Wnba Players Say They’re Not Paid What They’re Owed. Are They Right?

Napheesa Collier was successful record-breaking shape connected Saturday nighttime arsenic she group a caller precocious for a WNBA All-Star Game, pinch 36 points. But overmuch of nan attraction was focused connected what happened earlier nan crippled erstwhile players warmed up pinch shirts base nan connection “Pay america what you beryllium us.”

The move came aft players and nan convention grounded to scope a woody connected a caller corporate bargaining agreement. Do they person a constituent though? Evaluating jock salary is notoriously tricky because sports accounting ever includes a definite magnitude of voodoo.

That’s particularly existent successful nan WNBA, whose fortunes – virtually and figuratively – are tied up pinch nan NBA’s, for amended aliases for worse. The narration has evolved done nan years, and galore existent WNBA teams person nary nonstop ties pinch an NBA team, though immoderate stay nether NBA ownership. NBA commissioner Adam Silver refers to nan 2 leagues arsenic “integrated,” and they person bundled their broadcast authorities together successful a massive 11-year deal.

And Silver is nan 1 who has faced pressure wrong nan NBA complete nan WNBA’s evident losses, thing that those who judge nan likes of Collier and Caitlin Clark should beryllium happy pinch their existent salaries often usage arsenic a antagonistic statement to demands for a salary hike. Silver said successful 2018 that nan WNBA’s losses were roughly $10m a year. And reports past autumn said nan WNBA was owed to lose $40m successful 2024. Adjust nan 2018 figures for inflation, and nan WNBA is supposedly losing 3 times arsenic overmuch arsenic it was a fewer years ago.

That’s a funny fig fixed different nationalist statistic propose nan league’s financial wellness has ne'er been better.

First, while WNBA attendance dropped from an wide mean of much than 10,000 successful nan precocious 1990s to a small nether 7,000 conscionable aft nan pandemic, Clark and Co wiped retired astir of those losses successful 2024 alone, pushing nan convention mean adjacent to 10,000 again, and nan convention is flirting pinch a caller record successful 2025. Second, nan league’s broadcast authorities unsocial person ballooned from zero successful 2002 to astir $60m a twelvemonth successful nan existent deal, pinch that number set to spell to $200m arsenic portion of nan mixed woody pinch nan NBA. Third, full league gross jumped from $102m successful 2019 to nan $180m-$200m scope successful 2023, Bloomberg reported.

Some expenses person gone up, astir notably a $25m per twelvemonth commitment to alert teams by charter planes alternatively than connected regular flights, arsenic has been nan lawsuit successful nan past. The WNBA net headdress has besides risen incrementally from $622,000 successful 2003 (inflation-adjusted to 2025: $1.1m) to $1.5m successful 2025. The convention has 1 less squad now (13 alternatively of 14) than it did successful 2003 (although description teams are connected their way) truthful nan full costs of subordinate salary has gone from a maximum of $15.4m to $19.5m. But these expenses don’t adhd up to a afloat counterweight to nan reported emergence successful gross aliases nan well-publicized jump successful broadcast rights. It’s a bully stake that Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, nan owners of nan WNBA’s well-supported Golden State Valkyries and nan NBA’s Golden State Warriors, are taking a bigger consequence by paying 37-year-old Stephen Curry astir $60m a twelvemonth than they are successful paying the full Valkyries roster hardly $1m.

The bottommost statement is that we don’t cognize what’s included successful nan bottommost line. Reinvestment successful nan league? Facilities? Postgame meals catered by five-star restaurants? (Surely not nan latter.)

All we cognize is that it’s not going to nan players. Generally, nan little a convention makes, nan little nan stock of gross its players get – 50% of $1bn is little of a chore to salary than 25% of $100m. But WNBA players are making little than 10%, a alternatively mini fig for immoderate master organization.

And successful nan onshore of voodoo accounting, sports teams person been adept astatine pleading penury erstwhile circumstances telephone for it. It’s not conscionable nan WNBA either. Eight years ago, ESPN uncovered numbers showing astir half of nan NBA’s teams didn’t make a profit connected their own.

Perhaps nan champion parameter of really good WNBA teams are actually doing – aliases are poised to do – is nan value paid erstwhile teams are sold. The New York Liberty were sold successful 2019 for location successful nan $10m-$14m range. Six years later, based connected a waste of a liking of nan team, nan the Liberty’s worth was calculated astatine astir $450m.

Little wonderment WNBA players are noticing these figures and asking why their salary is still mini capable that galore of them are forced to walk their offseasons playing elsewhere. Players’ “Pay Us What You Owe Us” T-shirts astatine nan All-Star Game weren’t printed connected a abrupt whim. None of those players are suggesting that they should beryllium paid nan aforesaid arsenic their counterparts successful nan NBA, wherever convention revenues apical $10bn a year. But they surely merit more, considering nan WNBA rookie minimum is conscionable $66,000 compared to $1.27m successful nan NBA.

And it’s not conscionable nan per-player pay. It’s nan number of players who get paid astatine all.

A emblematic NBA roster now has 15 full-time players and 3 “two-way” players who are called up from nan second-tier G-League. WNBA teams are constricted to 12 players, and immoderate whitethorn only transportation 11. In a caller Golden State-Phoenix game, Phoenix only had 8 players available.

So occupation information is minimal, and those debased paychecks sting a spot much erstwhile a subordinate is simply a fewer bad games distant from not receiving them astatine all.

WNBA players whitethorn look a spot of guidance arsenic they strive for improved salaries. Some NBA owners look little enthusiastic than others astir nan full venture, moreover if nan astir pessimistic reports of WNBA losses don’t moreover adhd up to nan net of a Curry aliases a Jayson Tatum alone. Some corners of societal media person reacted to nan WNBA All-Stars T-shirts pinch nan expected chortling and guffawing. But nan post-Covid women’s sports roar shows nary motion of abating, and nan numbers arsenic we cognize them look to beryllium connected nan players’ side. Public sentiment is apt to follow.