User:Diego CD/Women's National Basketball Association

Brainstorm/Plan for Improvements

• expand on the section under "Business" that mentions the wage gap between the NBA and WNBA, maybe making an entire new paragraph or section within that to explain the ways the wage gap appears as well as reasons why it's so extreme
• We can start with what a wage gap is and what it means within the sports industry
  • revenue the wnba brings in vs what the nba brings in (what this means for the finances of the sport and its upkeep)
  • viewership
• Section the wage gap portion into 3 different sub-categories? We can each take on one paragraph?
  • Key factors
  • Revenue and viewer ship
  • future of the wnba

Article Draft

Text to add on to:

Previously, in 2008, a new six-year collective bargaining agreement was agreed upon between the players and the league. The salary cap for an entire team in 2010 was $827,000 (although it was later lowered to $775,000). By 2013 (the sixth year under this agreement), the cap for an entire team was $900,000. In 2010, the minimum salary for a player with three-plus years of experience was $51,000 while the maximum salary for a six-plus year player was $101,500 (the first time in league history that players can receive over $100,000). The minimum salary for rookies was $35,190. Many WNBA players supplement their salaries by playing in European, Australian, or more recently Chinese women's basketball leagues during the WNBA offseason. The WNBA pays its female players less than their NBA counterparts, although this is attributed to the much greater revenues of the NBA; however the WNBA has been criticized for "paying its players a lower share of revenue than the NBA".

The Gender Pay Gap

Gender pay gap in sports is the difference in pay between men and women in the sports industry.

Player Revenue

There are many factors that play into the smaller wages WNBA players receive during their season, but two major contributors are revenue and viewership numbers and the allocation of funds by both the NBA and the WNBA. It is estimated that wages for NBA players take up 50% of the league's annual revenue, while WNBA players only receive 20% of their league's income. WNBA players are not looking for the same salaries, but instead to receive the same percentage in revenue share. Kelsey Plum said in an interview with the The Residency Podcast, “We’re not asking to get paid what the men get paid. We’re asking to get paid the same percentage of revenue shared.”

Viewership

In sports, revenue and viewership are indicators of how much money the sport is generating. It can be brought in through sales such as tickets and merchandise, as well as how many spectators are broadcasting the game. The salary of players and the finances that go into maintaining the sport depend on viewership. Without revenue and viewership, it is difficult to uphold and maintain sporting facilities and equipment. In 2019, it was reported that the total revenue the WNBA brought in was $102 million. New data shows that in 2023, the league and teams together are estimated to bring in around $180 million to $200 million in revenue.

The WNBA's audience has increased by 67% halfway through the 2023 season, with an average of 556,184 viewers per game. Their social media presence has also risen in popularity, garnering more than 24 million views across all social media platforms.

Player Marketing Agreements

Jasmine Thomas, player for the Los Angeles Sparks, is one of the 10 players with a PMA contract.

Player marketing agreements are contracts that allow WNBA players to bring in more individual revenue by promoting the WNBA year-round. As of 2022, there are 10 players who have signed PMAs: Diamond DeShields, Dearica Hamby, Napheesa Collier, DiDi Richards, Arike Ogunbowale, Kahleah Copper, Ariel Atkins, Jasmine Thomas, Kelsey Mitchell, and Izzy Harrison. The league is expected to spend $1 million on PMAs annually, and this funding is divided between the players who have signed contracts, with a salary cap of $250,000. While this is a way for players to make more money during their off-season, it is also a way for the league to keep players from going overseas, as they become tied to the WNBA and are unable to play in leagues in Europe and elsewhere. Players choose to sign PMAs for many different reasons, ranging anywhere from injuries sustained in-season that need to be rested to childcare responsibilities. These agreements are still in their infancy stage and need further developing and funding to become a viable option for more WNBA players who are looking to increase their revenue.

NBA Support

The WNBA is half-owned by the NBA and receives between $10-$15 million dollars annually to subsidize the league from the NBA's yearly revenue, which in 2022, reached up to $10 billion. Six WNBA teams are considered sister teams to the NBA teams based in the same areas and are directly connected to those NBA teams and their markets. The NBA's allotment of funding to all WNBA teams, not just sister teams, has been discussed in many academic and sports analysis circles, with some authors arguing that the NBA should be doing more to support the WNBA if they want the league to succeed. Sponsorship and television deals continue to be an area where the WNBA creates less revenue than their NBA counterparts, with the WNBA bringing in $25 million from ESPN and the NBA bringing in $930 million from ESPN and TNT. Some argue that the NBA could be working harder to bridge that gap between organizations and either share more revenue from deals or help the WNBA create their own more profitable agreements.

Future Implications

Though the WNBA makes a small fraction of revenue compared to that of the NBA ($60 Million vs $10 Billion) current trends are showing that the revenue of the WNBA is steadily increasing every year. The WNBA had a record-breaking season in 2022, where it received $75 million dollars in funding, and viewership went up by 50% in the 2021 regular season.

A good portion of this jump in viewership and recognition can be attributed to the creative director of the WNBA, Roman King, appointed in 2019. King rapidly changed the culture of women's basketball into an evolving, fast-paced idea that heavily influenced by King and his team. He has seen and understood the individual WNBA players, seeing them not just as players but as individuals with their own ideas and feelings outside of the court. King and his team have tried to capture the individual stories and styles of each of the players, helping to create a different, dynamic approach to the players within the WNBA, and most importantly, giving someone for others to relate to. King's approach of marking the individual players themselves has helped re-brand the WNBA to focus on their target audience of younger, Gen-Z fans who hold the same values that the players in the WNBA hold themselves, giving each individual fan someone who they can look up to and relate to.

The future appears bright for the WNBA, with its revenue increasing in 2023 and that year's season being the most viewed season in over 21 years. The gender pay gap still remains an issue to be solved, despite the new marketing approach of the WNBA players done by Roman King. However, with its steadily increasing revenue and growing viewership, the WNBA is slowly but surely going in the right direction.