The WNBA generates roughly $25 million. And we need access to better stadiums, facilities and everything that makes a better entertainment product.". But here's the thing. "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. Another argument is that women's national teams for sports like soccer have far more success than the men's national team. In 2023, the highest average WNBA salary is held by Aces guard Jackie Young as she makes $252,450 per year, according to Spotrac. 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." The average WNBA player earns an average salary of around $75,000 per year. These deals have been great for teams -- and for MLS; its expansion fee has rocketed to $325 million. Those are honorable reasons to stick with the WNBA, but players shouldn't have to choose between these personal anchors to the league and their need to make a living. And now central offices across the sports map are scrambling to catch up. It sounds unarguable. 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 contract, which runs through 2027, pays players an average of $130,000, with the top stars able to earn more than $500,000 through salary, marketing agreements, an in-season tournament and bonuses. The raw numbers make it easy to assume that women make less money simply because fans prefer men's games -- that pay follows revenues, and revenues follow popularity. This past July, though, Barbosa was waived by the team. Meanwhile, the Women's Super League in England has gone fully professional. 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. There actually isn't any correct number, because income data isn't broken out anywhere for the Women's World Cup. Until they get it, some of the worlds best female basketball players will be walking off of planes and onto courts as they meet the demands of a year-round basketball schedule. If they wanted to, they could cut salaries of the owners most of whom are billionaires and redistribute that money to WNBA players. This lack of media coverage has always hampered womens sports. We had incredibly thrilling semifinals series that went a full five games apiece. 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. As important as all these changes are, their total cost is about $1 million per WNBA team per year, which means the proportion of league revenues paid to players will rise only from about 20% to approximately 30%. Last year, the average WNBA salary was US$71,635, and this year appears to be closer to $75,000. The first two categories were exactly the same for each, but the final two were markedly different. For years, the MNT had posted significantly more from events than the WNT -- more than three times as much from 2009 to 2015, according to data from U.S. Soccer. For all this, Fowles was named league MVP. If the NBA wanted to pay WNBA players more, they could. . 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. One of the reasons we're even talking about equal pay in sports today is because of the courageous fight of. The reasons people give for not watching the WNBA are plentiful and familiar. 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. Cook found that under the men's wage scales, members of the women's team would have earned $91.8 million from 2014 to 2019. Thats their prerogative. 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. Should the WNBA Be Paid Like NBA Players? - Medium WNBA players want to be paid more, but can the league accommodate them? Once again, though, we don't know expenses in the WNBA. 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. All Rights Reserved. Pay is so low that it has compelled most American athletes to play overseas as well as in the WNBA just to make a living, increasing their wear and tear and their injury risk. They shouldnt have to work so hard for so little. Meanwhile, the U.S. women want more than a new pay structure. It took the NBA 72 years to get to where the league is today, while the WNBA is only in its 21st season. Reward is not a function of inputs such as work or effort; it is a function of the outputs, the product. plenty of action," Cheryl Cooky of Purdue and Michael Messner and Michela Musto of USC wrote in a 2015 report that studied SportsCenter and local TV news broadcasts in Los Angeles. 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. It felt like, According to the WNBA . From the point of view of the team owners, the measure of output that matters is the revenue the players generate. First, we should put the gaps into perspective. But how does this apply to basketball? The American squad beat the Netherlands 2-0 in the final, capping a month of dominance in which Team USA outscored opponents 26-3. 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. "This new CBA is going to dramatically change how this league operates," Bird says. In 2015, the WNBA averaged 202,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN2. If there's a way forward, it might be thanks to one more surprise from the past few months: The WNBA's new CBA is fundamentally different from every past labor agreement in women's sports. I've never been overseas to playBut 90% of the league goes overseas. 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. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often pay substantially more than playing in the United States. And the highest paid players in the WNBA this season will earn an annual salary of $234,936, according to HerHoopStats. "That meme has just made my comments, like, on another level," she said. why wnba players should be paid more. The financial disparities between the leagues are undeniable. On average, WNBA players make $75,000 a year in the league, with only a few players earning as much as $113,000. WNBA Journey to Equal Pay - Civic Issues - sites.psu.edu Taylor remains the backup, but maybe for one just one more season, as this is the last . 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. In 1953, at the same stage in its timeline, the NBA had total revenues of less than $16 million in today's dollars, according to data collected by the House Judiciary Committee in 1957, and drew only 3,583 fans per game. 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. 