For as long as women have been in the workplace; they have come up with this crazy idea that equal work deserves equal pay. A mind-blowing concept that decades later has still not become the standard. When it comes to professional basketball, there is a large disparity between the WNBA and NBA salaries. In 2021, the WNBA will have an average salary of $100,658.51. The NBA on the other hand paid their players an average of $7.7 million in 2020. While I am not about to say that both leagues should have equal pay, there are ways to close the gap and increase player salaries in the WNBA.
New Fans
The best way to increase revenue in the league is to raise awareness of the WNBA. More nationally televised games will do this. In 2020, viewership went up 68%. They also nationally televised 87% of the games. It turns out if more viewers can watch the games, more viewers will watch the games.
Another way to attract new fans is through charity events in the local cities. People that have no idea the WNBA exists need a way to find out about it. The women in this league are generally very tall individuals and stand out because of that. If A’ja Wilson, Candace Parker, or Chiney Ogwumike are helping out a charity that people are positively affected by, they are going to garner attention. This could draw people that have no prior interest in sports to the WNBA.
New fans bring in new revenue, so the first step to bringing more money into the league is to acquire more fans. More money going to the league will leave more room for negotiations and increasing player salaries down the road.
Sponsors
When looking at a jersey in 2020, it was often easier to find the primary sponsor than the team name. That game between the Mayo Clinic and UChicago Medicine was one to remember. While sponsors on jerseys are good, the teams should not be pursuing a NASCAR look with patches on any open spot on the jersey. Instead, teams should be pushing to get more ads sold during their games and signs within the stadium. Receiving more money is the only way a team can justify spending more money to increase player salaries.
Barriers
These teams are businesses, and the players are employees. Businesses like to keep costs down to increase profit. Just because they see more money does not encourage them to necessarily spend any more than they need to. The biggest obstacle is the fact that there are only 12 teams in the WNBA. This means several capable players are left out of the league due to roster limitations. If a player is not an all-star and their rookie contract is expiring; it will be cheaper to replace them with a rookie than to renew their contract. All players should be looked at as assets, and the best way to do that would be to increase the number of teams in the league. Outside of the players, adding more teams would also promote the league to new cities where new fans could attend games easier than traveling several states away.
Another barrier is the season length. The WNBA season is less than half the length of the NBA season. Back to the equal pay for equal work argument. Although they all train essentially every day; they only gain revenue for the team on gameday, and less revenue at that. More games and more fans at the games will be necessary before the gap can significantly close.
Professional athletes should not be required to work in two different leagues to make a substantial income. However, until the WNBA can bring in some new fans to spend more money the players will have to deal with this poor pay for a few more years. More nationally televised games and more teams, in general; will be the fastest ways for the league to grow financially to directly promote increasing player salaries across the league.
For more articles regarding the WNBA and other women’s sports, please visit Beyond Women’s Sports. And follow me on Twitter @CAman520.
