{"id":2245131,"date":"2024-05-15T13:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T17:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wnba-players-are-actually-being-overpaid\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T13:29:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T17:29:30","slug":"wnba-players-are-actually-being-overpaid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wnba-players-are-actually-being-overpaid\/","title":{"rendered":"Are WNBA Players Overpaid?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwnba-players-are-actually-being-overpaid%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2245131&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u2062 recent WNBA draft saw \u200da \u2063significant increase in viewership,\u200b attributed to player Caitlin Clark. However, controversies arose regarding WNBA salaries, sparking \u2062discussions on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-introduce-bill-allowing-college-athletes-to-unionize\/\" title=\"Democrats Introduce Bill Allowing College Athletes To Unionize\">fair pay<\/a>. Despite arguments for higher wages, the economic reality suggests that WNBA \u2062players may actually be overpaid, given\u200c the league&#8217;s longstanding financial losses\u200d and dependence on NBA subsidies to sustain its operations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The WNBA draft happened last month. According to the latest numbers I read, the event usually averages about 14 total viewers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year, however, the WNBA draft won record ratings, nearly doubling its normal viewership. That added audience is largely thanks to Caitlin Clark, who went number one overall to something called the Indiana Fever. Which sounds like a disease you might contract from a hooker in Fort Wayne, but is apparently the name of a women\u2019s basketball team. Clark, for her part, is easily the most famous women\u2019s basketball star of all time. She\u2019s so famous that I know her name \u2014though I don\u2019t know anything else about her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are in the very small fraternity of people who qualify as WNBA fans, this sudden increased interest in the league \u2014 even if it still amounts to basically no interest\u2014 should be cause for celebration and gratitude. But we don\u2019t do celebration very well in this culture, and we don\u2019t do gratitude at all, really. So instead people found reasons to whine. And that whining led to what is, surely, the dumbest discourse of the year 2024 so far. I don\u2019t expect it to retain that title until January, but for now it easily lays claim to it. Since the draft, the Left has been complaining bitterly that WNBA salaries are too low. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It started on social media, with posts like this one from someone named Alyssa Leader, who identifies herself as a public defender. She also has, needless to say, pronouns in her bio. <\/span>She tweeted this:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Decided to google WNBA salaries before the draft and I actually want to die what the hell. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PNMgiMrm9c\">pic.twitter.com\/PNMgiMrm9c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alyssa Leader (@alittleleader) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alittleleader\/status\/1780006620459594081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 15, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The salaries that have apparently zapped her will to live are $76,000 a year for the top four picks in the draft and $70,000 for the rest of the round one selections. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In subsequent tweets, Alyssa tells us that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amazon-issued-13000-disciplinary-notices-at-single-u-s-warehouse\/\" title=\"Amazon issued 13,000 disciplinary notices at single U.S. warehouse\">average starting salary<\/a> for first round NBA draft picks is $10 million by comparison. She says this contrast is \u201chonestly devastating.\u201d There were many other tweets like this from similarly outraged, devastated, and apparently suicidal feminists. Soon the media jumped onto the bandwagon. NBC News had this headline: \u201cGap between Caitlin Clark\u2019s WNBA salary and her male counterparts\u2019 draws outrage.\u201d T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">oday.com <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/news\/sports\/caitlin-clark-salary-rcna147977?search=WNBA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">added this<\/a>: \u201cCaitlin Clark went No. 1 in the WNBA draft. Some fans are outraged at her salary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The outrage made its way up to the White House, where Joe Biden tweeted at 5:00 p.m., right before bed, that:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Women in sports continue to push new boundaries and inspire us all.<\/p>\n<p>But right now we&#8217;re seeing that even if you&#8217;re the best, women are not paid their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/can-biden-help-unite-america\/\" title=\"Can Biden Help Unite America?\">fair share<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time that we give our daughters the same opportunities as our sons and ensure women are paid what they deserve.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 President Biden (@POTUS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/POTUS\/status\/1780354983457644819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, we\u2019ll get back to that \u201cfair share\u201d idea in a moment. First, let\u2019s go to the ABC News report on this controversy, which inadvertently revealed the fundamental confusion at work here:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;These women have been underpaid now, for several decades. \u2026 for a generation, people have ignored the WNBA.