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.. But, in comparison, the highest-paid NBA star is Warriors guard Steph Curry, who will earn $48,070,014 this season. For instance, NBC Sports had pages for horse racing and the National Dog Show, but not for the WNBA or NWSL. For picks No. While speaking with WNBA legends Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, the NBA legend called out American companies for not investing more in the WNBA, because, otherwise, the players could earn enough money to not have to play in international leagues in the offseason. I personally love watching the WNBA because these women are extremely talented shooters, ball handlers and passers and I find the teamwork displayed by WNBA teams to be something that the NBA could take a lesson or two from. Finding accurate financial data on any sport league is challenging. Why WNBA stars play overseas, and how the WNBA is trying to deter them This is not what happens as women basketball players would be payed on average around 3.5 million (the average men's salary is 7 million). Stats show that in 2018, the top scoring team in the WNBA, the Connecticut Sun, averaged 87.6 points per game. Pow!) The main argument against paying WNBA players more is that the league simply isnt profitable, because no one watches it. John Phelan is an economist at the Center of the American Experiment and fellow of The Cobden Centre. Check out the clip of Bird's and Ray's conversation below: Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The league has more gay players and fans, percentage-wise, than any other major professional sport. The athletes are planning to appeal, but at least for the moment, crucial parts of the suit have been dismissed. Playing in other countries during the WNBA offseason can allow players to make double, triple or even quadruple of what they make in the United States. Finally, sports need media to reach their full potential. Sue Bird: 'I Don't Think We Should Get the Same Money As NBA Players' It would seriously impair our ability to support our mission and invest in these other critical developmental areas.". "I say this totally real I don't think we should get the same money as NBA players," Bird said. MALE AND FEMALE athletes are paid on entirely different scales, to the extent that examples can seem literally unbelievable. And if Russian police detaining one of the most prolific dunkers in womens basketball who makes four times her U.S. salary by playing overseas in the offseason isn't enough to make people realize we need to be paying WNBA players more, I dont know what will. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. (Blatter is currently in the midst of a six-year ban from FIFA for ethics violations.) Brittney Griner's detention in Russia: What it says about - NPR "Right now, WNBA fans are just beginning to pass their fan preferences down to their children.". And it is also contending with at least four other lawsuits, so its legal bills will total about $9 million this year. Not to discredit any work that they've put in, but you have women playing year-round basketball going overseas to have more opportunities for higher wages. The WNBA inked a landmark labor deal in January, guaranteeing improved pay and unprecedented health benefits, after its players opted out of their CBA for the first time. wells city council election results 2022. ford city mall shooting today. But even with all this growth, theres one enduring challenge: media exposure. The U.S.-Netherlands final reached an average live audience of 82.2 million, up 56%. Which is kind of unbelievable, as WNBA All-Star point guard for the Dallas Wings, Skylar Diggins-Smith, put it recently: 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., Unfortunately, its not clear what the WNBAs exact revenue is, or individual teams, or their profits. Meanwhile, for the upcoming NBA season, the minimum salary of a professional NBA player is $838,464. "These are businesses, and none of us are out there saying we want to be paid the exact same as the men," says 17-year WNBA veteran Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm. Dave Berri of Forbes explains. 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. UNLPD charges 6 for alcohol, 3 for stadium break-in, window smashing, theft, Five players who stood out at Nebraska footballs spring game, UNL student arrested on sexual assault charges, BREAKING: Nebraska Union, nearby buildings experience power outage, SHARACK: Stop treating UNL students with underrated majors as less than, Proposed new state prison sparks student opinions, Retiring custodians reflect on distinct experience of working at Massengale, Five Nebraska football players given professional opportunities after NFL Draft, St. Ritas Amazing Traveling Bookstore: bookstore on wheels stops at UNL. 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. Players in the WNBA get paid significantly less than NBA players, have less opportunities for branding partnerships and support, and are arguably putting more on the line than their male . Silver was ready to hear about investment and commitment and even empowerment. What if non-player. Players who go overseas end up playing almost year-round, with little break for their bodies to recover. Demanding that female players be paid what they deserve is not about comparing the WNBA to the NBA as apples-to-apples salaries. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often. But the NBAs politically correct heart has room to grow a few sizes. Why do WNBA players earn 7 times less than their counterparts - Medium I just got the same amount of rings, maybe more. The WNBA players clearly are not getting that much. Union president Ogwumike announced the move in an essay for The Players' Tribune titled "Bet on Women.". The WNBA has been demanding justice for Black lives. Why hasn't anyone This year, all of the major professional sports leagues had a presence. Opinion: Women athletes do not deserve equal pay | HS Insider "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, WNBA revenues were probably around $70 million, estimates David Berri, a professor of economics at Southern Utah University and author of numerous studies about women's sports. They have different collective bargaining agreements with U.S. Soccer, which pays base salaries, NWSL subsidies and performance bonuses to women while compensating men through much larger bonuses. This season, the maximum veteran salary is $115,500, not including potential bonuses. Its been five years since I first wrote about how the NBAs management of the WNBA is a circular problem, and while the WNBA has benefitted from some increased visibility since then, the issue of equal pay still looms large. So did Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber. 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). They want a piece of the action. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Now, as the league begins a 25th season of soldiering on in the face of those tired arguments, perhaps the time has. 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. 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.) And the media surge is lifting smaller sports onto regional, digital and streaming platforms. And it's not just the rookies. "FIFA wants to develop a specific commercial strategy for women's football in order to attract additional funds that can be attributed directly to the women's game. In this article, we compare salaries in sports like soccer, basketball and tennis, and consider some notable changes over the past decade. And it can take decades for leagues and franchises to develop faith and establish their footing. The biggest lesson: Today's athletes are asking for something even bigger than the strict definition of "pay equity." He also found that the WNT made more money than the men's team from 2015 to 2019. "I think they're going to all drag the federation along, hopefully to a place where there's equal pay and beyond.". terry mcdonough aerodata. Just one woman was ranked among the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world in 2019, according to Forbes (Serena Williams, at No. 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.
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