why wnba players should not be paid more why wnba players should not be paid more

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. 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. Stay up to date with what you want to know. Successful sports build enough familiarity and loyalty that their followers spread, find one another and reach a critical mass that, like a chain reaction in a nuclear power plant, creates a new energy that feeds on itself over time. Do you really compare yourself to the NBA?' Which, again, Kelsey Plum isnt arguing for NBA salaries she just believes the league should pay out 50% of shared revenue the same as the NBA does. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement indicates the players must receive about 50% of the league's basketball-related income. "Have investments been equal? Bangladeshis are exceptionally active due to the countrys primary industries which require physical labour. From the point of view of the team owners, the measure of output that matters is the revenue the players generate. The squads face different adversaries, at different levels of competition, on different schedules, including World Cup cycles in different years. 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. For instance, NBA teams took in a total of $8.8 billion this year, according to Forbes. It took the NBA 72 years to get to where the league is today, while the WNBA is only in its 21st season. Sustained exposure has certainly been a boon to college softball, to which ESPN has held the rights for 40 years. In 1881, Freidrich Engels wrote an article for the Labour Standard titled A Fair Day's Wages for a Fair Day's Work. You still hear the phrase today. Over in the WNBA, total revenue hit $60 million in 2022. Meanwhile, listening to announcers talk about women's sports "was usually like hearing someone deliver a boring afterthought, with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.". The highest-paid players in the WNBA make less than 14 percent of that. 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. In July 2019, the WNBA hired Cathy Engelbert, former CEO of the consulting firm Deloitte -- and a basketball walk-on who became a captain under Muffet McGraw at Lehigh in the 1980s -- as commissioner. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The league average in 2022 is just $102,751 for WNBA players. Because these women deserve more money. "It's more merit-based, it will make us feel more professional and well-established, and kids are going to be able to see you can have a full-on career in the WNBA.". Meanwhile, over the same span, women's coach Jill Ellis, winner of back-to-back World Cups, earned $390,409.) Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. Im not going to call out some of the bad NBA players we got in commercials but yall know who they are.. The reason Griner is in Russia in the first place was because she plays for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League. The athletes did want a larger share of league revenues. There actually isn't any correct number, because income data isn't broken out anywhere for the Women's World Cup. Low investment and media coverage have led to limited viewership, rights deals and sponsorships, which leads to low pay, which hampers the development of new talent and initiatives, which leads to low investment and media coverage. * Mina Kimes talks with two-time World Cup and Olympic soccer champion Julie Foudy for a candid, inside look at the battle over fair pay for female players. Players who go overseas end up playing almost year-round, with little break for their bodies to recover. Theyre making the most of it while they can. (Including the very greatest: From 1997 to 2000, the Houston Comets won four straight WNBA championships with a core of Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson, all top-shelf Hall of Famers. Since the WNBA costs $70 million to run, it has technically lost an average of $10 million every year that it has existed which, as one lovely blogger puts it, the NBA subsidizes out of the goodness of its politically correct heart.. It's not about the amount of effort or the quantity of inputs. They could advertise the womens league better. When Carlos Cordeiro, then president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, began speaking in front of City Hall, shouts drowned him out: At that time, U.S. Soccer was already battling the women's national team in court, after all 28 members sued their national federation in March 2019 for "purposeful gender discrimination." FIFA's own audience reports, however, show the value of women's soccer already rising rapidly. These deals have been great for teams -- and for MLS; its expansion fee has rocketed to $325 million. But the incredible rise in living standards which we have seen since the Industrial Revolution has not been the result of working harder. Last year, the average WNBA salary was US$71,635, and this year appears to be closer to $75,000. She also said it would be a letdown of all the work the founders of the league put into it if the current players decided to forgo the league for increased earnings.. In the court of public opinion, however, something snapped after those March filings. 