WNBA Players are Overpaid | The Boneyard

WNBA Players are Overpaid

I really have no idea of what the various players make. I will postulate that, if true , what is having a negative impact on them is the poor media coverage . I read that Lobo claimed the popularity of WNBA was going to take off. That is not going to happen without more tv coverage. As far as I can tell we cannot get even one game per week. So much for ESPN tauting their equal coverage of female sports. Other networks are just as bad. Let’s face it even the tv coverage of women’s college basketball is not as good as it could be.
 
A good article with a poor title.
If salaries went up, some teams would fold. Then, the league would be a joke.

"...only half of WNBA teams have managed to become profitable 20 years after the league's founding..."
 
Not changing any time soon, as CBA runs through 2021 with max salary of $121,500 at that point.

Even if the WNBA union was able to negotiate a deal where the players get half of the gross revenues, the discrepancy between NBA and WNBA would continue to be huge. Although detailed financial info is not available, I have seen conservative WNBA annual gross income estimates of just over $50 million, or less than one third of a $154 million contract and far less than the NBA annual gross revenue figure of over $7 billion.
 
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I'm struck by Paragraph 4 of the article which starts: "Of course, TV ratings themselves are less important to this topic".
In an article that is a total of 6 paragraphs long 3 of the paragraphs are about TV ratings. Too bad because those TV ratings numbers almost had me on your side of the argument until you told me it wasn't about the TV numbers.
 
It's really hard to claim they deserve more money when the NBA is subsidizing them to keep it afloat.

And they negotiated their CBA, they have no one to blame on that front either.
 
Well as far as I can tell, the league thinks they have so much money that they decided to give $5 of every ticket sold to a bunch of organizations that a not insignificant portion of the population finds abhorrent. Further, the leagues giving to those organizations is economically stupid. If people wanted to give to any of those organizations, they would do so directly and get a tax benefit...when the league gives, the individual gets no tax benefit.
I find the marketing of the whole league makes no sense to me. "Watch me work" - do I care how hard they work? I'd much rather see your "finished product" (When your lawn service advertises, they don't advertise "watch me work", rather they advertise "this is how your lawn can look" - in virtually any field the advertising is not "I work hard", instead it is "I get these results"). Part of the reason I find this so odd is that in fact I do enjoy the finished product a great deal. The finished product has compelling attractive entertainment value. Sell that, not everything else.
 
Where does Wilson think the money should come from? Government subsidies?

It's all about profit. There is not enough interest in the product that the WNBA is marketing in order for it to be profitable. End of story.
 
trisailin said:
Well as far as I can tell, the league thinks they have so much money that they decided to give $5 of every ticket sold to a bunch of organizations that a not insignificant portion of the population finds abhorrent.
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Good point. Maybe this policy hurts attendance.
 
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CTrefugee said:
trolling because you don't like the content. It does, in fact, contain interesting info. Therefore - not trolling.
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No, it's the way it's written. The derisive reference to the "'blame the patriarchy' narrative". The total attitude of condescension towards WNBA players generally and Wilson specifically. Suggesting Wilson ought to be thankful she gets paid as much as she does. Linking to a youtube clip from Futurama about the tired "fundamentals" trope.

[ political content deleted ]
 
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Aluminny69 said:
Worth discussing?

WNBA Players Overpaid
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I have wondered how foreign teams can afford such outrageous contracts for the women basketball players when every game I have watched on the Internet was devoid of a meaningfully sized audience. So they are backed by local governments or highly profitable soccer teams. A profit is not expected. In the USA this is a charity. Apparently the NBA is not as altruistic as the Turkish soccer teams. So Mr. James would you mind being paid $54M so we can donate $100M of "your" money to the female basketball charity, the WNBA? Bet he and every other NBA players says ladies earn it by attracting a large paying market. Seems to me to determine if an activity is a business or a hobby the IRS asks if the activity has yielded a profit in 3 of the last 5 years. Taking this into consideration the WNBA players should feel really good. How many other people make so much money for their hobby? :D
 
Since I did not know of his past I still find his analysis of the situation extremely shallow. How shallow? If you are going to use A'ja Wilson tweet about Lebron's salary in an argument about WNBA player making too much you might as well use mine-I said the exact same thing: " $154 Mil? Must be nice. Where can I get some of that?"
 