&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cbrennansports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@cbrennansports<\/a> says the &#8220;nation is going to wake up&#8221; as WNBA draft top-pick Caitlin Clark&#8217;s salary sparks a national conversation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZhDRoNQxcB\">pic.twitter.com\/ZhDRoNQxcB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ABCNewsLive\/status\/1780266191107309650?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The talking head can\u2019t seem to make up her mind. On the one hand she says it\u2019s capitalism. People aren\u2019t watching or supporting the games, so the women don\u2019t get paid much. On the other hand, she says that the women are \u201cunderpaid.\u201d Which is it? Well, if this needs to be explained, I will. It\u2019s very much the former. In fact, WNBA players are not underpaid at all. They are, if anything, vastly overpaid. By all rights, as a simple economic matter, they shouldn\u2019t be getting paid anything at all. Here are some basic facts to flesh this out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">First of all, the WNBA has existed for nearly 30 years and it has never once turned a profit. According to WSN.com, a sports betting site, the WNBA generates about $60 million in revenue. For the record, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/24132057\/caitlin-clark-wnba-draft-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an article in Vox<\/a> claims that WNBA revenue is in the $100 to $200 million range, which I find dubious. Either way, the NBA, by contrast, brings in $10 billion of revenue with something like $3 billion in profits. That means the NBA generates considerably more than 150 times the revenue of the WNBA. If you\u2019re going with the I think quite generous $100 million estimate for the WNBA, then the NBA makes only 100 times that amount.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do the math here, by the way, and you\u2019ll see that pound for pound WNBA rookies actually make about the same as NBA rookies. 70 thousand times 150 is 10.5 million. But even then, they\u2019re still overpaid because although the WNBA generates $60 million in revenue \u2014 or even if it\u2019s $100 million, let\u2019s say \u2014 it makes no profit at all. These women are getting paid salaries to play for a league that, economically speaking, shouldn\u2019t even exist. You don\u2019t have to be a financial whiz to understand that losing money for 30 years is a recipe for bankruptcy. The only reason the women\u2019s league stays open is that the NBA subsidizes it. Every year, the men\u2019s league hands millions of dollars to the women. The NBA is the WNBA\u2019s sugar daddy. The men keep the women\u2019s league afloat, so that everyone can feel good about the fact that a women\u2019s league exists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You are probably familiar with those charities where you can metaphorically \u201cAdopt\u201d a child from the third world by sending money to the charity that supposedly goes to the child\u2019s family. Well, that\u2019s what the NBA is to the WNBA. They have adopted it like a third world child.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What does this mean? It means that, again, nobody watches the WNBA. The leftists on Twitter and in the media complaining about WNBA salaries have never watched a game in their lives. They\u2019ve never sat down to watch a women\u2019s game on TV, much less have they purchased tickets to watch at the arena. They\u2019ll support the league by whining on its behalf on social media, but they won\u2019t support it by actually supporting it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last year the WNBA had its most watched regular season in 20 years. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nfl-will-feature-black-national-anthem-at-all-tentpole-events-report\/\" title=\"NFL Will Feature \u2018Black National Anthem\u2019 At All \u2018Tentpole\u2019 Events: Report\">average audience<\/a> for each game was 500,000 viewers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To put that into perspective, 500,000 is about the viewership of CNN\u2019s weekly 10:00 p.m. show with Charles Barkley and Gayle King. And that show was just canceled after 6 months because the audience was so low that it wasn\u2019t sustainable. 500,000 for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-dana-white-shares-how-gavin-newsom-shut-down-ufc-restart-meant-for-california\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Dana White Shares How Gavin Newsom Shut Down UFC Restart Meant For California\">professional sports league<\/a> that airs on network television is an even more catastrophic embarrassment, and would be even less sustainable \u2014 if not for the fact that the WNBA doesn\u2019t have to sustain itself. Which is fortunate for the league, because it would be out of business in a month if it did have to sustain itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe Biden wants these women to get paid their \u201cfair share.\u201d Well, what\u2019s a fair share of zero dollars in profit? That\u2019s a math problem so easy that even our vegetable of a president should be able to do it. The fair share \u2014 the actual fair share \u2014 is nothing. Zero.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That\u2019s what you deserve to get paid when you put a product on the airways that nobody cares to watch. That\u2019s the simple reality here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month&#8217;s WNBA draft had a surprising turnout. Traditionally drawing an average of 14 viewers, this year&#8217;s event shattered records with a nearly doubled viewership. The spike in interest is largely credited to Caitlin Clark, the top pick signed by the Indiana Fever team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":305,"featured_media":2245132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2148763984.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2245131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2148763984.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2245131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2245132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2245131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2245131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2245131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}