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. But how does this apply to basketball? The new CBA raises the WNBA salary cap by 30% and boosts maximum annual salaries from $117,500 to $215,000. But, in comparison, the highest-paid NBA star is Warriors guard Steph Curry, who will earn $48,070,014 this season. Finding accurate financial data on any sport league is challenging. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except for material where copyright is reserved by a party other than FEE. "As many rights for FIFA competitions are sold to commercial affiliates as a package, specific commercial revenues for the FIFA Women's World Cup cannot be distinguished from the overall revenue from FIFA competitions," FIFA said in a statement to ESPN. Currently, the NBA pays its players 50 percent of its total revenue. If WNBA players demand a higher salary that would match the NBA, the league could not afford it because the WNBA simply does not bring in the same amount of money as the NBA. Taylor remains the backup, but maybe for one just one more season, as this is the last . One might argue that male players produce more points. But they were just as concerned about the relentless everyday signals that ownership -- which is split 50-50 between team owners and the NBA -- was running the league on a shoestring. In 2015, the WNBA averaged 202,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN2. It felt like records were set on an almost weekly basis. "It's not just FIFA that needs to be clear about the revenue that it's making from the Women's World Cup," says Molly Levinson, spokesperson for the U.S. women's national team. Considering the widespread acceptance of something like Engels formula, to say that a hard days work doesnt guarantee a fair days pay is one of the more shocking things an economist can say in polite company. | by Yannick Ondoa | Medium Write Sign up Sign In 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. Not so, says Dave Berri, economics professor at Southern Utah University. Demanding that female players be paid what they deserve is not about comparing the WNBA to the NBA as apples-to-apples salaries. About 70 WNBA players went to compete overseas this offseason, the WNBA said Monday. Putting together all of the factors that affect league revenues -- investment, time and media -- it's apparent that most women's sports have struggled for years with what the Statista report calls a vicious cycle, which reverses the pattern that college softball has experienced. So did Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber. Reach them at sydneymiller@dailynebraskan.com. 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. The WNBA's current collective bargaining agreement won't expire until October 2021, with the maximum salary paid to WNBA veterans set to increase $8,000 - from $113,500 to $121,500 - by that. The WNBA is scheduled to play its 24th season this year. Marketing researchers have discovered that consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their identities. WNBA players have free agency, of course, so players can negotiate with more than one team. Finally, sports need media to reach their full potential. What many of the women are asking for is equity in revenue sharing, as economist David Berri has written about repeatedly at Forbes. And while thats not a dollar amount to sniff at, these women only have so long to earn money off their athletic ability. Griner is a starter for the Phoenix Mercury who averages 17.7 points per game and has won two gold medals with Team U.S.A. in the Olympics. It's when the number of people with them grows that the devices become valuable. Players will also be able to earn up to $250,000 apiece from a $1.6 million pool the league is dedicating to marketing agreements and will gain free agency after five years, down from six. They deserve to be able to play the game they love without needing to get a second job to pay the bills. And the highest paid players in the WNBA this season will earn an annual salary of $234,936, according to HerHoopStats. But in 2007, a furniture-store owner named Hilton Koch bought the club for $10 million, then couldn't pay its bills, and the team was disbanded the following year.) In 2023, veteran players who report late to their WNBA team's training camp because of overseas commitments will be fined one percent of their salary for each day missed and could be suspended. 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. According to Summit Hoops, Fowles was paid $109,000 for all she did in 2017. Can you guess in which season they rested Diana Taurasi and earned the league's No. The NBA commissioner complained publicly that the WNBA was losing more than $10 million a year, but that number said more about how the women's game was still small scale than about any significant damage to the bottom line of NBA teams. And that's led to more viewers (Women's College World Series ratings have increased by nearly 40% since 2000), more revenues (up 360% from 2003 to 2016) and, in turn, more broadcasts (more than 1,600 games, including all of the playoffs, were scheduled for this season before the pandemic struck). jsemu2 gba emulator. , WNBA players make $75,000 a year in the league, with only a few players earning as much as $113,000. ESPN, for instance, dedicated more than 16,000 hours across all its platforms and partners to the programming of women's sporting events last year, up from 7,500 in 2015 and just 1,500 in 2010. They're looking for better training and travel budgets. 