And Britney Griner, in an interview with Landon Buford, echoed the sentiment . Due to this situation the question has surfaced of, Should women basketball players be compensated the same as mens? 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. The off-season should be to rest their bodies and fulfill their contractual obligations for promoting the WNBA through appearances and community outreach as role models to young athletes and to spend time with their families. BY: Matthew Schleif Has the WNBA made Profit? The combined salaries of Stephen Curry and LeBron James in 2017-18 likely exceed the entire revenue of the WNBA. The main reason why WNBA players are paid less is WNBA is not as famous as NBA. It all has . Now, Team USA is in Spain, about to play in the. He earned 9.9m. 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. The players want more money. Currently, the NBA pays its players 50 percent of its total revenue. 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. These numbers were promoted by theleague as the highest since 2003. The NBA doesn't even do that much compared to other jobs and sports. Speci cally, I nd that WNBA rookies are generally overpaid given their on-court production. Elizabeth Cambage #8 of the Dallas Wings in action during a recent Dallas Wings Vs New York Liberty. [+] Prior to this season, Cambage last played in the WNBA in 2013. Copyright 2008-2023 BroBible. The organization exists to increase the number of events and the number of awards for women, as well as offering equal prize money to achieve meaningful equity in competitive surfing.. At that point, whatever their salaries currently are will disappear completely. Answer (1 of 2): The WNBA is heavily subsidized by the NBA; but for this fact, the WNBA would have folded a long time ago. Proclaiming that women should get paid as much as men is a great way for a man to demonstrate his feminist bona fides. And theyre not done. If that is so then why can Russia and Europe and China pay them well? Note: This piece has been updated with a response from the WNBA indicating that the league does share its financials with the players union. Because these women deserve more money. This lack of media coverage has always hampered womens sports. It was reported that Sylvia Fowles was paid $600,000 to play in China a few years ago. Sue Bird once said, We dont need anybody to feel bad or have sympathy for us. 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". She believes the athletes deserve more money. The WNBA brings in $25 million dollars a year, while the NBA brings in $7.4 billion. 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. They can also pay their players more since they have the ability to create more demand for their products and services. LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in human history, but if his sport of choice generated the public interest the WNBA has, he would not be signing a $154 million dollar contract. Dear 16-year-old Swin, Whew, O.K. As with so many other female athletes and despite being two of the highest paid women athletes in the world Venus and Serena recognize that they are fighting not only for themselves, but for the generations of women to come. Snyder's success will hinge on getting through to them at a level that Lloyd Pierce never could and Nate McMillan managed for only a limited time. Im sorry, the WNBA is awful compared to the NBA. "There need to be more women . That being said -- in response to Cambages' comment -- the WNBA does appear to have enough money to pay its top players as well as an NBA referee. What many of the women are asking for is equity in revenue sharing, as economist David Berri has written about repeatedly at Forbes. This is much less than what it is reported the top NBA referees are being paid. , in large part, for the financial security it provides. Yet more progress can be significantly made. In addition to the comments from Plum, A'Ja Wilson and Diana Taurasi recently argued WNBA players should be paid more. The league minimum for a player with two or fewer years of service is $41,202; for three or more years of . And I dont want to lose the WNBA or miss out on seeing the best female basketball players playing in the league. 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. Obviously, the players would want to receive a larger share of league revenue. 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. 1. Old Joe Biden Has Never Told a WEIRDER Story Than This One, Et Tu, Paul? Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. You can not compare the cultures. Marketing researchers have discovered that consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their identities. Please everyone support our women athletes. In 2014, ESPN paid the WNBA $17 million for broadcast rights. That means WNBA players are only getting about 21.5% of league revenue. I don't want to get paid more overseas. After someone alerted the WNBA to the Liberty's violations, possible remedies floated by the league's general counsel, Jamin Dershowitz, ranged from losing "every draft pick you have ever . 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. The NBA loves supporting women, like Kyrie Irving, who is a professional mens basketball player who currently plays for the New York Nets. Whining about some that is not withstanding the reality of the matter. She wouldn't be in a Russian prison in a country that is at war. However, 48 million dollars per year is more than enough for me. Sports are a revenue-driven industry! 2023 The Federalist, A wholly independent division of FDRLST Media. In the NBA, players take home around 50% of shared revenue and in the WNBA players only take home 20% of shared revenue. 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. 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.". 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. 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. The WNBA according to the league the WNBA has yet to make a profit.. working twice as hard and still getting paid less than male players do. Every once in a while, you'll get someone who claims WNBA players should be paid like LeBron James and other elite NBA talent. So much talent seems to go to waste because so many girls dont get drafted since theres not enough space in the league. [ For the first time, the WNBA will be featured in NBA 2K. This means that not only is the average WNBA salary lower than it should be, the top tier female athletes are underpaid! Read about a Freshman's upcoming book (Here), Read about The Pines coming to Bellwood (Here), Read about the NHS Easter egg hunt (Here), Light It Up Blue BluePrints Autism Awareness Initiative. It's not entirely clear what NBA referees make, but Yahoo.com reported a few years ago that salaries range from $150,000 to $550,000. It is not a matter of sexism or discrimination. Maybe I am wrong and the WNBA will blow up one day and make more money. That it might possibly contain some, oh I don't . According to the High Post Hoops data, Sylvia Fowles, Nneka Ogwumike, Sylar Diggins-Smith, Angel McCoughtry, Diana Taurasi, Dewanna Bonner, Elena Delle Donne, and Chiney Ogwumike are all paid between $111,180 and $117,500. BroBible is the #1 place on the internet for the very best content from the worlds of sports, culture, gear, high tech, and more. Many will say womens basketball is boring or played the wrong way, and they may even say it sucks, but I think we play the game better than the men.how? 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.. It doesnt have to be the same as men at all. 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. Las Vegas Aces point guard Kelsey Plum wants to change that. As athletes, we have to fight. Since the NBA formed the WNBA I can't see how they could not just pay the men less to pay the women more. She is also not the only one to skip a WNBA season. Sue Bird is 59 and 150 pounds and I think we can all agree she doesnt have a 40 vertical. The methodology used to measure exploitation in college basketball can help answer that question. Basketball. 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). Equal pay is an ongoing gender issue in sports. WNBA players typically share less than half of the team revenue received by NBA players, according to Ebony. I dont know anyone who would disagree with that. So instead of grumbling about the salaries male basketball players enjoy, perhaps Aja Wilson should be thankful that the mensproduct helps bolster her own paycheck. Jahniya Marion is a Junior at Centreville High and enjoying her first year on the Journalism staff. We need more businesses to sign women and trust them to support their brands. This is a Gross difference between NBA organizations. In 2018, much of CEWS work paid off, as the World Surf League announced equal prize money for all WSL-controlled events in 2019 and beyond, a huge step for what has been a traditionally male-dominated sport. While the men are getting about half of the total money they help the NBA earn, the women are getting less than a fourth. The WNBA will never take viewers from the NBA either. I do believe that WNBA players are highly skilled, but against Lebron James they are basically kindergarteners playing seniors in high school. Professor of Educational Psychology & Higher Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 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. Of sexism or discrimination not as famous as NBA tier female athletes are underpaid promoted. Large part why wnba players should be paid more for the first time, the WNBA brings in $ 7.4 billion some. 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