Tweet

The WNBA will never make as much money as the NBA does. Ever. 

Its been brought to public attention that the girls basketball teams at the final four have lower grade weight rooms and have been mistreated in their bubble. Due to this situation the question has surfaced of, Should women basketball players be compensated the same as men’s? In a perfect world, yes, yes they absolutely should. However, that is not going to happen. This will never happen simply because the WNBA can’t make the money to pay their players just as much money.  In 2019 the NCAA lost $2.8 million on the women’s basketball tournament. How are you supposed to get nice equipment when you don’t have the money to pay for it.

I do believe that WNBA players are highly skilled, but against Lebron James they are basically kindergarteners playing seniors in high school. Sue Bird is arguably the best player in the WNBA and Lebron James is the best player in the NBA so lets compare the two. Lebron James is 6’9 and 250 pounds of pure muscle and can jump 40’’ off the ground. Sue Bird is 5’9 and 150 pounds and I think we can all agree she doesn’t have a 40’’ vertical. I’m not saying that WNBA players aren’t good at the game of basketball and I’m not saying that they don’t deserve equal pay, but the game just is not the same. The most points scored in an NBA game was 100 points and the most scored in a game was 53 points. A 47 point difference is absolutely terrible. 53 points is something that happens every week in the NBA and they have guys that are 6’6 to 6’9 guarding them. 

Let’s look beyond skill and size. WNBA players want their equal pay, but no one wants to watch their games. You can pay your athletes more if they actually bring in the revenue for you to pay them with. However, the WNBA isn’t even remotely close to the NBA. The yearly revenue is 7.92 billion dollars for the NBA, and the WNBA is 60 million dollars. Those numbers are very surprising to hear but that is just the cold hard truth. These numbers are justified too. The NBA usually brings in about 2 million viewers that want to sit down and watch the NBA. The WNBA has about 570,000 people that are watching the games. The simple fact is that more people want to watch the NBA. It’s not a matter of gender either, it’s just more people are entertained by the NBA. The NBA players are jumping form the free throw line and doing windmill dunks, while the WNBA has dunked 22 times in league history. The WNBA might be the most boring form of basketball I have ever seen. I don’t know how any single person could enjoy watching someone shoot wide open jump shots and wide open layups. 

Maybe I am wrong and the WNBA will blow up one day and make more money. However, you cannot have equal pay when you don’t make enough money to have the same amount of pay. The WNBA will never take viewers from the NBA either. NBA fans are now used to the game that they love. They watched the Jordan’s and the Lebrons, and they are never going to turn their back on them for a game where the players are barely dunking. They are not going to watch a game where the best team in the league would lose by 30 to the best high school team in the nation. It’s not even because of skill it is simply because none of the girls could get a shot off at will. The guys would be way too long and athletic for the girls to score. 

Basketball is a game of athleticism and skill. While the girls are skilled they are nowhere even close to the guys. The guys are 10 times more athletic than the girls too. Britney Griner at 6’8 does nothing but rim grazer dunks. Zion Williamson at 6’8 can jump 44” and broke a rim during an all star game due to dunking the ball with two hands so hard. I’m sorry, the WNBA is awful compared to the NBA. There is no difference between the girls college tournament and the WNBA.  

In conclusion, the WNBA will never be paid the same amount as the NBA players.  It is not a matter of sexism or discrimination. It is simply because the WNBA is not as good as the NBA and you cant get viewers when there is a better alternative.