The average salary of a WNBA player is around $71,000 while the average NBA salary is $6.4 million, but it makes sense right now considering the crowd sizes and how much each organization is bringing in. The WNBA is an American professional women's basketball league established in 1996 and owned by the NBA. We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. from what Im hearing hes plenty informed. The games marquee brand, UConn, had been eliminated. I should be paying attention. Though many thought the WNBPAs 50% revenue-sharing goal was unrealistic, under the new CBA, if the WNBA exceeds the prior years revenue target, then WNBPA player-members will indeed receive half of the revenue. Noor Ahmed made significant contributions to this column. Chart. WNBA games averaged 321,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and CBS during the regular season, up 51% from last year and the league's most-watched season in 13 years. For example, according to the WNBA (WNBA League Overview, 2009), 58% of their fans are female, 27%, 31%, 26% are from the age groups of 12-17, 18-34, and 35-54 respectively, and basketball participants are more likely to watch and attend WNBA games. *Note: The author calculated some of these figures based on available information. If every woman in the country tuned into the WNBA, it could stand on its own two feet. A WNBA roster has a maximum of 12 players, whereas an NBA roster has a maximum of 15 players and a minimum of 12. The WNBA averages around 7,000 attendees per game while the NBA averages 18,000 in attendance. In the extra session, with Kobe Bryant watching from the stands, Notre Dames ArikeOgunbowale hit thegame-winner with one-second left. . Whether youre Read more. Natalie Weiner (@natalieweiner)October 15, 2017, These very important people in, not just womens basketball history, but basketball history are excluded from this book that is ostensibly about the whole sport and not just about men in the sport, Weiner said. An NBA Draft player must be at least 19 years old and have a minimum of one year post-secondary experience; however, a WNBA Draft player must be at least 22 years old. Each WNBA player will now also receive her own hotel room while traveling, a benefit their NBA counterparts have enjoyed since 1999. Johnny Buss, center, and the L.A. Sparks took the bold step of promoting the WNBA team at a lesbian bar. While there are a lot of Read more, Even though the NBA finals are over for the year and the Golden State Warriors have taken the crown, we wanted to keep the basketball talk going. Both series went five games with each team taking one title. Notice I didn't just say women. Others say the WNBA is on during the time of year when most people are doing summer-type things, instead of in the house watching sports. (This category is comprised of basketball and business operations jobs spanning from manager to executive director and senior director level, and includes player development, strength and conditioning, and general business operations.). ESPN is using all of its platforms, not just the TV games, Stiff said, pointing to coverage and player appearances onSportsCenterandGet Up! OnLabor is unable to accept unsolicited submissions. Trying to attract men who already have preconceived notions about the WNBA or female athletes in general is fruitless. You could be getting the best stories in your inbox twice a day. Currently, you are using a shared account. Since 1963, pay discrimination on the basis of sex has been illegal in the U.S., however. The 2021 Women's National Basketball Association Racial and Gender Report Card (RGRC), released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, confirms sports' best record for racial and gender hiring practices. It's women. While growing diversity through a new franchise is still far into the foreseeable future, the WNBA has improved in many categories as seen in the 2021 report card. An NBA basketball measures in at 29.5, sometimes known as a size 7, while the WNBA basketball is about an inch smaller measuring in at 28.5, otherwise known as a size 6. For the last two seasons the Sparks and the Lynx battled it out for the WNBA championship. BizPacReview |, Petty heffa: The Views Ana Navarro skewered for cracking on Marjorie Taylor Greenes appearance, Womens college volleyball game features incredible rally complete with diving, table-crashing safe, Wild brawl breaks out at Fitness Connection gym, takes deciding turn when woman enters picture, Russell Brand crushes MSNBC to network analysts face: Propagandist nut-crackery, Avalanche risk forces authorities to close Mt. OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. It also comes as the Trump administration [], The workplace benefits historically marginalized groups enjoy from unionization are well-documented. By all metrics, WNBA Viewership is increasing in all the most important areas. Had this been six months ago, and I saw they were playing, I would not have known anything. Each bar represents the share of any given stat category owned by a single player. ), Time to cash in wokester! As Clarendon explained, for women who have often been underpaid, we know black women are underpaid, queer people, [too] . If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. It was also up 3 percent from the 2019-20 season. That said, a unique dynamic underlaid this compensation negotiation: WNBPA player-members strongly desired an equal (50%) share of WNBA revenues to match the virtually equal revenue partnership their male NBPA counterparts enjoy with the NBA. The June 28 game between the Sparks and the Seattle Storm drew 378,000 viewers. I hate #NBA but this dude is 100% correct, if #WNBA wants more money (advertising, marketing) they need to increase their popularity & get more fans/TV ratings. