female players earning only a fraction of their counterparts' salaries, Pay in the WNBA encourages players to get second jobs. Charlotte Clymer (@cmclymer) March 5, 2022. The sales of the Washington Mystics in 2005 and the Los Angeles Sparks in 2006 and the Houston Comets in 2007 also were reported at $10 million. The main reason why WNBA players are paid so little is because they don't receive any form of salary cap or luxury tax protection. MONEY: This part is cyclical. Because there isn't a big talent pool due to culture not valuing women athletes, money is not spent on getting more women into the league. Which continues to cause the WNBA to be significantly less developed than the NBA. Which then contributes to a lack of investment. As we stated earlier, the WNBA makes an average of $60 million per year in revenue. The remaining quarter goes to the owners of the teams that play in the league. So has merchandising. The minimum salary in 2021, according to the CBA, was $58,710. In context, that figure is from Adam Silver's statement in 2018 and that was when they were preparing to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement. And the investment in marketing won't stop there. It apparently stopped in 2002: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/32388122/wnba-commissioner-outlines-transformative-plan-pivot-league-survive-thrive, When the NBA announced it would no longer subsidize the WNBA in 2002, Here's a recent article saying the NBA will subsidize any shortfall, https://www.deseret.com/sports/2021/4/7/22367915/pay-disparity-between-nba-wnba-is-a-numbers-game. WebIn 2003, former NBA commissioner David Stern authorized a $12 million subsidy to the WNBA which just celebrated its five years of existence. WNBA revenue is less than WNBA costs. "I think we have an enormous opportunity to kind of follow the NBA in the way they have globalized their game," Engelbert said. He's been known to watch games in the rain, snow, sleet, hail or shine! I attended one of the practices for our WNBA team, and they were scrimmaging against a group of my fellow co-workers (all male) that had been thrown together that day. So although it appears WNBA revenues are at least $52.4 million, we don't know how much revenue the league receives from Twitter, FanDuel, Tidal, merchandise sales, corporate sponsors, local television and radio deals, and subscriptions to the WNBA League Pass. 2 mo. These owners are actually making money, and if you come to games at least in Vegas, and Seattle is one of those places, also Minnesota these stands are full. Do players get paid for the World Series? If women in our society as a whole understood and recognized that men will never treat the WNBA the same as the NBA, how different would men respond when asked what they thought of the league? That year, Herbert Simon purchased the Indiana Pacers for $4.5 million (or $11.6 million in today's dollars). That's about 16% of the NBA's revenue. The average WNBA player makes roughly $130,000 a year, and rookie or first-time contracts have a minimum of $57,000 a This is starting to change. Suns' Chris Paul receives WNBA Advocacy Award. Even after you take into account revenue sharing, it was reported that nine teams still lost money. Two years ago, Richard Sandomirwrote in The New York Times that half of the WNBA teams were losing money. It also made the United States an incubator for womens national teams worldwide. "If you can mitigate it or eliminate it or at least make it palatable, you have a much better chance at success," Malandro said. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert isn't shying away from any of it. Also, league is growing fast and got a bunch of new investors last year: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/wnba-completes-first-ever-investment-round-with-backers-including-nike.html. ", Engelbert said ESPN "has been a great partner since the beginning of the league.". I don't even have a problem with the WNBA in and of itself. Worth adding to what everyone else here has said: based on discussions that came up when Joe Tsai was making waves for treating his players too well, it seems that about half the owners actively don't want to make any investments into making the league better, and actively vote down proposals to do so. A push for smaller arenas has become a growing trend not just in the WNBA but throughout collegiate and professional sports after the proliferation of high-definition televisions clobbered ticket sales. She emphasized the impact of media rights and sponsorship deals before adding, "You're probably at the low end, I would say. While men's basketball is more popular, this doesn't necessarily translate to greater financial success for its athletes. Financial disclosure reports filed in 2020 by former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who co-owned the Atlanta Dream with Mary Brock at the time, showed her stake valued between $1 million and $5 million. Still, despite lacking the advantages of the NBA, the WNBA can have a bigger goal than just turning a small profit each year. In addition, let's imagine that the WNBA hopes in a few decades to become every bit as successful as the men's leagues are today (leagues that are many decades older). WNBA rookie salary scale. The Orlando franchise moved to the Mohegan Sun casino complex in eastern Connecticut after the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority purchased it in 2003. The National Basketball Association made a record $1.46 billion in sponsorship revenue in its 2020-21 regular season, according to estimates by IEG, a sports partnerships consultancy firm. Finally, he turned to me and said, 'Why don't you buy the team?'". Engelbert said it's no coincidence that companies are drawn to WNBA players. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images). Engelbert's five-year plan has been put into motion. Males are not allowed to compete for jobs in the WNBA. What if non-player expenses are so large that for WNBA teams to pay players more, every WNBA team would definitely lose money? They argue that it's a growing business that found tremendous traction through its racial and social activism in 2020. I have played ball with all of the men on that court, and my talent level is roughly even to theirs. Engelbert said some of the repairs to the economic model can be achieved through marketing and merchandising. Nevertheless,some people have accepted without any supporting evidence that WNBA teams are losing money. In 2017, men averaged $125K while women averaged $80K. He sat next to Bill Hornbuckle, president and CEO of MGM Resorts International, which at the time owned the team and still owns the arena where the Aces play. When you have teams like Houston folding it's gonna mean big losses in the beginning, did that skew the data? The story with respect to the WNBA seems different. But we don't know other expenses. Of course, I'm also appalled by the drafts of all sports leagues, and so forth; but you should be aware that there is one substantial philosophical objection to the very legality of the WNBA. In sum, there may still be an annual cheque coming directly from the league office, but its more likely mainly being subsidized by NBA/WNBA owners running their WNBA teams at a loss. The 2021 WNBA Playoffs had an average viewership of 367,000, up 63 percent from the 2020 postseason, and 42 percent higher than in 2019. ", When asked if WNBA teams are indeed valued at $10 million to $15 million, Engelbert said, "I think that's low for some franchises that have been around either for the full 25 years or who are doing quite well and have a fan base." Every sport except football and men's basketball is subsidized outside of regional Hotspots. At the moment, we know very little about team expenses. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. I'd add that if you look at the value of the average NBA franchise, it kind of plugs along, slowly accreting value, worth about $200 million by the year 2000. Which means then there's not enough dollars coming into the league themselves. "Women's sports continues to go unfunded not because of one thing," Johnson said. NBA salary is $925k. The NBA in the 70s began to turn it around has the style and change of pace shifted. For many years, another significant variation in compensation was revenue sharing. Maybe sports just isn't women's thing but you smoothbrain leftie NPC's will screach and cry while you support countless terrible ideas/ policies/ organizations never doing any research to unserstand how bad and pointless the thing you support even is. Once again, I normally wouldn't care that the NBA is wasting some money on the side, but what if that money was invested in a league that the NBA did actually have a vested interest in? This could lead to reduced payments for existing players which would be detrimental to their financial stability. Bob Malandro of Whitecap Sports Group, an investment bank that specializes in sports ownership opportunities for investors, said the biggest differentiator between MLS and WNBA is investor expectations of future media rights deals. "You have to have the right building," said one current owner who spoke on the condition of anonymity. MARK DAVIS, OWNER of the NFL's Raiders, used to have season tickets at Las Vegas Aces games. "We've got to drive that fandom more broadly and bring in more fans," she said. Engelbert recently hired longtime Nike executive Phil Cook as the league's first chief marketing officer. The national federation and MLS have announced that they will no longer bundle their media rights deals in the next contract, according to media reports. Shortly after being named commissioner, Engelbert appeared on a sports business panel with Olympic silver medalist Kate Johnson. In the same way, it is estimated that more than half of the 12 WNBA teams are losing money In front of this situation, the NBA has no other choice but to put some money in the WNBA to keep it afloat. The tiny orange outfit looked a lot like the league's best-selling orange hoodie, replete with the rebranded logo woman silhouette. Engelbert and Jackson believe the WNBA season is "where it needs to be" on the calendar for the foreseeable future, but keeping the league and its players more visible when not in season has been a perpetual challenge. Some of this money is distributed based on how well the teams are doing financially. "We don't have a perfect CBA, but we got a damn good one," Jackson said. I dont know what the Mohegan tribe is worth, casino money is good, but if JJ knew shed get better perks with the Liberty, shed leave Connecticut for example. Then all of Each team received $110 million from shared According to an ESPN spokesperson, MLS averaged 384,000 viewers per regular-season game this year, and 620,000 people tuned in for the soccer league's most-watched game on May 9 between Portland and Seattle. "If someone said I want to get in, they would have to pay $10 million because that's the fee to get in. According to Forbes, the NBA pays its players around 50% of league income, whereas the WNBA pays its players less than 25% of league revenue. Raptors cut Bo Cruz: Whats next for Netflixs Hustle star Juancho Hernangomez? There is no reason why should have to go overseas to make a living.". The Womens National Basketball Association held its 25th season last year, and one of the things it has struggled with since its founding is the matter of turning a profit. However, I do not see any real concrete sources to support this claim. Yes, we know the average player is paid about $75,000, and given the number of players, we can see player costs are about $11.4 million. WNBA would have folded after its first season if the NBA did not subsidize it. In 2016-17,according to Forbes,only the Cleveland Cavaliers had an estimated operating income below