Why is the biggest TV ratings star in sports getting paid about the same as an office manager in a moderately successful company?
@mathowie You know the answer. Thankfully for her, I don't think there's any cap on endorsement deals.
A couple years ago a friend ran into the second-string center for the Portland Trailblazers in town and I guessed as a bench warmer who only played a few minutes a couple times a week he probably made like 600-800k a year which was about double the NBA minimum salary until I looked it up on Wikipedia where his salary was listed at $2.4M/yr
@mathowie fortunately for all players coming after her, those numbers will be going up for everyone and she will be a big reason why.
@mathowie Because she accepted the offer?
Just say no and see what happens. You might be able to find a job with better hours and treatment elsewhere, maybe even as a sportscaster.
Please don’t get upset for this comment, but after all the hype, this is ridiculous.
@mathowie They play half as many games and draw a third as many fans. TV ratings stink. But it's changing: ratings went up 21 percent last year, *before* Clark. (Also: Clark surely has landed some endorsement deals commensurate with her star power.)
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/38407231/wnba-ratings-highest-decades-crowds-climb
@mathowie See also: World champion US Women's soccer team earning less than their much lower ranked male counterparts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_women%27s_national_soccer_team#Pay_discrimination
@mathowie I guess female is a moderately successful gender.
@isonno the two US soccer teams are paid equally now. The USWNT coach is the highest paid women’s soccer coach on earth, earning 2.5M per year to match up with the men’s team coach
@mathowie Point of contrast: in 1979 the NBA was so unpopular that CBS broadcast them on tape delay.
Then came Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
Those are legendary shoes to fill but Caitlin Clark might be that type of player. She electric. She passes like a magician. And most importantly she *wins*.
@gruber @mathowie I was a Fever season ticket holder for years before I moved and my two biggest gripe are that a lot of teams seem to lean on marketing themselves as a cheap family entertainment, which is true, but doesn’t exactly generate buy-in from 20-30-somethings, regardless of the on-court product…
@gruber @mathowie I would add two things:
1. The NBA has largely treated W TV rights as a throw in to NBA rights deals, so we don’t have a sense of what the market has been/will be for them.
2. The W has done itself no favors with timing of programming, put its finals games up against the NFL last year, including the clinching game during Sunday afternoon.
@gruber @mathowie Just this spring, my parents (much to my surprise!) had watched a bunch of college basketball. They and I both live near-ish to Duke, but were rooting for underdog NC State in the men's tournament. But I also went over and watched the women's final with them. My mom, especially, never watches sports but she was enthralled. All sorts of new demographics opening up.
I'll have to ask if they saw Caitlin on SNL last weekend.
@bouriquet the contract was fixed for all the first five draft picks. These numbers were set in stone, she had no negotiations allowed. Draft picks after her got even less.
@mathowie Just walk away and make a statement !
Otherwise you just continue the problem
Edited 222d ago
@mathowie think of all the tech bros you’ve met who had a fraction of his talent yet got paid similarly…
@grumpasaurus women’s pro soccer pays new draft picks more. WNBA has a lot more games than soccer, how are they not making money with the sport?
@mathowie sounds like there's something with the currently active collective bargain agreement through 2027
https://justwomenssports.com/reads/wnba-basketball-revenue-player-salaries-cathy-engelbert/