WNBA & NBA: Equal Pay?
May 26, 2015 Assumptions 5 comments mcrosby15
For as long as I’ve been interested in sports women’s has always been looked over in my opinion. Being a basketball fan – the WNBA doesn’t get as much credit as it should. They also do not get paid nearly as much as players in the NBA, yet their job is the same. Both have the mindset and will to win. Although the skill set needed between the two may be different, the amount of work needed to win a WNBA or NBA championship is the same.
Some of the best players in the WNBA such as Diana Taurasi have chosen to take this upcoming season of the WNBA off due to financial offerings. Just last year she made a little under the maximum of $107,000 while over seas she gets paid over 10x more than that. From playing over seas she get paid about $1.5 million for playing the same game as in the United States. An average player in the NBA makes an average salary of about $5.6 million playing for his team. That is just about 5x more than a top player in the WNBA who plays in the United States.
Now the WNBA is not as popular as the NBA, but the time of the seasons do not clash what so ever. The NBA is played during the winter, while the WNBA starts up in the summer. This makes it so no attention is drawn away from either sides. Let’s take a look at a player from the WNBA and the NBA and see what differentiates the two.
Taminka Catching, 36, of the Indiana Fever (WNBA) and Kevin Garnett, 39, most known by his former team the Boston Celtics have one single thing that makes them different. A single chromosome that determines the gender of a person. Catchings was born with XX, while Garnett has an XY chromosome. The Y is what separates the two making a dramatic impact on salary as well.
Catchings is a catch in the WNBA and has been one of the greatest female athletes in the world for decades. She has been awarded the MVP in the WNBA, she’s a 4-time defensive player of the year, and has 3 Olympic Gold medals under her belt.
Garnett is none the less a well known player in the WNBA. He too has a decorated career. He is an all around player also earning MVP and defensive player of the year. He also has 1 Olympic Gold Medal under his belt.
Catchings having a slightly more decorated career has a substantially lower income than Garnett even though both play the same game. She earns about $3-$4 million including Nike endorsements and he get’s paid about $261 million excluding endorsements and an additional $10 million off the court.
Looking at two players who have made a huge impact on their leagues get paid so differently. Men outearn women in this sport by a 200-to-1 ratio.
Hopefully one day, after being around for 16 years, the WNBA salary will increase like the NBA did in the 1970s. Especially when it comes to playing the same sport and the only difference being whether you have a y chromosome or not.
5 Comments
Good post! How do you think a WNBA team would do against a NBA team? Do you think this outcome has anything to do with why NBA is more popular? All in all great job very informative.
Great post with some interesting points. Although I have a question regarding the reason for the difference in popularity. Now NBA and WNBA are for entertainment right? Then a seeker for a entertainment and suspenseful time I would most definitely flow to the NBA. The reason is quite simple people like to be rooting for their teams, but also want suspense, which both have. NBA on the other hand has another step above WNBA with a dunking feature which rather makes it better to watch.
Very informative post with some interesting points. Although I have a question regarding the reason for the difference in popularity. Now NBA and WNBA are for entertainment right? Then a seeker for a entertainment and suspenseful time I would most definitely flow to the NBA. The reason is quite simple people like to be rooting for their teams, but also want suspense, which both have. NBA on the other hand has another step above WNBA with a dunking feature which rather makes it better to watch.
Sense the WNBA isn’t as popular as the NBA do you think sense they don’t bet as much publicity and the price to watch the games affects how much the players get paid? From my knowledge of athletes being paid its on how popular the teams are and how much money they make from selling tickets to watch the games and there sponsors. How do you think that this could change and being able to change the budget that the teams have?
I believe this post has some valid points, but I don’t believe the WNBA can just pay their players more, the amount that athletes get paid is closely related to the popularity of their sport. The WNBA isn’t exactly popular so in my mind it can’t be possible for the Athletes to get paid large amounts of money because the sport itself can’t support a large paycheck. However I believe the athletes could look for sponsors and run advertisements for extra money. I feel like their paycheck could be entirely dependent on their own will to collect money rather than what the WNBA is willing to pay them.