why wnba players should not be paid more

I didn't make the meme. The league average in 2022 is just $102,751 for WNBA players. These short-term issues could blow up U.S. Soccer's priorities, and new labor negotiations are an even bigger threat. It's not about the amount of effort or the quantity of inputs. Bird said. He certainly was right about that. U.S. Soccer is at a crossroads: Whatever happens with the equal pay lawsuit, the USSF has to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the women's national team by the end of next year, and its long-term relationship with the National Women's Soccer League is up in the air. This pay gap is very real. Of course, a bump to 50 percent of WNBA league revenue isnt realistic, because theres a difference between revenue and profit. "None of which is laudable," the GSSS report says, "but it makes 1% of professional footballers look more pitiful still. Instead, the federation proceeded to file thousands of pages of documents asserting that, as one motion put it, "WNT and MNT players do not perform equal work requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions." Under the old CBA, athletes who had children lost pay when they lost work time; now they will have maternity leave with full compensation, plus space set aside in arenas for nursing. But, in comparison, the highest-paid NBA star is Warriors guard Steph Curry, who will earn $48,070,014 this season. In short, NBA players made 100x more than their WNBA counterparts in 2019. Finding accurate financial data on any sport league is challenging. The WNBA players get paid less than $80,000 averagely in 2019-20, while NBA players earned $7.4 million averagely in the same period (Berri, 2020). Consider a comparison: Anthony Davis was the No. In this article, we compare salaries in sports like soccer, basketball and tennis, and consider some notable changes over the past decade. In 2009, the WNBA decided to include sponsor logos on their jerseys. The average WNBA player earns an average salary of around $75,000 per year. These women should be paid more. 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. Engelbert wrote those items down. They cant. The first two categories were exactly the same for each, but the final two were markedly different. And he'll get paid this massive sum to go championship-chasing with an in . Any sport needs three kinds of support to grow into a large-scale, sustainable business. At least not yet. Jackson posted the phrase "language of investment" on her office wall. You have permission to edit this article. "Have investments been equal? The State . Marketing researchers have discovered that consumers respond more favorably to marketing initiatives that cater to their identities. | by Yannick Ondoa | Medium Write Sign up Sign In 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. (Blatter is currently in the midst of a six-year ban from FIFA for ethics violations.) Even the WNBA's highest-paid players aren't making particularly lofty sums. Many of the women dont get lucrative endorsements, and getting into broadcasting or some other sports-adjacent field once they retire is not guaranteed. If they wanted to, they could cut salaries of the owners most of whom are billionaires and redistribute that money to WNBA players. terry mcdonough aerodata. But the incredible rise in living standards which we have seen since the Industrial Revolution has not been the result of working harder. About 70 WNBA players went to compete overseas this offseason, the WNBA said Monday. , WNBA players make $75,000 a year in the league, with only a few players earning as much as $113,000. ABOUT US. By clicking Sign Up, you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insiders. This past July, though, Barbosa was waived by the team. She previously covered the WNBA and NBA for SB Nation. Barkley reiterated his feelings by expressing how he doesnt get how some NBA players earn more sponsorship deals than superstar WNBA players. WNBA players arent asking for NBA level compensation. According to the WNBA, this was most-watched regular season since 2014, with viewership across ESPN networks and NBA TV up by 31 percent. 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. This simple. For instance, NBA teams took in a total of $8.8 billion this year, according to Forbes. "I think they're going to all drag the federation along, hopefully to a place where there's equal pay and beyond.". They want a piece of the action. While equal pay for equal work has emerged as a rallying cry in the ongoing struggles of women athletes, equity doesn't always, or even often, mean literal equality across all sports. In the same way, if you're the only fan you know of a new sports team, your experience will be extremely limited. The disparity is so wide that the money pulls skilled men into a career in sports, while the lack of money makes it impossible for many talented women to earn a living as an athlete. ] To think of that and then to see how the numbers translate for guys who are bench players, guys who never see the floor. 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.. player with most turnovers in nfl. Griner's 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. In 2015, the WNBA averaged 202,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN2. Viewing stories about men's sports was like "watching that classic 1960s Batman TV show (Bam! 