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. Griners current yearly salary in the WNBA is $227,900, which is just about a fourth of what she made in Russia this winter, and there are only three players in the WNBA who make more than Griner by $194. The interview with Wealthsimple took place a month after Diggins-Smith told a Dallas Morning News writer it was appalling what WNBA players make compared to their male counterparts in the NBA. In an interview with comedian Adam Ray on his "About Last Night Podcast," the legendary Seattle Storm point guard and four-time WNBA champion explained her stance on equality in basketball. Stats show that in 2018, the top scoring team in the WNBA, the Connecticut Sun, averaged 87.6 points per game. Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Even compared with other fields traditionally dominated by men, it's far harder for women to break into the upper ranks of compensation in sports. Taurasi ranks third in the league with a $234,936 salary. And now central offices across the sports map are scrambling to catch up. The money isnt there. What if non-player. Sue Bird is one of the greatest players in WNBA history, but that doesn't mean she thinks she and her colleagues in the W should be paid the same as their male counterparts. To assess the new landscape and figure out just how it's changing, we talked with athletes and their advocates and opponents, and scoured academic research, court papers and financial documents across women's sports. 'Bet on me': Griner seems like old self in first interview since detainment, Serena announces she's pregnant with 2nd child, Healthy Delle Donne excited for Mystics' season, Griner: 1st practice 'everything I wanted it to be', Alcaraz, Swiatek cruise into Madrid round of 16, Hannah Green wins LPGA at Wilshire in a playoff, Halep questions long delay for doping hearing, Suns, Mercury cut cable, moving to new TV setup, How Hailey Van Lith's transfer impacts NCAA champion LSU. Fantasy women's basketball: Will the addition of Candace Parker shake up fantasy values on the Aces? Charles Barkley appeared on The Bird and Taurasi Show during the 2023 womens national title game on Sunday and didnt hold back his thoughts on what WNBA players go through in comparison to other sports leagues. Like, I didn't make the meme! Of course, compensation has always been a serious issue in the WNBA, which paid its players one-ninety-sixth the NBA's average salary at the time Jackson and Silver chatted. 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. Total attendance in the WNBAs 21st season was 1,574,078, with teams averaging 7,716 fans per game. "So we can build the business, and then when it's really good like the NBA is, then we can get that money," Bird said. 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. To grow the WNBA, he and the owners were prepared to, as he put it, "double down." 1 pick in the WNBA draft in 2012. After all, sponsors want exposure for their brand. A league requires seed money to grow. John Phelan is an economist at the Center of the American Experiment and fellow of The Cobden Centre. This season, Sylvia Fowles led the WNBA in field goal percentage, finished second in rebounding per game, tied for second in blocks per game and ranked fifth in points per game. That's the approach taken by Finnie Bevin Cook, an economist who compiled a report for the plaintiffs in the equal pay lawsuit. You ladies should be on commercials everywhere. "Their attendance is. Reward is not a function of inputs such as work or effort; it is a function of the outputs, the product. 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.. This season, Davis made $27.1 million. At the same time, there's very little downside if a player happens to go bust, because even top rookies earn only about $50,000 a year. 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. 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). I didn't make the meme. The ability to turn inputs into outputs is what economists call productivity. However, the players union has the option to terminate the agreement after the 2019 season if they give notice by Oct. 31 of this year. Most Bangladeshis earn a living through agriculture, primarily cultivating rice and jute but also maize and vegetables. 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. He estimated that WNBA player salaries constitute 22 percent of league revenue, while NBA player salaries amount to roughly 50 percent of league revenues. And there is seemingly, to the people who tell them to be quiet, who. More recently, men's soccer clubs have kept the gravy train rolling. Now, comparing the finances of the U.S women's and men's national soccer teams is complicated. 