Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, Angel Reese, and so many others changed the women’s game of basketball over the past year. They brought an energy from fans that has never been seen in the women’s game. The highest scorer across the college sport and some of the most electric social media content. As Lebron said, “the icons… in the women’s game” have brought a popularity that the men’s game is struggling to compete against for the first time.

Compare these two numbers: 18.9 million viewers compared to 14.8 million. One was the highest ever for their sport, the other was a referendum on the NCAA’s terrible ability to schedule quality games appropriately. However, as much as people want to say that a 9 pm Eastern tip was the reason for the dip, it also trends with last year’s 14.7 million viewers. Since 2015, 28.2 million viewers watching the Blue Devils beat Wisconsin (the highest viewership since 1979) only one year, 2017, has reached 20 million viewers of the NCAA men’s national championship and only two have topped the 18.9 million of this year’s Iowa-South Carolina titanic struggle.

Meanwhile, the women’s national championship game and semis (averaged 2.65 million in ’22, 4.5 million in ’23 and 10.75 million in ’24) doubled their viewership over the past two years.

Will this continue now that some of the most electric players to grace the women’s college courts have left for the WNBA? Can Paige Bueckers pick up the mantel that Clark left? Could JuJu Watkins continue her breakout? Only time will tell, but this is a fantastic time to be involved and begin following women’s basketball.

But then, fans of these women see their rookie contracts. Outrageous! These women will seemingly have to get side jobs to maintain the “right lifestyle.” Unlike their male counterparts. Comparing the last 2 number 1 picks it’s a 160 times more lucrative to be a male playing basketball than a female. That makes no sense.

It’s a travesty that Victor Wembanyama gets paid $12.16 million to do the same thing Caitlin Clark will be paid $76,000 to do. But, why is it the case? Is Wembanyama actually 160x “better” than Clark? Not quiet.

A look at the numbers tells a pretty interesting story though.

A 2.7x difference in attendance, a 3.2x difference in viewership, and a 166x difference in revenue don’t make sense. So, why is this the case?

The NBA is 50 years older than the WNBA.

It has 50 years of brand, 50 years of history, and, most importantly, 50 years of player negotiations.

The CBAs are the key to the pay differences.

A look into the CBAs

Contracts:

NBA- A rookie minimum is $1,017,00, unless you’re a first round pick. First rounders can make as much as $9.2 million in their first year, from salary alone. The top 157 (Boston’s Al Hoford) paid players in the league all make at least $10 million. Justin Champagnie, who played just 15 games for the Wizards, brings in more, $254,000, than the highest paid WNBA player. He is the 562nd highest paid NBA player.

WNBA- Rookie minimum contracts scale from $68,000 in 2020 to $83,000 in 2027, 2023 is $74,000. Meanwhile the maximum salary is $215,000 to $264,000 for Core Players/Veterans and $185,000 to $227,000 for all other contracts. Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces is the highest paid WNBA player bringing in $252,000.

Revenue Share

The collective bargaining agreement for the NBA stipulates a 50% revenue share between the league and the players. This means all the revenue from media rights, tickets, merchandise, etc. is split between players and the owners.

While the WNBA’s CBA does require 50% of revenue going to shared revenue with 25% of it going to the players, the CBA also has a clause regarding a required revenue threshold being met in order to begin the shared revenue. When this threshold is not met, the players are locked out of their share.

To be fair, we’re comparing 12 teams to 30 teams. 27 years old versus 78 years. A league of 144 players to a league with over 500 players. A new 40 game schedule to an 82 game jaunt.

The WNBA is growing, but it is not growing as fast as the NBA did. In 1973, NBA players were averaging $90,000 salaries, equal to roughly $500,000 today.

We’re comparing a ripe apple tree to a still budding orange tree.

The WNBA is set to make a new media agreement which could bring in $100 million, but is also looking into options to break off from the NBA’s deal to launch their own agreement and, ideally, cash in on the rising interest brought in by Clark and Reese’s icon driven fans.

These differences aren’t changing over night, but if the NCAA numbers translate to WNBA followers, the scales might just begin to even out.

Image credit:
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