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? The NBA has 30 teams, the WNBA 12. It's a hard task. WNBA semis start with viewership high Tuesday's double-overtime Sky-Sun WNBA semifinal opener averaged 399,000 viewers on ESPN2, marking the largest WNBA playoff audience prior to the Finals since 2018 (Mystics-Dream Game 5: 430K). Moore also wondered in her essay why the fans that rooted her on at the University of Connecticut didn't follow her to the WNBA. In recent years, however, the women's basketball league has seen real momentum, evident in . And it isn't men. In 2008, the WNBA finished up in key demographics on ESPN2Women 18-34 (+71%) and Men 18-34 (+28%) - and on ABCAll Women (+10%) and Women 18-34 (+20%). Food-service workers in four states are being required to pay for a food-safety training class every few years. The players are obviously not nearly as good. The two new head coaches in 2021 were: Noelle Quinn of the Seattle Storm and Darius Taylor of the Atlanta Dream. For . Yet the commercialization of women's sports has not been fully realised. Their Bosses Are Refusing to Bargain. New York City is taking a big step toward greater pay transparencywith a new law requiring that job advertisements come with salary ranges. This statistic is not included in your account. They will never be fans. If you are an admin, please authenticate by logging in again. Yet they don't want girls to be overly athletic. Damn, shes actually right. RELATED: How Warriors changed offensive plan in win vs. Bulls Whenever a select group of people - gender, race, ethnicity, religion - is subjected to inequality, pointing it out to those with the power to generate change tends to be perceived as complaining. The NBA has by far the most racially diverse and left-leaning U.S. fan base of the four top team sports, according to the Brand Intelligence data: 54 percent of fans of the average NBA team are. But if women aren't the right audience for women's sports, then who is? And the product isn't televised as much as it needs to be. We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. "I think women really flipped this on its head," Ogwumike said, according to Bloomberg, "especially as it comes to stigmas and societal norms with expectations thrust around working women having to make this decision between family and career.". WNBA players work just as hard as their male counterparts, receive a fraction of the attention and get paid far less. Its not. More importantly, do you recognize any of the follow names? its huge. The situation is kind of like marketing gourmet ice cream to a group of people who are mostly lactose intolerant. The decision is an historic victory for LGBTQ advocates, arriving more than 45 years after the introduction of the first bill in Congress aimed at protecting LGBTQ workers. Maya Moore has been compared to Michael Jordan as his female embodiment in women's basketball, and she has her own sneaker line through the Jordan brand. While the WNBA does not garner the same audience as the NBA does, the women involved in the league are doing some amazing things. The recent push for new health and family care support can be attributed to many players' candidness about their journeys to building their families. In the second semifinal, Notre Dame led Connecticut by five points with 21 seconds left. The most revolutionary change the agreement came to was access to free fertility services, which has been often seen as a luxury and not a necessity. We are fans of the WNBA as we love the impact it has on young female players and how it shows young girls that they too can be sports heroes. This corrects the WNBAs former half-pay policy, which compelled four-time WNBA All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith to both conceal and play through her pregnancy for the entire 2018 WNBA season. It would also expand the number of players in the league, providing more opportunities for women to compete at the highest level. Maya Moore (David Berding/Icon Sportswire via. Watch Oregon basketball, Serrano recommends now. Last April, she wrote an honest and open essay for The Players' Tribune, called (In)visibility, in which she talks about all the hard work she put in to get to get to where she is today, and how disappointing it is that all that hard work goes relatively unnoticed. Indeed, last season, the All-WNBA First-Teamwhich includes the five best players in a given WNBA season, as voted by the mediaconsisted entirely of women who identify as LGBTQ+ (Courtney Vandersloot, Brittney Griner, Chelsea Gray, Natasha Howard, and reigning WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne). Yet, the harsh reality of being a WNBA "star" is something even she can't ignore. It was the mostwatched regular season WNBA gameon ESPN2 since 2011. As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic. Part of HuffPost News. The TV viewership is a lot smaller in the WNBA with around 280,000 viewers for the 2018 season while the 2019 NBA Finals alone averaged 15.14 million. They include: The percentage of women in team president positions and people of color in assistant coaching positions were all new highs for the WNBA. The inaugural season was played in 1997 and unfortunately did not get the respect it deserved out of the gate. This season included 11 windows on broadcast television (ABC + CBS), the league's most in a season since at least two decades (NBC carried 10 in 2001 and 2002). It's about women viewership, pure and simple. Plus, the championship aired