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Dollars to donuts the same people posted comments on articles about trans athletes.
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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Regardless of whether you like it, they still should be getting paid fairly.
I agree with this comment at least in large part, but I don't see how it in any way follows from your post, unless the post just assumes we all have some specific sports knowledge.
"Paid fairly": of course yes. What I DONT know is when you say revenue if you are conflating that with profit. The share from profits should be comparable. If however revenue is much lower and operating costs about the same (for example you still gotta upkeep a stadium and pay custodians and workers and whatever) that split may not be guaranteed.
I think what sets people off is that they're paid between 100k and 200k. They see that and the rumors that the WNBA isn't profitable and conclude "they're paid enough." But is 200k really a lot in the context of the highest paid players in an intense sport which is likely to leave you with lifelong injuries? Most top tier athletes work to make sure they can afford a modest life after retiring and I don't see how the median player could begin to approach that. I'll be rooting for their union.
And the aspect that infuriates me is that this is an actual opportunity to advocate for women’s sports. People had meltdowns over Lia Thomas. People sent death threats to Imane Khalif. All in the name of “protecting women’s sports.”
But when it’s time to show up to games (maybe not even WNBA, but like high school?), to support women’s athletics, it’s mockery. It’s jokes. There were other comments about how the solution would be to have them play naked.
I worked with a former big WNBA star. Big enough that her name is “mainstream.” She’s working at a middle school.
i'll never forget when one of the Washington Mystics took up coaching for the Wizards. what NBA player is taking on a second job to make ends meet?
Isn't that irrelevant if the league isn't making money though? People watch the NBA. They don't watch the WNBA. The comparison you should be drawing for "enough" would be other niche sports nobody watches like bowling or whatever.
people are watching the WNBA though. the two best selling items in the basketball world are courtney clark's ball in size 29.5 (traditionally referred to as the men's size) and Sabrina Ionescu's unisex shoes. men are hooping with a woman's ball in a woman's set of signature shoes. women are hooping with a men's size ball in pickup games. any time i want to talk hoops with anyone we talk FIBA and WNBA because that's what we're all watching because we can access it and because it's the style of hoops we're playing.
the math the owners are saying that there's no money to be made in womens basketball and the lived reality people are experiencing aren't mathing. i'm not saying it rivals NBA basketball in finance and viewership, but i am saying the women are right to say the cash isn't flowing how it should and someone's lying about where all the money went.
The sales aren't quite apples to apples. Very few WNBA players have the same marketability as a decent NBA player. Clark is a generational talent and the face of the league, but adding up the revenue of a bottom tier NBA roster dwarfs her. For reference, she brings in about 26% (!!!) of all WNBA's $200M revenue, while the lowest revenue NBA team (the Pelicans) brings in $272M.
You are right that the compensation doesn't match up however. Clark's rookie contract is $80k/yr for her $52M contribution compared to (minimum) $1.1M/yr for those Pelicans players contributing $18M.
Unionizing seems like a great option.
No I don't think that sounds like a lot of money, that said, unless there's joint ownership between mens and women's sports and some way to profit share and balance I'm not sure what the alternative is If the profit margin is small. Is there money for more pay? I have no idea I don't watch any sportsball.
An unfortunate potential answer is that the profitability doesn't offset the cost and up and coming women don't have a pro sport to play because it just doesn't pay enough to be a good career option.
All this to say "pay women more" sure. But there's no way to guarantee you can sustainably match other sports unless you command the same profit margins.
Agreed.
Never realized the significant disparity.
Always assumed it was just because nobody watches it and nobody really goes to the games.