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. Thats their prerogative. In the NBA, players take home around 50% of shared revenue and in the WNBA players only take home 20% of shared revenue. Nneka Ogwumike was the No. Worldwide, 18% of university presidents, 11% of astronauts who have been to space and 6% of major-company CEOs are women. By contrast, the highest scoring team in the NBA that year was the Golden State Warriors, who averaged 112.8 points per game. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. With Jones paid to be the franchise quarterback, there should be stability at the position to build around. The week in tennis: Djokovic and Nadal out, and the younger generation steps up again, Why it's easy to forget that the world's best full-back, Ellie Carpenter, is just 22, College softball rankings: The top 25 teams in the NCAA this week, Everything you need to know about "The Bag Game," a podcast on college hoops' bribery scandal, USWNT lawsuit vs. U.S. Soccer explained: Defining pay gaps, what's at stake, a federal judge sided with U.S. Soccer on most of the key issues at stake in the lawsuit, The WNBA inked a landmark labor deal in January, and reached an eight-year agreement in January. 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. But how does this apply to basketball? 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. 'Thank you to Auntie Shania': Washington State team sees its idol, Fantasy women's basketball: Why to focus on guards early in your draft. "When I think of pay equity, I think of the opportunity that the NBA and other male sports leagues have to be successful.". 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. In 2017, ESPN stayed with a WCWS game that went to extra innings instead of switching to a previously scheduled MLB broadcast. This new reality will only be reflected in our future financial results.". In the United States, women make up 24% of Congress, 18% of surgeons, 10% of Christian church leaders. 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. But when it comes to getting the kind of daily, comprehensive news, analysis and statistics that multiple media outlets and platforms routinely provide for men's teams, most women's sports still lag. Wake up to the day's most important news. The players wanted a viable league where they could build careers, not just part-time jobs. NBAs teams generated $5.9 billion in revenue in 2015-16. "People think we think that when we say things like 'We want equality.'". And overall, viewers consumed 2.49 billion hours of coverage across all platforms, a jump of 93%. Meanwhile, Leandro Barbosa is scheduled to earn $500,000 from the Phoenix Suns in 2017-18. Your joys and agonies and memories increase exponentially as your network of friends and family involved with the same team expands. 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. '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. The American squad beat the Netherlands 2-0 in the final, capping a month of dominance in which Team USA outscored opponents 26-3. 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 answer is that reward is not necessarily proportional to effort. And there is seemingly, to the people who tell them to be quiet, who. 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. I've never been overseas to playBut 90% of the league goes overseas. But the risk also offered reward: 15 million Americans self-identify as LGBTQ, and they represent a market segment worth around $830 million. Critically, they have called on U.S. Soccer to spend more on marketing, in part by investing much more in the NWSL. Dave Berri of Forbes explains. The WNBA generates roughly $25 million. "U.S. Soccer has purposefully withheld and obscured the revenues that it has received through similar marketing deals. 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. There are different ways to weight these audience eyeballs and viewing times, and to project future statistics. At peak popularity, marketability and leverage, they are also seeking more equitable spending on coaching. 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 women of the WNBA are simply seeking the recognition they deserve for their performances. Women's professional soccer was actually banned in Germany until 1970, England until 1971 and Brazil until 1979; the NWSL, its latest and longest-lived incarnation in the U.S., has now been playing for seven years. Taylor remains the backup, but maybe for one just one more season, as this is the last . The success of this campaign resulted in the WNBA being the first pro league to take part in the NYC Pride Parade in 2016. Diggins-Smith also spoke about the sheer physical efforts of female basketball players. "Let me stop you," Jackson said. 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. 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.. You ladies should be on commercials everywhere. THE CHANTS BEGAN almost as soon as the U.S. women's soccer team won the World Cup last July. Jackson, whose husband and son are both NBA veterans, kept asking, "What motivates you?" In October 2018, the G League announced it would provide new contracts worth $125,000 for elite prospects -- which meant it would pay some 18-year-old men more than any woman had ever earned from the WNBA in a year. players had reached out to the American soccer . 