CHICAGO (CBS) – When Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso hit the hardwood for the Chicago Sky and Caitlin Clark for the Indiana Fever, the WNBA rookie stars will earn much less than their male counterparts in the NBA.
Some fans might be surprised to see the WNBA players base salary under $80,000but why is the competition structured this way?
What does it take to change?
When Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes came to play Northwestern in January, it was the home team’s first ever sold-out game. Hoping to “be like Caitlin,” fans waited in line for hours and spent hundreds, sometimes thousands, to be in the same room as the college phenom. Young fans watched her and the growing attention for the sport.
“I play basketball, so it’s just good to see how many people are starting to focus on women’s sports and watch women’s sports,” said fan Madisyn Bellin.
The buzz continued after the buzzer of this year’s NCAA women’s championship game, which may have been a loss for Clark’s Iowa team but a win for women’s sports.
“The national championship peaked at 24 million viewers and was the most-watched college basketball game on the ESPN platform, men’s or women’s, incredibly,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
The commissioner discussed the league’s financial situation ahead of this week’s draft.
“We are not going to jeopardize the financial viability of this league,” she said. “It was just a few years ago that we survived and now we go from surviving to thriving.”
Alabama Media Group columnist Roy S. Johnson said fans can’t compare rookie salaries between the NBA and WNBA.
“They are completely separately governed, which means their economies are very separate,” Johnson said.
The two leagues have vastly different revenue totals and different contracts with their respective leagues, but Johnson added that he thinks the WNBA players union is in a strong position to renegotiate after the 2025 season and expects that to happen as they are already seeing fans flocking to see the stars of the competition.
On the Chicago Sky website, available tickets for the team’s first home game on May 25 start at $65 and resell for as much as $604.
When Clark’s Indiana Fever comes to town, those numbers skyrocket from between $225 and $1,700.
“If you really want to see pay equity in the WNBA, or any female sports league, go to the games, buy the tickets, buy the jerseys and the uniforms,” Johnson said. “Support the league at this peak and hope that this is not the peak, but that this is just the beginning of a change that will close the gap between NBA and WNBA salaries.”
Or as Commissioner Engelbert put it: “Buy, represent, look, live.”
