Harsh....but true.
"Unfortunately Wilson’s thoughts reflect a growing trend of sports commentary looking at the plight of the “underpaid” WNBA player. Lisa Borders, president of the WNBA, has even directly pointed to sexism as a driving reason for the discrepancies between the earnings of male and female players.
Of course the real issue has nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with the fact that the WNBA simply isn’t very popular with Americans."
WNBA Players Should Stop Complaining. If Anything, They're Overpaid
"But as its 20th season gets underway, the W.N.B.A.’s modest attendance and television viewership (just below 200,000 on ESPN’s networks last season) illuminate a stubborn imbalance between men’s and women’s professional leagues, adding to the expanding debate about the place of women’s sports in society.
Half of the W.N.B.A.’s 12 teams lose money, and they benefit from revenue generated by the N.B.A.’s national television and sponsorship deals."
After Two Decades, W.N.B.A. Still Struggling for Relevance
I value and appreciate WNBA and women's college basketball. I also recognize salaries will not increase until there is a substantial increase in audience. This point is emphasized using economic analysis by John Phelan
"From the point of view of the team owners, the measure of output that matters is the revenue the players generate. And when LeBron James steps onto the court, it generates far more revenue for the Heat, Cavaliers, or Lakers than it does for the Lynx when Maya Moore does so. They may exert the same physical effort, but far more money is handed over by consumers to the NBA than the WNBA in return for all this.
"I do not know if the difference in demand for men’s and women’s basketball is because of a difference in the quality of the product or because of sexism on the part of consumers. But in a sense, it doesn’t matter. Whichever it is, the answer is not for WNBA teams simply to start paying their players as much as the NBA does theirs. They can’t. The money isn’t there."
This is the reason that LeBron earns more than Moore and all NBA players make more than all WNBA players.....the audience is much, much, much larger and generates vastly more revenue and profit compared to the relatively small revenue and loss generated by the WNBA.
Why WNBA Stars Make (Way) Less Than NBA Backups—and Why That's Okay | John Phelan
"Unfortunately Wilson’s thoughts reflect a growing trend of sports commentary looking at the plight of the “underpaid” WNBA player. Lisa Borders, president of the WNBA, has even directly pointed to sexism as a driving reason for the discrepancies between the earnings of male and female players.
Of course the real issue has nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with the fact that the WNBA simply isn’t very popular with Americans."
WNBA Players Should Stop Complaining. If Anything, They're Overpaid
"But as its 20th season gets underway, the W.N.B.A.’s modest attendance and television viewership (just below 200,000 on ESPN’s networks last season) illuminate a stubborn imbalance between men’s and women’s professional leagues, adding to the expanding debate about the place of women’s sports in society.
Half of the W.N.B.A.’s 12 teams lose money, and they benefit from revenue generated by the N.B.A.’s national television and sponsorship deals."
After Two Decades, W.N.B.A. Still Struggling for Relevance
I value and appreciate WNBA and women's college basketball. I also recognize salaries will not increase until there is a substantial increase in audience. This point is emphasized using economic analysis by John Phelan
"From the point of view of the team owners, the measure of output that matters is the revenue the players generate. And when LeBron James steps onto the court, it generates far more revenue for the Heat, Cavaliers, or Lakers than it does for the Lynx when Maya Moore does so. They may exert the same physical effort, but far more money is handed over by consumers to the NBA than the WNBA in return for all this.
"I do not know if the difference in demand for men’s and women’s basketball is because of a difference in the quality of the product or because of sexism on the part of consumers. But in a sense, it doesn’t matter. Whichever it is, the answer is not for WNBA teams simply to start paying their players as much as the NBA does theirs. They can’t. The money isn’t there."
This is the reason that LeBron earns more than Moore and all NBA players make more than all WNBA players.....the audience is much, much, much larger and generates vastly more revenue and profit compared to the relatively small revenue and loss generated by the WNBA.
Why WNBA Stars Make (Way) Less Than NBA Backups—and Why That's Okay | John Phelan
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