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. WNBA players have free agency, of course, so players can negotiate with more than one team. These American companies should put yall in commercials, they should partner with yall. From the highest-paid athletes to the newest rookies, professional male athletes are still making significantly more money than women. And these provisions have tilted strongly, almost exclusively, toward men's sports for decades. This has been a common complaint from some of the best. This is something that the 150-ish WNBA players have been fighting to change for quite some time. They shouldnt have to work so hard for so little. The main argument against paying WNBA players more is that the league simply isnt profitable, because no one watches it. 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. Many. But there's no clear business reason for FIFA to keep acting like the Women's World Cup is worth less than 10% of the men's game. CBS Sports Network struck a deal in 2019 to show 40 WNBA games a year, increasing the number of regular-season contests on national television by more than 60%. While the NBA pays its players roughly 50 percent of the total, the WNBA players are making less than 25 percent of league revenue. Low pay has also warped the women's game itself. All rights reserved. Most major sites have now joined ESPN, which launched espnW in 2010, in allocating space to women's sports across multiple dedicated pages, particularly for basketball and soccer. 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. Bird said direct comparisons like the one above "comes back on me.". 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%. As one writer explained. The Russian media isnt being particularly forthcoming with information about her detainment, but as of March 8, shes still in Russia. For all that backbreaking labor, in Bangladesh, it was just $662. And so these women are playing year-round, which is terrible for your body. Meanwhile, the organization's financial reports projected just $131 million in total revenue from the 2019 Women's World Cup, a number that spread like wildfire among outlets last summer. Instead, they have capital inputs and institutions to leverage their labor inputs into far greater levels of output: they can produce far more while working much less. In 2017, the league aired 20 games live on Twitter, while also offering a new fantasy game on the fantasy platform FanDuel. 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. The more exposure they receive, the more theyll dole out the cash for sponsorships, endorsements and advertisements. Sometimes, it is pretty easy to see why vast amounts of effort generate little output and, hence, low incomes. 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. You can make a case that WNBA players could be paid more, but some people are making an argument that they should be paid the same, or at least similarly. Its so much wear and tear. It would seriously impair our ability to support our mission and invest in these other critical developmental areas.". Over in the WNBA, total revenue hit $60 million in 2022. 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. This season, Davis made $27.1 million. ", The salary gap between men and women athletes echoes the huge difference in revenues between men's and women's sports. For some players, the math just doesn't make sense when they're trying to . FIFA commingles broadcasting rights and sponsorships for the men's and women's tournaments. Silver was ready to hear about investment and commitment and even empowerment. 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. This would give them the opportunity to negotiate a new deal that increases the salary cap, along with maximum and minimum salaries. 1-4 in the 2022 WNBA Draft, the base salary is expected to be $72,141 in year one. In 2021, Tacoma and Louisville are scheduled to open the first soccer-specific stadiums with National Women's Soccer League clubs as their highest-level tenants. The athletes did want a larger share of league revenues. But that gap has virtually disappeared since the women's team won the 2015 World Cup and then maintained its global supremacy: The women's team has brought in $63.4 million since 2016, compared with $66.3 million for the men, according to U.S. Soccer's most recent financial statements. "If players are talking ridiculous salaries ," Silver began. As an Englishman, my knowledge of basketball amounts to Nike Air Jordans, White Men Cant Jump, and Space Jam. That includes outlays by committed owners with deep pockets, rather than the unstable financing that has so often plagued franchises in women's sports. What if non-player. Beyond anticipating the savings from that huge gulf, Gulati had a second simple reason for paying men and women differently: U.S. Soccer replicates the compensation practices of FIFA, the organization that is by far the biggest driver of unequal pay in global soccer. 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. "Female players are pretty, if you excuse me saying so," former FIFA president Sepp Blatter opined in 2004. Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often pay substantially more than playing in the United States. John Phelan is an economist at the Center of the American Experiment and fellow of The Cobden Centre. That's the chain reaction of network externalities. Diggins-Smith has made hundreds of thousands of dollars during her five seasons in the WNBA, yet she feels its unfair that she makes considerably less than NBA players. Theyre making the most of it while they can. Basically, they want a fair share of the total revenue of the WNBA. And make no mistake, fans today have more access than ever to the games played by female athletes, because a burgeoning number of networks and apps, hungry to acquire and offer new content, are programming all kinds of formerly "niche" sports. As important as the equal pay lawsuit is for the players who are seeking back pay and damages, it's essentially about the past. The two sides channeled that willingness into the areas Engelbert and the league's negotiators discussed with Jackson, Ogwumike and the players, and reached an eight-year agreement in January. Jackson met with Engelbert even before her hiring was official and told her the players were concerned about salary and compensation, player experience, and health and wellness. The WNBA is scheduled to play its 24th season this year. Part of HuffPost News. For picks No. [Harrison Barnes, the highest paid player on the Dallas Mavericks, made $24 million last season. First, we should put the gaps into perspective. But the NBAs politically correct heart has room to grow a few sizes. Taurasi ranks third in the league with a $234,936 salary. Last year, Minnesota Lynxs Seimone Augustus told The Undefeated that the reasons players continue in the league is for history and for the future. 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. Last year, Delanie Gourley, a star pitcher in National Pro Fastpitch softball, disclosed that she makes less than a Yankees bat boy. "Every time FIFA bundles broadcast rights, it ascribes no value to the Women's World Cup," Roux says. That same year, however, only 2 percent of airtime on the stations flagship show, SportsCenter, was allocated to womens sports. AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Playing overseas in Europe, Asia, or Australia can often. The WNBA has reached an agreement with the players union to phase in pay rises, getting the average up to $130,000 and the top players over $500,000 by 2027. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. 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. Currently, the NBA pays its players 50 percent of its total revenue. "I believed," he said, "the WNT was much more likely to qualify for and succeed in their tournament than the MNT was.". As an example, the Global Sports Salary Survey (GSSS), produced by the U.K.-based research firm Sporting Intelligence, counted 137,021 men who played professional soccer in the world in 2017 and just 1,287 women -- a ratio of 106 to 1. The league has more gay players and fans, percentage-wise, than any other major professional sport. That's one kind of equity: equality. Just as the Bangladeshis arent poor because they are lazy, Americans arent rich because of hard work. 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. Las Vegas Aces point guard Kelsey Plum wants to change that. Meanwhile, for the upcoming NBA season, the minimum salary of a professional NBA player is $838,464. Finally, sports need media to reach their full potential. 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. But the truth is more complicated, because a league's financial data also embeds its history, opportunities and labor relations. And there is seemingly no end to the people who tell them to be quiet, who disparage their talent and work and even lie about what they have said to make them seem petty or jealous. And the media surge is lifting smaller sports onto regional, digital and streaming platforms. Just maybe, however, that cycle is breaking at this moment, because women athletes are changing the terms of business in two of the world's biggest sports. Then, in a voice mocking the trolls in her mentions, she said: "'Maybe if you had viewership you would have that money. For instance, NBC Sports had pages for horse racing and the National Dog Show, but not for the WNBA or NWSL. They want more open accounting and less obeisance to FIFA. 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. ", The WNBA legend said people "think we think that when we say things like 'We want equality,'" but that, in actuality, she and her colleagues want "the same media coverage and the corporate sponsor looks.". The WNBA players clearly are not getting that much. Carter, 22, was a key player on Georgia's back-to-back national championship team, earning 2022 first-team All-American honors while being named a Lombardi Award finalist after posting three sacks . "ONE THING I DO KNOW," Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer from 2006 to 2018, said in a declaration to the equal pay lawsuit. Pow!) Salary issues in professional sports is not a new phenomenon. Total attendance in the WNBAs 21st season was 1,574,078, with teams averaging 7,716 fans per game. They could make the WNBA season longer than 36 games, which might allow for more time for fans to become invested in teams. Meanwhile, Steph Curry, the highest-paid player in the NBA, will make $45.7 million this season. 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.

How To Turn Off Traffic In Forza Horizon 3, Nsbe 48 National Convention 2022, John T Stankey Email Address, Emily Compagno Family Winery, Guy The Bible Guy Actor, Articles W