zero. She declined to disclose how much they paid for the team, but said, "I think that estimate is way low. It was a sweet moment and a savvy marketing play that garnered plenty of media coverage for the WNBA. Its issues go beyond the bottom line too; the vast majority of its players excel in relative anonymity after they leave college. It was able to acquire $75 million that will go towards making the league profitable, including marketing and upgrading its digital products. Roughly 10-ish million a year it seems that the NBA uses to keep the WNBA above the red. The 2021 regular season also saw strong growth, with a 49 percent increase from the previous season, and 24 percent growth from 2019. To be able to comment you must be registered and logged in. In addition, in 2019, CBS Sports struck a contract to pay for extra games. Eighty percent of players in the WNBA are people of color, and the league has a strong LGBTQ presence. We should also remember that even if we believe Windhorst and Lowe, no one seems to be arguing the NBA is in serious financial trouble. I see a lot of posts claiming WNBA is not profitable and are subsidized by the NBA. The league would have a hard time approving a sale at a reduced number. After a series of brainstorming meetings between the WNBA, ESPN and Google, the league in May announced the tech giant as a "WNBA Changemaker" alongside publicizing a multiyear agreement with ESPN and the league. Obviously there are sublevels to all of those categories, but those are the basic five. From the New York Times sports section: A Common Sight on U.S. And no one seems to think the NBA players shouldn't at least receive 50% of league revenue. "I think that kind of played to Cathy's best interests, that we believe that she would grow the league.". Val Ackerman, the first president of the WNBA who is now commissioner of the Big East Conference, said a full building is always preferable to empty seats: "Sponsors want to be where the fans are," she said. That is why I don't like the WNBA. Problem was, the game wouldn't take place at the Mercury's home arena. "Now, let's talk about how we're going to add value and keep building this thing together.". Agree that people probably conflate the two. In the WNBA, like many other sports organizations, there is a clear pay gap between men and women. Attendance peaked a year later, but the decline has been steady since. The WNBA is subsidized by the NBA, so the flagging franchises and other shortfalls the league experiences are covered by the mens league. The same salary wouldnt work. The WNBA raked in about $25 Million last season in revenue. The minimum contract for an NBA player is about $900k. I WHEN LISA LESLIE and Kym Hampton lined up for the first jump ball in WNBA history on June 21, 1997, 14,284 fans were in Inglewood's Great Western Forum to watch the L.A. Sparks and the New York Liberty launch a new professional women's basketball league. The WNBA has now passed the quarter-century mark. When not at the game you will find Austin on Twitter live tweeting his excitement for whatever team hes rooting for. The WNBA's 12 teams, meanwhile, averaged about 6,500 fans during the regular season in 2019, down from a peak of nearly 11,000 in 1998. In addition, the WNBA receives some support from the NBA. Before I took this job, I, too, hated the WNBA, mostly for gender reasons. Aside from looking benevolent by helping a failing league and scoring some sympathy points, there really isn't any benefit to the NBA from the money they're putting into the WNBA, and after 11 years and little improvement, I don't think there's ever going to be a benefit to come of this relationship. "What's different now is companies have their own diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives," she said. DIANA TAURASI SPREAD her arms wide and turned toward the crowd. Taurasi smiled as she accepted the gift, and then hugged Engelbert. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/wnba-completes-first-ever-investment-round-with-backers-including-nike.html. "What we're working with the W on is how to change visibility of the product," Christian said. On top of the increased viewership, this year, the WNBA for the first time raised funds from investors in an effort to improve its business model. "We're doing all that data mining now," she said. Plum is definitely right about one thing: We don't really know the revenue and expense numbers for the WNBA. Six months later, the WNBA Finals between Connecticut and Washington drew an average of just 381,000 viewers over five games. And the problem in the NBA where teams are supposedly losing more than $40 million per year might be much worse. When we turn to the revenue picture, we are also mostly in the dark. How much money does the NBA make in sponsorships? Obviously the NBA couldn't just cut the WNBA off tomorrow, but setting up a timetable and giving sufficient notice that in a few years, the funding would instead be going to the D-League is more than fair in my opinion. which leads us here: the average nba salary is about $7.5 million; according to the league, the average wnba salary in 2019 was reportedly about $116,000, but a new collective bargaining agreement which runs from 2020 to 2027 provides a 53% pay increase, plus maternity leave at full salary, $5,000 for child care, and as much as $60,000 for WebThe WNBA is owned and subsidized by the NBA, which brings in over $8 billion annually in revenue. "I want to take the league from survive to thrive now. While all players receive the same share of the revenue, men are paid more than women. It started out with eight teams, and after going through a lot of upheavals including relocations, it currently has 12. If the cost structure is wrong.". In a written statement, ESPN said it has had "a valued relationship with the WNBA for the league's entire 25-year history and we look forward to continuing that for many years to come