Op-Ed: Slam Dunk The Call For The WNBA’s Fair Share

Grandpa Joe Biden, straight up pandering to women, demands that WNBA players get there “fair share.”

So what is their “fair share”?

The WNBA has never turned a profit. It came close to collapsing completely several times. It only stays afloat thanks to the $15 million it receives every year from the NBA.

The NBA in 2022 – 2023 generated over $10 billion in revenue. The WNBA raked in about $60 million. The NBA’s revenue was about 170 times the revenue of the WNBA.

Caitlin Clark’s average annual salary over the four year contract is $84,514 (for a 40 game season) or $2112 per game.

Based on a “fair share” philosophy, NBA top draft pick Victor Wembanyma should make 170 times more than Caitlin Clark, right? That would be $359,040 per game. 82 games in a season would amount to $29,988,055 per season.

Wembanyma’s actual contract amounts to $13,775,000 per season. Even at that exorbitant amount, it’s still the gifted revenue raised by the NBA players’ talent and marketability that actually pays the WNBA salaries. Without that yearly infusion of cash there would be no WNBA. The female players’ salaries would be zero.

Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoyed the Women’s NCAA tournament. Great stories and drama. But what an athlete is “worth” professionally has little do with “fairness” or “equality”. It about how many sets of eyes are willing to pay real money to watch you do your thing and what value do those eyes have to advertisers.

I’d like to see a show of hands from all the people jumping on this equal pay band wagon. How many have bought a ticket to an WNBA game? Bought merch? Advertised their businesses during games or in the arenas? The answer is self-evident from the league’s bottomline.

In the age of the woke, sports may be the last bastion of meritocracy. So prepare for a full assault on this hill from the grievance mongers on the Left.

Tim Donohue
About Tim Donohue 12 Articles
TIM DONOHUE is the former mayor of Middle Township, New Jersey.