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paisan said:
I really have no idea of what the various players make. I will postulate that, if true , what is having a negative impact on them is the poor media coverage . I read that Lobo claimed the popularity of WNBA was going to take off. That is not going to happen without more tv coverage. As far as I can tell we cannot get even one game per week. So much for ESPN tauting their equal coverage of female sports. Other networks are just as bad. Let’s face it even the tv coverage of women’s college basketball is not as good as it could be.
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They talk the talk but they also did the business analysis and learned the WNBA is a money losing proposition. So forget the walk part. The other networks know this as well. Most importantly the companies who pay for the placement of ads know they will not get their desired/expected return on investment. Don't expect any massive coverage for the WNBA. The NBA will continue to operate the WNBA as a hobby whose purpose is just lip service to the "social cause" of women's basketball. The WNBA is, what, 30 years old and has not shown even the slightest tendency to grow and yield a profit. Who wants to throw their money away? If everyone who bemoans the plight of the WNBA players actually put there money where their mouth is then perhaps there will be more coverage. But those people will just continue to bitch and moan but not take any real action which will require them to open their wallets and spend a bit of their long green. How much would you pay per WNBA season or view to watch the WNBA games as a paid service on TV? On the Internet?
 
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CTrefugee said:
A good article with a poor title.
If salaries went up, some teams would fold. Then, the league would be a joke.

"...only half of WNBA teams have managed to become profitable 20 years after the league's founding..."
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Remember their idea of profitability includes NBA subsidies. Would they be profitable without the NBA subsidies?
 
CocoHusky said:
I think we just went political!
I can see how it would be hard to ignore the politics if you knew about the writers past articles. Since I did not know of his past I still find his analysis of the situation extremely shallow. How shallow? If you are going to use A'ja Wilson tweet about Lebron's salary in an argument about WNBA player making too much you might as well use mine-I said the exact same thing: " $154 Mil? Must be nice. Where can I get some of that?"
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Sorry........you are not an A.W.
 
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Orangutan said:
The total attitude of condescension towards WNBA players generally and Wilson specifically. Suggesting Wilson ought to be thankful she gets paid as much as she does.
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Maybe he have said her remark was dumb and uninformed.
 
SVCBeercats said:
If everyone who bemoans the plight of the WNBA players actually put there money where their mouth is then perhaps there will be more coverage. But those people will just continue to bitch and moan but not take any real action which will require them to open their wallets and spend a bit of their long green.
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Well, I have season tickets for the Sky and subscribe to League Pass. So I guess I am allowed to keep bitching?
 
Orangutan said:
No. It's a troll article disguised as sober economic commentary.
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Your avatar should be an ostrich with its head in the sand. :D:rolleyes: You want to tell us why it is a troll article? Where is your business model full a successful unsubsidized WNBA? Can these women do it on their own? ;)
 
So your response below shows you have no cogent thoughts on the topic just emotional venting since someone disagrees with what you know is right. Were you stamping your feet while you typed? :D

Orangutan said:
No, it's the way it's written. The derisive reference to the "'blame the patriarchy' narrative". The total attitude of condescension towards WNBA players generally and Wilson specifically. Suggesting Wilson ought to be thankful she gets paid as much as she does. Linking to a youtube clip from Futurama about the tired "fundamentals" trope.
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SVCBeercats said:
So your response below shows you have no cogent thoughts on the topic just emotional venting since someone disagrees with what you know is right. Were you stamping your feet while you typed? :D
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The writer's arguments aren't made in good faith. There's no sense in engaging with them.

Your posts aren't made in good faith either (as evidenced by your clear desire to antagonize me). Therefeore, there is no sense engaging with you any longer.
 
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I don’t have a problem with this article. At the end of the day, the author is right. Sexism has nothing to do with WNBA players having lower salaries, it’s because the WNBA doesn’t generate revenue. Players who complain about “low salaries” need to stop and think, where is the money going to come from? It’s not like the coaches or owners are raking in loads of money. The arenas are rarely more than half full (if that) and games are rarely televised. The season is also 3 months long.

