Women’s sports have come a long way.
Olympic events involving women typically attract as many viewers as those involving males, which is a great example of how popular female athletes have become. An even better example: the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, which beat the Men’s final from the previous year in viewership by 22 percent.
You wouldn’t think so if you simply went according to the female athletes are paid in comparison to their male counterparts.
A Twitter thread from Andrew Petcash shows the disparity and it’s pretty shocking.
The WNBA continues to grow in popularity and women’s basketball has moved by leaps and bounds. According to the table below, the average salary among players isn’t even all that close to $100,000, let alone $1 million.
While the average NBA salary stands at $8.3 million, that of the WNBA is only $75K.
However, when you look at the average salaries of men and women as a percentage of their league’s revenue, it’s actually the women who are getting paid more (besides golfers).
It’s worth noting that the numbers above are from 2019 and both pro basketball averages have gone up since then.
As of 2022, the average NBA salary was $9.6 million while the WNBA’s stood at $102,751. The numbers have likely gone up across the board but the gulf should be just about the same.