Does The WNBA Lose Money For The NBA? (2024)

FAQs

Does The WNBA Lose Money For The NBA? ›

Despite its momentum, the WNBA still generates only a small fraction of the revenue the NBA does, making it tough for women's pay to reach parity with men's.

The NBA provides the WNBA with an annual endowment of over $15 million. This financial support helps cover various operating costs for WNBA teams, including facilities, travel, marketing, and administration. As of 2023, the NBA owns 50% of the WNBA, while the 12 WNBA teams collectively own the other 50%.

It also highlighted a hard truth that largely goes unspoken about the W.N.B.A. and many women's sports leagues: They aren't profitable. The simplest reason the W.N.B.A. isn't paying Clark more is that the league brings in just $200 million annually and relies on the N.B.A. for some of its funding.

The WNBA has made strides in promoting pay equity in recent years. While NBA players collectively receive roughly 50% of the league's revenue, WNBA players previously took home less than 23%.

Reasons for the wide pay disparity between the WNBA and the NBA are many, but basically, the women's league generates far less money. That's reflected in its TV rights deal, which is worth $65 million versus the NBA's $2.8 billion contract. It also plays 42 fewer games a season than the NBA.

Since the deal was signed, the revenue generated by the WNBA has grown — yet it still pales in comparison to those generated by the NBA. Last year, a Bloomberg News report found the WNBA was projected to make $180 million to $200 million for the 2023 season.

The league's profitability “hinges on media rights," and its $60M annual deal is up for renewal in 2025. Several trends are "working in its favor, including a race among streamers to collect rights to live sports and a rise in legalized gambling that leaves bettors eager to expand their outlets.”

NBA attendance is down, while NFL attendance sets a new record almost annually. NBA ratings have fallen almost 45 percent in the past decade, while NFL ratings remain tops in sports and have been rising mildly in recent years.

But there's another harsh reality: revenue. According to Bloomberg, the WNBA will bring in roughly $200 million in both team and league revenue, compared to the NBA's $10 billion - but Jackson says the NBA has gotten a 50-year head start.

Created by the NBA in 1996, the WNBA and its franchises were owned by the NBA until 2002, when individual clubs were sold to their NBA counterparts or third parties.

Who is the highest paid WNBA person? ›

In terms of average salary ranking, Las Vegas Aces star Jackie Young is alone at the top, making $252,420 a year going into 2024.

Who is the lowest-paid player in the WNBA? The lowest-paid player in the WNBA is Mercury's Kaela Davis. The 27-year-old has the 151st-ranked salary in the league at $1,607. Eight players, including Davis, have salaries less than $10,000.

ESPN platforms averaged 470,000 viewers across the league's postseason, which makes it the most watched WNBA playoffs in 16 years. Last month, the league confirmed it had scored its most-watched regular season in 21 years, with combined viewership across ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 up 21 per cent over the 2022 campaign.

Mouhamed Gyueye is currently the lowest-paid NBA player in the NBA this term. The Senegalese player was the 39th pick in the 2023 draft. Drafted by the Charlotte Hornets, he saw his rights traded to the Boston Celtics, who dealt him to the Atlanta Hawks.

The minimum salary for players signing contracts in the 2023-2024 NBA season amounted to over 1.1 million U.S. dollars. This is the first time that the minimum salary has exceeded the one million dollar mark, with the minimum salary in the 2021-2022 season estimated at just over 925 thousand U.S. dollars.

The WNBA is projected to bring in between $180 million and $200 million in combined league and team revenue this year, up from about $102 million in 2019, according to people familiar with the matter.

In comparison, players in the WNBA received an average annual pay of 116.58 thousand U.S. dollars, with the highest-earning players in the WNBA receiving around 242 thousand U.S. dollars annually.

An NBA player, on average, will make about 7.5 million dollars per year, while the average WNBA player makes just over 128,000 a year. This means that, on average, the men make almost 60 times what the women make. To an outsider looking in, this may seem unfair. However, I believe that this is fair.