around dinner time on Easter Sunday. Level of interest in the National Basketball Association in the United. ", ESPN.com & Sports Media Watch, Number of viewers of the WNBA Finals on ESPN from 2003 to 2022 (in 1,000s) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236700/wnba-finals-viewers/ (last visited March 05, 2023), Number of viewers of the WNBA Finals on ESPN from 2003 to 2022 (in 1,000s) [Graph], ESPN.com, & Sports Media Watch, September 21, 2022. Then shetweeted back and forth with Bryant. Back then womens sports on TV were a rarity. Englebert reported the average viewership of games rose 68% this season, crediting that largely to a substantial increase in games on the ESPN Network as well as the league's debut on the CBS . The 2021 WNBA regular season averaged 306,000 viewers, a 49 percent increase over the 2020 regular season and up 24 percent over 2019. Here is a sampling: He was legit giving them solid advice on how to get paid more. said the Rev. In 2021, the viewership of the women's final of the tennis U.S. Open outperformed the men's for the fifth time in just sevenyears. We do X for women. The following truth is hard to swallow, but it's the truth nonetheless -- the WNBA would be defunct right now if it weren't for the NBA. Each league and sports organization has its own structure of compensation and benefits. Back then womens sports on TV were a rarity. Baldy where actor Julian Sands went missing, Fauci, affirmative action, border: 2024 GOP hopeful takes on Trumps record, Princeton senior reveals the unintended consequences of leftism on campus, NYC mayor sees the light: When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools, Chinese national who defrauded taxpayer grants, spied on medical research nabbed by ICE, White House announces President Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed from chest during physical. This size difference would make sense considering men and women typically have different hand sizes. Why start a story on WNBA viewership with Shea Serrano? Plum notes the difference in narratives between the two leagues. Alana Beard, a retired WNBA champion, two-time defensive player of the year and four time All-Star, has been pushing for an expansion team in Oakland. During a remote interview with NBC Sports reporter Kerith Burke that followed up a series of his tweets on the subject, Green suggested that women in sports need to change their tactics, even while acknowledging that in the current marketplace, mens sports generate far more profit. "Celebrate us for the things that matter -- the stories, the basketball, the character, the fiery competitiveness, our professionalism.". He woke up with a different thought. I wanted to post the second half of this interaction with @KerithBurke & Draymond. Because of the smaller crowd sizes, TV coverage, and overall fanbase, not everyone knows what the difference is between the WNBA and the NBA. The benefits of unionization for historically marginalized workers can be seen clearly by looking at the Womens National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), the union for players in the Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA). It's not a coincidence that tennis legends Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Li Na are among the . A little down the list was an intriguing event when it comes to sports TV audiences: The 26th WNBA All-Star Game aired live at 1 p.m. on Sunday from Chicago's Wintrust Arena and averaged 734,000 . More specifically, this policy covers egg freezing, fertility treatment (including surrogacy), and adoptionbenefits covered by just 7%, 31%, and 56% of major U.S. employers, respectively. These women are some of the most talented and skilled professional athletes in the world. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Thats how it started: with her flicking me in the ear about it, he said. . 773 credentials for the Final Four, the most in the tournaments history. This is how women get written out of history., She didnt tag Serrano in the tweet. He thought about it. Lets not continue to toss out this battle cryAnd if were specific in what were asking for, and who were asking for it from,, well then, let us see them publicly turn us down, Green said. The average WNBA salary is $128,000 in the 2021 season. The public will not see it and we do not share it. Fourth and finally, WNBPA player-members whose tenure exceeds eight years can seek reimbursement for family-planning costs up to $20,000 in a year (and up to $60,000 across a career). Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. Sep 22, 2022 The 2022 Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals were contested between the Las Vegas Aces and the Connecticut Sun. Why aren't more women paying attention to the WNBA? Since 2007, all four Grand Slams - The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open - pay out equal prize money to their male and female winners. The TV viewership is a lot smaller in the WNBA with around 280,000 viewers for the 2018 season while the 2019 NBA Finals alone averaged 15.14 million. Freelance Writer/Author of all things LGBT/Sports/Human Interest. Its a good product but its a different product than the NBA. There won't be a youth movement, either, as just 7% of baseball's audience is below age 18. