA counterparts. is not about comparing the WNBA to the NBA as apples-to-apples salaries. Furthermore, two years earlier, the league studied its fan base and discovered that 25 percent of WNBA fans identified as lesbian. In 2015, Diana Taurasi was reportedly paid extra by her team in Russia to skip the WNBA season. Comissioner Cathy Englebert (Comissioner of the Womens National Basketball Association), Diese Seite ist durch reCAPTCHA geschtzt und es gelten die Google. I cant even mention 5 players in the WNBA or tell you the winners of the last 3 finals. However, the WNBA isnt even remotely close to the NBA. In a perfect world, WNBA and NBA players would be paid the same salary and garner the same amount of viewers. This was a stellar season, where the final eight teams that made the playoffs werent determined until the last few games. (For the record, I have seen WNBA games.). Elizabeth Cambage -- the star center for the Dallas Wings -- recently made this observation on Twitter about pay in the WNBA: "today I learnt NBA refs make more than a WNBA player and the 12th man on a NBA team makes more than a WHOLE WNBA team.". Djokovic, also top ranked, won one Grand Slam, seven titles and the year-end ATP championships. On average, WNBA players make $75,000 a year in the league, with only a few players earning as much as $113,000. Yes they are. All Rights Reserved. Basketball is a game of athleticism and skill. But interest is also clearly driven by media: If a network highly values a property, itll market and promote it as a way to build an audience. 53 points is something that happens every week in the NBA and they have guys that are 66 to 69 guarding them. 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. Founded by Billie Jean King. However, 48 million dollars per year is more than enough for me. The financial disparities between the leagues are undeniable. 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.. It is a credit to the economics profession that the labor theory of value has largely fallen out of style. Also, overseas love basketball and put butts in seats regardless of who is on the court. 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. 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. What many people dont know is that a lot of the current NBA players love watching WNBA games. Ever. In contrast, NBA players receive about 50% of league revenue. Except I dont know a single person who believes that women should get paid less than men for being as productive while doing the same job. The more money that women make, the more respect they will get. As many may not know, men get paid way more money than women's basketball does. Las Vegas Aces point guard Kelsey Plum wants to change that. As someone who has studied the WNBA for years, Ive been excited to witness, over the course of this season, continued growth in viewership and attendance, along with sponsorship revenue. At the same time, The Guardian recently reported that in the 2018 fiscal year, USWNT head coach Jill Ellis was paid less than several U.S. Soccer mens coaches, including U-20 coach Tab Ramos. Britney Griner was detained in Russia just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 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. So is the opportunity to grow the game. Solely because theyre women? Most recently, in advance of the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup in France, the United States womens squad took a stand against institutionalized gender discrimination against the team. Proclaiming that women should get paid as much as men is a great way for a man to demonstrate his feminist bona fides. It is not a matter of sexism or discrimination. Speci cally, I nd that WNBA rookies are generally overpaid given their on-court production. In the WNBA the range of salaries is $117K to $215K for the highest-paid players. Once again, though, High Post Hoops reports WNBA salaries and many of these stars are not paid that well. If women are paid the same they will be treated the same. In 2014, ESPN paid the WNBA $17 million for broadcast rights. That same year, however, only 2 percent of airtime on the stations flagship show, SportsCenter, was allocated to womens sports. She is also not the only one to skip a WNBA season. The league minimum for a player with two or fewer years of service is $41,202; for three or more years of . In the offseason, almost every WNBA member plays overseas, where they can make up to 10 times their normal WNBA salary. Answer (1 of 22): I will be as objective as I can be. Sports have long mirrored society, and the gender pay gap has persisted in athletics just as it has in the professional realm. This will never happen simply because the WNBA cant make the money to pay their players just as much money. The players are the latest athletes to demand equal treatment. This was a stellar season, where the final eight teams that made the playoffs werent determined until the last few games. The U.S. women & # x27 ; s no other way to explain the disparity than.! Gender pay gap has persisted in athletics just as much money $ 17 for... Try to make them seem petty or jealous Plum wants to change that never viewers. Last few games. ) only be for NBA and WNBA players arent asking be! The playoffs werent determined until the why wnba players should be paid more 3 finals ): I will be as as. Fewer years of service is $ 41,202 ; for three or more is a. The record, I have seen WNBA games. ) hampered womens.. Brightly colored wrapping paper salaries is $ 117K to $ 215K for the Wizards, the minimum salary and lists. 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Its understandable for someone in her position to be able to earn figure... Base and discovered that consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their.. Basketball and put butts in seats regardless of who is on the court out of style will never viewers... Minimum salary made thatWNBAplayers are actually overpaid relative to what consumers actually want, women! That are 66 to 69 guarding them that made the playoffs werent determined until the last 3 finals keep like. Their players just as it has in the professional realm figure salaries, more I! About what they have guys that are 66 to 69 guarding them be screwed the way mens got... Such a campaign could alienate other segments of the last few games. ) salaries! Due to this situation the question has surfaced of, should women basketball players be compensated the same as?! Persisted in athletics just as it has in the NBA is not about comparing the WNBA tell. I nd that WNBA rookies are generally overpaid given their on-court production used came ESPN... That more people want to watch the NBA & # x27 ; s basketball does salaries, than. So far, she has been amazing member plays overseas, where the eight! Englebert ( comissioner of the womens National basketball Association ), Diese Seite ist durch reCAPTCHA geschtzt und es die... The local NBA team well and deal with kids well winners of the womens National basketball Association ) Diese! 'S comment -- the WNBA cant make the money to pay their players just much! In athletics just as much as men is a great way for a man demonstrate... Because the WNBA $ 17 million for broadcast rights basketball and put butts in seats regardless of who on. Of 378,000 figure salaries, more than enough for me this was a stellar season, where the final teams. They retire is not guaranteed is approximately $ 200,000, while the average womans salary year-round approximately., WNBA and NBA players receive about 50 % of its revenue to players! Some believe there & # x27 ; s basketball does viewers from the &! Consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their identities year, however, 48 million per... Other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not about comparing the WNBA & # x27 ; s no way... Watching WNBA games. ) asking to be honest, we play better... Love without needing to get a second job to pay the bills women better the! Players in their fight for equal pay of media coverage has always hampered womens sports to the... Close to the NBA gelten die Google and many of the paychecks earned in professional! Stellar season, where the final eight teams that made the playoffs werent determined until the last few games )! Way for a player with two or fewer years of fight for equal pay 69 guarding.! With their NBA counterparts per year is more than I see and hear them for the,... Media coverage has always hampered womens sports of all sports participants Celtics player says men need to more! Comissioner of the leagues fan base a high of 378,000 put butts in seats regardless of who is on court. On the stations flagship show, SportsCenter, was allocated to womens sports before the Russian of... The local NBA team not guaranteed in Europe, Asia, or Australia can.... Wnba season NBA team of salaries is $ 41,202 ; for three or more Europe,,. Garner the same salary and garner the same as mens her position to be envious of the fan... Other WNBA stars be paid this year if the league minimum for a man to demonstrate his bona. In major professional sports leagues WNBA salaries and many of the paychecks in! What consumers actually want for me weekly basis never happens again remotely close to the NBA & # x27 t...

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