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. So Barbosa will be paid nearly five times what the WNBA MVP earned, and Barbosa wont even play for the Suns. Im the highest paid player on the Dallas Wings, and my salary is in the low six figures. Sue Bird is one of the greatest players in WNBA history, but that doesn't mean she thinks she and her colleagues in the W should be paid the same as their male counterparts. Under side-by-side photos of Bird and James, the photo compared the ballers' seasons in their respective leagues, number of championships, annual salary, and bonus for winning the Finals. player with most turnovers in nfl. wells city council election results 2022. ford city mall shooting today. As one writer explained. On the other hand, sports news and highlight segments have historically focused overwhelmingly on men. Yet nobody is suggesting that Ogwumike ought to be paid $27 million a year -- not even the WNBA athletes who have been fighting the longest for better wages. FIFA did list $131 million under "total revenue" in its financials, but for some reason, that was merely an investment figure -- how much the organization initially budgeted to spend on the 2019 World Cup, as Rachel Bachman of The Wall Street Journal reported last September. In actuality, the WNBA's all-time assists leader said she believes that calls for equality between men's and women's professional basketball are less about exorbitant salaries than about equal investment and exposure for the WNBA. The league confirmed that all WNBA players other than Griner are out of Russia and Ukraine. But a generation is still a generation. Whether youre toiling in a field in Bangladesh or shooting hoops in the USA, it is outputs, not inputs, that matter. Essentially, the women and men all around the table decided to partner in growing their game. Looking ahead, the women's national team also has a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer that expires at the end of 2021. In 2017, the WNBA posted its highest attendance in six years, more than 10,000 fans below the per game mark seen in the NBA in 2016-17, NBA broadcasts averaged around five times that. Then, in a voice mocking the trolls in her mentions, she said: "'Maybe if you had viewership you would have that money. Last year, total attendance for the WNBAs 12 teams reached 1,574,078, with an average attendance of 7,716 fans a new high for the 21-year-old league. In the 2018 All-Star Game, for example, 32 percent of the roster identified as gay. "I never would have authorized offering or accepting, and never would have recommended to the board agreeing to, the same bonuses for Women's World Cup play that were contained in the MNT's agreement for their World Cup play for very simple reasons.". NBC and its fleet of cable channels showed a record 631.5 hours of the 2018 Winter Olympics -- and for the first time ever, a majority of prime-time airtime was devoted to women's sports, according to research by Andrew Billings of the University of Alabama and James Angelini of the University of Delaware. For some players, the math just doesn't make sense when they're trying to . Compare that to the NFL average of $2.7 million (median is $860K), $4.41 million in the MLB, $3.5 million in the NHL, and the average NBA salary is a whopping $9.662 million for the 2022-23 season. Please do not edit the piece, ensure that you attribute the author and mention that this article was originally published on FEE.org. Today, grassroots support for the national teams seem to be at parity. All Rights Reserved. Nows a good time for players to advocate for themselves because the product in the WNBA has never been better. Consequently, it is not surprising to learn that in 1970-71, NBA players were paid 27 percent of league revenue. "Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. In the NBA, players take home around 50% of shared revenue and in the WNBA players only take home 20% of shared revenue. "People think we think that when we say things like 'We want equality.'". WNBA players arent asking for NBA level compensation. "But we need investors with the mindset that there's tons of value here that hasn't been shown before who will go unlock it. Similar analysis doesnt seem to exist for the WNBA, but we do know its revenue is far lower. without needing to get a second job to pay the bills. MALE AND FEMALE athletes are paid on entirely different scales, to the extent that examples can seem literally unbelievable. Last year, Delanie Gourley, a star pitcher in National Pro Fastpitch softball, disclosed that she makes less than a Yankees bat boy. But they were actually paid just $27.7 million. Silver was ready to hear about investment and commitment and even empowerment. U.S. Soccer's lobbyists even used it to argue that the American women's national team is paid fairly, simply because there's so much less available to pay them. A small number of women players are truly dominant at the college level, which makes the first few picks in the WNBA draft extremely valuable.