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. As OnLabor reported (see here and here), the WNBPA negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the WNBA earlier this year. (@OhReall01615109) April 1, 2021. We do this for women. He has been a regular commentator for ESPN.com on issues of diversity in sport. NBA star Draymond Green is calling out female athletes for more or less being all talk and no action about equal pay. The 2019 NBA Finals averaged a little more than 20 million viewers per game; the 2019 WNBA Finals averaged about 400,000 viewers per game. You can only download this statistic as a Premium user. Indeed, proof of this is in the pudding: 90% of WNBPA player-members voted for this CBAs ratification, nearly double the support garnered by the National Football League Players Association, which narrowly ratified its newly announced CBA with just 51.5% support. People took notice. Mississippi State hit a three-pointer late in regulation to force overtime versus Louisville. It started with college hoops. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Once Moore left, the next crop of talent came up and UConn has remained a perennial powerhouse. Brittney Griner. A WNBA player sparked controversy on social media when she seemed to blame Black men for the league's low television ratings. Probably not and Serrano doesnt believe its him. The WNBA has held the top position in the racial and gender report cards since the WNBA's inaugural report in 2004. [and without] leav[ing] anyone left behind, as WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike emphasized. How do Years of Eligibility Work in College Sports? Most Super Bowl wins by NFL team 1967-2023, Average ticket price in the NFL by team 2021, FIFA World Ranking: top male soccer teams 2022, Athletic footwear global market share by company 2015, Health & Fitness Clubs - Statistics & Facts, Sporting goods industry in the U.S. - statistics & facts, Research expert covering sports and video gaming, Profit from additional features with an Employee Account. Yet, outside of WNBA circles, they remain largely unknown. The gap is even larger for single-gender sports, the report shows. different. According to Sports Business Journal, Each NBA game has an average of 1.2 million viewers, while WNBA games have less than half that amount, resulting in a significant revenue gap. In the NBA, the average salary is about $7.5 million. High game viewership The WNBA requires players entering the draft to be at least 22 years old. I was literally just texting someone about it, Serrano said. and the WNBA saw its highest draft viewership in 16 . We will no longer be beholden to them but we need your help. Star athletes like Naomi Osaka and Serena. [Online]. Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson became the leagues all-time leading rebounder. Layshia Clarendon is a male-identified transgender and non-binary who previously underwent a double mastectomy to relieve the anxiety of Gender Dysphoria. AP Photo/Paul Beaty. Cut em free & see what happens. The league's best teams aren't showcased like they should be, in order to market said product. The average annual WNBA salary is reportedly about $100,000 as compared to the approximately $7 million that NBA players bank. WNBA star Candace Parker says it's not about making a salary equal to the men, but ensuring women are given a platform to succeed. Which was a drop of 16% on the previous year. "It just made sense to come together to partner on this to bring something special to the community.". VIEWERSHIP: Combined viewership for the WNBA across ESPN Networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2) and the CBS Television Network was up 16 percent over the 2021 regular season, averaging 379,000. Please do not hesitate to contact me. And everyone uses it to their advantage; yet these women are not using these people that are saying those very things to their advantage. And last year's finals averaged 546,000 across. WNBA regular season ratings up 24% on 2019. Gender Pay Gap in Tennis. Public interest in WNBA in the U.S. 2022, by gender Basketball WNBA regular season TV viewers 2022 League overview Most popular women's sports leagues in North America June 2021 Most. How do I know? Women's basketball has steadily increased viewership year-over-year. The league's best player, Diana Taurasi, even sat out last year because the Russian team she plays for overseas gave her a million reasons not to. The WNBA sets the standard for powerful and inclusive representation across the organization in terms of the league office, players, coaches, staff and administration. Hed reach out as he started to watch more and more womens basketball. The Supreme Courts decision on Monday outlawing anti-LGBTQ employment discrimination is a triumph for both the country and the [C]ourt, wrote Slates Mark Joseph Stern. But most diehard college basketball fans are just that -- college basketball fans. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. Or the character. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . They had to. The WNBA also hosted vaccine clinics across the country to emphasize the importance of vaccination. The WNBA's Covid-disrupted 2020 regular season averaged 205,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. Your email address will not be published. I mean all women -- straight, gay, married, single, athletic, non-athletic, etc. The WNBA's audience is 75 percent women. That number spiked to 5.2 million in the final 15 minutes when Ogunbowale hit the buzzer-beating championship-winner, capping the biggest comeback in championship game history. Let's first take a look at the last two WNBA Drafts. 2022 NBA Finals preferred winners in the U.S. National Basketball Association: price for a soft drink at games by team 2015/16, Franchise with the lowest value in the NBA 2003-2022, Average ticket price National Basketball Association (NBA) 2015/16, Find your information in our database containing over 20,000 reports.