why wnba players should not be paid more

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. 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. It is true that on average, female athletes are paid far less than male athletes. And yet, for all this effort, there is little economic reward. Bangladeshis, on average, work very hard but lack the institutions and the capital to be productive, As a result, they produce very little output and so, despite their intensive physical efforts, they remain poor. Im the highest paid player on the Dallas Wings, and my salary is in the low six figures. "The good news is that folks outside the federation, from sponsors to broadcasters to partners, are incredibly bullish on the U.S. women's national team and on women's football," Levinson says. As one writer explained. They will also be eligible to get reimbursed for the costs of adoption, surrogacy, fertility treatments and preservation of eggs. And while companies have shown more interest in backing female athletes recently, men's leagues and teams still captured 93% of the $31 billion that corporations around the globe spent on sports last year, according to a November 2019 report by the German research firm Statista. At peak popularity, marketability and leverage, they are also seeking more equitable spending on coaching. The American squad beat the Netherlands 2-0 in the final, capping a month of dominance in which Team USA outscored opponents 26-3. Low pay has also warped the women's game itself. For all this, Fowles was named league MVP. "If players are talking ridiculous salaries ," Silver began. For picks No. In 2009, the WNBA decided to include sponsor logos on their jerseys. Kelsey Plum currently makes $200,000/year as a point guard for the Las Vegas Aces. And yet, they do it, in large part, for the financial security it provides. As demands for equal pay spark across arenas, boardrooms, TV screens, Twitter feeds and even presidential campaigns, it's time to take a deeper look. wells city council election results 2022. ford city mall shooting today. Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. But on a fundamental economic level, it is wrong, and the disparities we see between athletes salaries illustrate why. But by the time Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and their mates were celebrating their triumph, the world knew they would earn just $4 million collectively, a fraction of what their male counterparts had taken home a year earlier. The women of the WNBA are simply seeking the recognition they deserve for their performances. So it doesn't seem the WNBA players are unreasonable to expect to be paid at least 50% of the league's revenue. In 2023, the highest average WNBA salary is held by Aces guard Jackie Young as she makes $252,450 per year, according to Spotrac. The financial disparities between the leagues are undeniable. The maximum veteran salary is $113,500. This lack of media coverage has always hampered womens sports. In the WNBA the range of salaries is $117K to $215K for the highest-paid players. 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. 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. As important as the equal pay lawsuit is for the players who are seeking back pay and damages, it's essentially about the past. 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 . WNBA players have free agency, of course, so players can negotiate with more than one team. And I dont want to lose the WNBA or miss out on seeing the best female basketball players playing in the league. All Rights Reserved. Beyond money, a sport needs time to grow into its potential audience. 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. It would collapse without the support of the NBA, and it can't afford to pay the players more. We had incredibly thrilling semifinals series that went a full five games apiece. They could make the WNBA season longer than 36 games, which might allow for more time for fans to become invested in teams. 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. "So we can build the business, and then when it's really good like the NBA is then we can get that money.". TV viewership tells a similar story. And it is also contending with at least four other lawsuits, so its legal bills will total about $9 million this year. If the WNBA doesnt figure this out, players are going to opt out of the league. One might argue that male players produce more points. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Diggins-Smith also spoke about the sheer physical efforts of female basketball players. The Daily Nebraskan (@dailynebraskan) Instagram photos and videos. Part of HuffPost News. This past July, though, Barbosa was waived by the team. As for the players, well, they deserve to be able to play the game they love (that theyre good at!) It was an unprecedented moment for a commissioner of a professional sports league and a head of a union: The labor deal they were about to negotiate could become a major platform for women's empowerment. This season, Davis made $27.1 million. You ladies should be on commercials everywhere. 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. (Blatter is currently in the midst of a six-year ban from FIFA for ethics violations.) 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. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often pay substantially more than playing in the United States. On the other hand, some others pay. "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.". When it comes to others opinions, I feel as though we get picked on enough, and not getting paid fairly makes it even worse. Of course, the sports world is bigger and more lucrative today. For instance, FIFA says the 2018 men's World Cup generated $5.4 billion in revenue. "I believed," he said, "the WNT was much more likely to qualify for and succeed in their tournament than the MNT was.". For example, according to World Bank data, in 2012, the value added per agricultural worker was $61,634 in the United States. Spurred by the excellence of the USWNT, the idea of pay equity has taken hold among athletes, fans and sponsors. Sometimes, it is pretty easy to see why vast amounts of effort generate little output and, hence, low incomes. 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. 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%. These women should be paid more. Marketing researchers have discovered that consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their identities. 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. Worldwide, 18% of university presidents, 11% of astronauts who have been to space and 6% of major-company CEOs are women. Similar analysis doesnt seem to exist for the WNBA, but we do know its revenue is far lower. If the WNBA Players Association wants to opt out of its current collective bargaining agreement with the league and renegotiate terms, they have to do so by Oct. 31. 10 years or more: $38,199,000; WNBA: Minimum salary: $15,000; Salary . The squads face different adversaries, at different levels of competition, on different schedules, including World Cup cycles in different years. ABOUT US. Ertz in, Swanson out: Who will make USWNT's World Cup team after big shake-ups? Please, enable JavaScript and reload the page to enjoy our modern features. On average, WNBA players make $75,000 a year in the league, with only a few players earning as much as $113,000. The NBA player whose salary is closest to Griner and other top WNBA players is Joe Wieskamp, a forward for the San Antonio Spurs who made $202,068 last year after playing 17 games out of 82 and scoring an average of 2.2 points per game. 