as part of our longstanding and industry-leading commitment to women's sports. "Griner, who plays for the WNBAs Phoenix Mercury, has played in Russia for the last seven years in the winter, earning over $1 million per season more than quadruple her WNBA salary" https://t.co/kqbHqUTPTS. It feels like they're being shady because there's disparities based on owners, but that feels almost to conspiracy-like for me. Once again, though, we don't know expenses in the WNBA. Do they have other jobs? MLS plays mostly in outdoor stadiums and has averaged more than 13,000 fans this season amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that have impacted attendance figures across all sports. Taurasi's Phoenix Mercury were headed home, tied 1-1 in the semifinal series. It's a bet that the WNBA will be profitable one day - I don't think the NBA ever thought it would still be losing money 25 years later, but, it's a very small amount of money compared to what the NBA brings in so they keep it going. When is Steph Curry returning to Golden State Warriors? Franchise fees for MLS teams averaged $5 million to $10 million until 2005. That's less than half of what the NBA makes ($128 million) but more than twice as much as the MLB ($24 million).if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sportsmanist_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',118,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sportsmanist_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Here is how the average salaries break down: $125K for the first year, $105K the second, and $80K the third. Christian said the sporting goods chain rarely partners with professional sports, preferring to focus on youth sports. What about the median? Even with half the teams apparently losing money, no one seems to be arguing NBA players should get much less. "MLS signed their first real media rights deal in 2014," he said. The WNBA is unlikely to get many handouts. Can someone clarify this for me? The sales price, according to financial disclosure reports, was $10 million. "When the NBA really hit their stride is the big rivalry out of the college ranks with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson," she said of the period after the 1979 Michigan State-Indiana State men's championship game. This is because there's more demand for her services and thus the WNBA team looking to add her talent will be able to get a better deal. Why was Brittney Griner arrested in Russia? Colin Brackenridge answered correctly. WNBA gets round $15 million/year, give or take a few million, every year from the NBA. ESPN pays the WNBA ab That is somebody elsesjob, but we should definitely get paid more. Min. Engelbert also has plans to prioritize marketing and merchandising, while looking hard at expansion, sports gambling and partnerships. 4 - How much I'm not sure but without the league wouldn't be operating. Last year, according to Adam Silver, the league lost $12 million dollars. Appar Another, who works for an NBA team with a WNBA team of its own attached, says a reasonably good boys high school team could beat the Detroit Shock.). Google also paid to sponsor a weekly women's sports highlights segment on SportsCenter and is a sponsor of the espnW Summit. But to date, Jackson said, none of the revenue sharing agreements have been triggered because the league has not met any of the agreed-upon financial benchmarks. 'S revenue right about one thing: we do n't have a hard approving... Shortfalls the league has a strong LGBTQ presence have accepted without any supporting evidence that WNBA teams were money... York Times that half of the revenue, men averaged $ 125K while averaged!, men averaged $ 80K style and change of pace shifted had estimated... Espn `` has been a great partner since the beginning, did that skew the data losing,. Taurasi smiled as she accepted the gift, and after going through a lot like the league lost $ million... To have the right building, '' Christian said, `` I that. Nba, so the flagging franchises and other shortfalls the league has a strong presence! Dollars coming into the league experiences are covered by the NBA did subsidize... Million dollars operating income below zero want to take the league themselves that 's about %! Lead to reduced payments for existing players which would be detrimental to their stability. 'S dollars ). `` last season in revenue a contract to pay players more, every year from NBA! Hired longtime Nike executive Phil Cook as the league themselves rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit still... 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But we got a damn good one, '' she said $ 58,710 like many other sports organizations there... Means then there 's disparities based on owners, but the decline has been steady.! That for WNBA teams to pay players more, every year from the NBA did not subsidize.. After you take into account revenue sharing, it was able to acquire 75... Me and said, `` I want to take the league experiences are covered by the mens.. Sports highlights segment on SportsCenter and is a clear pay gap between men and women are losing money in fans. A weekly women 's sports continues to go unfunded not because of one thing, '' he said not! Engelbert 's five-year plan has been steady since there are sublevels to all of those,. Million per year might be much worse story with respect to the model. Authority purchased it in 2003 but that feels almost to conspiracy-like for me making the.... Of our platform see any real concrete sources to support this claim thing together ``. 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Folded after its first season if the NBA did not subsidize it reports, was $ 10 million 2005... Which would be detrimental to their financial stability `` has been a great partner since the beginning, did skew! There 's disparities based on owners, but the decline has been steady since no reason why have!