The players should be complaining to the front office and President, asking, “why aren’t you doing a better job of marketing us? Why do we get so little exposure? What are you doing to make the league more positive in the media and in the spotlight?”

Complaining about or comparing Lebron’s salary to yours is apples and oranges. And realistically speaking, Lebron is worth a heck of a lot more than that to the Lakers for 5 years, so it’s a very poor argument.

I like A’ja and McBride and like that they’re outspoken, but if they’re going to publicly vent about being underpaid, they need to provide a valid reason on why they should be getting paid more rather than complaining about an NBA legend signing a massive contract.
 
bballnut90 said:
Sexism has nothing to do with WNBA players having lower salaries, it’s because the WNBA doesn’t generate revenue.
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I happen to think sexism is a huge part of why the WNBA doesn't generate more revenue.

If every twitter troglodyte that made a "kitchen" comment on a tweet about the WNBA actually went to a game, attendance figures would be through the roof.

There are many men (and some women!) that have preconceived notions about women's basketball and refuse to watch it despite likely never having watched a full game.

The women's game is different and I don't expect every NBA fan to enjoy it. But I do think there are a lot of hardcore NBA fans that would appreciate the WNBA if they approached it with an open mind and gave it a chance.
 
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Rather sloppy article, even though I do think the WNBA pay reflects their value (that is, they're not underpaid - just paid less than we would prefer).

He devotes a small part of his article discussing what is referenced in the clickbait title, saying that they may be overpaid relative to the value suggested by consumer interest because the WNBA benefits from association/support of NBA. But then at the end he suggests that the players go to where they're more "valued" - e.g. Russia - without mentioning that the large salaries of Europe are a result of much heavier subsidization. UMMC Ekaterinburg isn't earning more revenue than a WNBA team - not with its cheap or even free tickets plus whatever miniscule TV deal it has, if any.

He has a footnote comparing WNBA salaries to what he describes as the highest PBA "salary." Never mind that PBA players earn prize money for winning bowling tournaments, not "salaries."

The rest of the analysis was not particularly insightful. It's barely at the level I would consider acceptably interesting for a post in the Boneyard Cesspool.
 
CocoHusky said:
Since I did not know of his past I still find his analysis of the situation extremely shallow. How shallow? If you are going to use A'ja Wilson tweet about Lebron's salary in an argument about WNBA player making too much you might as well use mine-I said the exact same thing: " $154 Mil? Must be nice. Where can I get some of that?"
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Context - Wilson seems to imply that WNBA players are pretty much doing the same thing so they deserve similar compensation.

Reality - NBA revenues for 2016/17 were $7.4 billion (Forbes). While WNBA revenues for the same period have not been made public (are they too embarrassed?) Forbes estimated that total revenues are probably a bit more than $60 million. Divide that relatively miniscule revenue pie between the 12 teams, subtract team expenses (staff, travel, insurance etc.) and see how much is left for the players.
 
Orangutan said:
I happen to think sexism is a huge part of why the WNBA doesn't generate more revenue.

If every twitter troglodyte that made a "kitchen" comment on a tweet about the WNBA actually went to a game, attendance figures would be through the roof.

There are many men (and some women!) that have preconceived notions about women's basketball and refuse to watch it despite likely never having watched a full game.

The women's game is different and I don't expect every NBA fan to enjoy it. But I do think there are a lot of hardcore NBA fans that would appreciate the WNBA if they approached it with an open mind and gave it a chance.
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All is probably true. And sad. But, in the end, it drives the low salaries. Making the leap from sexism to low salaries (if anyone is so inclined) using this argument may be fundamentally correct, but their view is so non-nuanced as to come off as, well, missing a good deal of the point.

I am as disappointed as anyone with the (relatively) low salary for such accomplished athletes, although - lets be honest - it isn't "bad" money when it isn't compared to other athlete's salaries. But you cannot get blood from a stone. Or water from a dry well. Or, well - choose your own metaphor. If the money isn't there, they are not going to get paid it. That is the central point, with the "why" more money isn't generated a whole separate issue.
 
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