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. About 70 WNBA players went to compete overseas this offseason, the WNBA said Monday. That includes outlays by committed owners with deep pockets, rather than the unstable financing that has so often plagued franchises in women's sports. Indeed, in the developed world, we work much less than our ancestors did, and we do it for a far higher standard of living. And while thats not a dollar amount to sniff at, these women only have so long to earn money off their athletic ability. Cordeiro resigned three days later, and the federation switched lawyers within a week. Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. One of the reasons we're even talking about equal pay in sports today is because of the courageous fight of. 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. A post shared by Kelsey Plum (@kelseyplum10). 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. 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. Most Bangladeshis earn a living through agriculture, primarily cultivating rice and jute but also maize and vegetables. From the highest-paid athletes to the newest rookies, professional male athletes are still making significantly more money than women. By clicking Sign Up, you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insiders. "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. player with most turnovers in nfl. The rate continues to go up this season, as shown by . The WNBAs current collective bargaining agreement wont 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 year, which barely keeps pace with inflation at its current rate. Union president Ogwumike announced the move in an essay for The Players' Tribune titled "Bet on Women.". It sounds unarguable. As just one brutal example, 2018 league MVP Breanna Stewart ruptured her right Achilles tendon in April 2019 while playing for Dynamo Kursk in the EuroLeague women's championship. At the end of the day, people will still complain that the WNBA is boring, less competitive and that theres no dunking. Because these women deserve more money. "I think they're going to all drag the federation along, hopefully to a place where there's equal pay and beyond.". This was a stellar season, where the final eight teams that made the playoffs werent determined until the last few games. Reward is not a function of inputs such as work or effort; it is a function of the outputs, the product. 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. , in large part, for the financial security it provides. 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 . , WNBA players make $75,000 a year in the league, with only a few players earning as much as $113,000. They may exert the same physical effort, but far more money is handed over by consumers to the NBA than the WNBA in return for all this. Demanding that female players be paid what they deserve is not about comparing the WNBA to the NBA as apples-to-apples salaries. The athletes are planning to appeal, but at least for the moment, crucial parts of the suit have been dismissed. It has lost the support of the men's national team, which has accused U.S. Soccer of "working very hard to sell a false narrative" and called for a sharp increase in women's compensation. We had incredibly thrilling semifinals series that went a full five games apiece. 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. It could have been the moment for USSF officials to declare victory and get out of that war, to find some way to share with the athletes the public triumphs and financial gains of American soccer. WNT members wore their jerseys inside out in protest. "It centers contracts around the men's World Cup and uses TV coverage of women's games as a dry run for the men.". This past July, though, Barbosa was waived by the team. why wnba players should be paid more. They should fight for it because theyve earned it. And now central offices across the sports map are scrambling to catch up. I'm not going to call out some of the bad NBA players we got in commercials but y'all know who they are." In 2023, the highest average WNBA salary is held by Aces guard Jackie Young as she . Bird and Ray's conversation stemmed from graphics that began circulating on social media after both Bird, and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James won their fourth WNBA and NBA titles, respectively, during the 2020 season. Total revenue for the NBA hit $7.4 billion in 2022. Is the allocation of the best talent to thinking about ways to grow fan engagement, innovation or player experience happening?". Yet as WNBA players came to a crossroads in 2018, nobody told their union leaders to demand million-dollar salaries. These short-term issues could blow up U.S. Soccer's priorities, and new labor negotiations are an even bigger threat. She believes the athletes deserve more money. The league has more gay players and fans, percentage-wise, than any other major professional sport. As a point of comparison, the NBA didnt draw crowds of this size until its 26th season, when the league averaged 8,061 fans per game. There was a problem saving your notification. which tips off later this week in Tenerife, with the final on Sept. 30. will be spending a significant chunk of their year overseas playing on professional teams and in leagues in order to supplement their WNBA income. He covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors. Hart has played at such a high level that his $13 million player option should be declined without a second thought. In the same way, if you're the only fan you know of a new sports team, your experience will be extremely limited. Refresh the page, check Medium 's. This season, the maximum veteran salary is $115,500, not including potential bonuses. The players wanted a viable league where they could build careers, not just part-time jobs. 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. Wake up to the day's most important news. But should they be seeing an increase in their earnings? You have permission to edit this article. Jackson, whose husband and son are both NBA veterans, kept asking, "What motivates you?" Leagues and clubs are subject to what economists call "network externality," which means the value of something depends on how many consumers use it. Sydney Miller is a senior psychology major. 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. Over in the WNBA, total revenue hit $60 million in 2022. 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. 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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. I dont understand why these companies havent been partnering with yall for years and years, Barkley said. Please do not edit the piece, ensure that you attribute the author and mention that this article was originally published on FEE.org. On the other hand, sports news and highlight segments have historically focused overwhelmingly on men. 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. Sustained exposure has certainly been a boon to college softball, to which ESPN has held the rights for 40 years.
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