NBA vs WNBA: Salaries
What Is the Average NBA Salary? What Is the Average WNBA Salary?
Thanks to a sky-rocketing salary cap, aided by record cable television agreements, the average NBA player makes more than ever.
The average salary of an NBA player is $9.6 million.
The highest-paid player in the NBA will be Stephen Curry during the 2022-2023 season. He will make approximately $48 million guaranteed.
Aminimum salary in the NBA is dependent on your years of experience in the NBA. Scaling from no experience to 10+ years of experience, a minimum contract can cost from $838,464 to $2.4 million.
The wages in the WNBA are nowhere near their NBA counterparts.
An average WNBA player made $102,751 last season and the number is expected to increase to approximately $75,000.
The maximum salary for a WNBA player is $215,000, as of 2020. The minimum salary for a WNBA player is $72,141, which is also equal to the rookie minimum salary.
While the maximum is $215,000, Jewell Loyd managed to make $228,094.
The WNBA’s wage differences are in part due to the revenue split between the WNBA and league that gives the players around 20% of WNBA revenue. As such, many of the WNBA’s top players ply their trade overseas in the offseason, usually to more profitable results.
For example, Brittney Griner played in China with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls and UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason.
Why Do WNBA Players Make Less Money Than their NBA Counterparts?
The most important action in the history of the WNBA is soon to come. Last season the WNBA players’ labor union opted out of its collective bargaining agreement at the end of this season. They chose not to wait until the deal expired in 2021.
WNBPA President and Los Angeles Sparks player Nneka Ogwumike said:
In opting out of this CBA, our primary objective is full transparency. We just want information about where the league is as a business, so that we can come together and make sound decisions for the future of the game.
Ogwumike has stated that the goal of the WNBPA opting out of its current CBA isn’t a statement of privilege, but one to better understand the goings-on of the NBA – the WNBA’s parent company.
Seeing as Adam Silver declared that the WNBA lost $12 million last year, all the WNBPA asks for is clarity.
The root of the wage gap is simple. The NBA rakes in more than $8 billion in revenue every year and the WNBA doesn’t generate a fraction of that.
David Berri (Forbes) quoted that a source suggested a conservative estimate of the WNBA’s revenue would be approximately $60 million.
Even at the current CBA which stipulates an approximate 80-20 revenue split between players and owners – in favor of the owners, that revenue valuation would suggest players would be taking home $12.3 million.
NBA vs WNBA: Viewership
Which Is More Viewed in the US, the NBA, or the WNBA?
The NBA viewership is one of the major sports populations in the world. Almost 27% of Americans tune in to the NBA on a regular basis, with that amount peaking during the playoffs and the NBA Finals.
In the 2019 NBA Finals, an average of 15.14 million people watched. That number does not include the Canadian television audience.
While the numbers for the WNBA season have not been made available yet, they are trending in the right direction. From 2017 to 2018, viewership for WNBA matches on ESPN increased by 35%.
With 231,000 viewers in 2018, the WNBA climbed to a viewership high not seen since 2013.
Where Else Is the NBA Broadcast (Outside USA)?
The NBA is a global league, to say the least. In part, because they broadcast across the globe.
96 countries across 8 continents broadcast the NBA. From Canada to the Philippines, Andorra to South Africa, the NBA’s reach is truly global.
Is there an International Market for the WNBA?
The broadcast market for the WNBA is significantly smaller than that of the NBA, but not irrelevant.
The WNBA is broadcast in 24 different countries outside of the United States, on top of four different pan-regional channels.
NBA vs WNBA: Attendance
Who Had More Fans Last Season? The NBA or the WNBA?
Attendance at NBA games is much greater than attendance at WNBA games. On average, approximately 18,000 attend live NBA matches every night.
The Philadelphia 76ers have the highest attendance in the league at 20,441 while the lowest attendance is owned by the Brooklyn Nets who average 14,941 in attendance.
Attendance for the WNBA is the lowest it has been in league history. In 2018 the average attendance of a WNBA regular-season game was 6,768. Far below the historical league average of 7,400 attendees per game.
Much of that drop has to do with constant moving schedules of teams. The Chicago Sky have played in three different arenas since 2010.
In an extreme case, the New York Liberty were moved to Westchester upon being sold. After averaging over 10,000 fans per game, they were moved to Westchester County Centre which holds a maximum of 5,000.
Which Has the Highest Average Ticket Price: NBA or WNBA?
The NBA. An average NBA ticket during the 2018-2019 season cost approximately $89 USD. Up 14% from 2015.
Prices have become even steeper on the secondary market, almost matching the cost of a new ticket at $88.90 USD. Up 27% from 2016.
In 2018, the average reported ticket price in the WNBA is $17.42.
NBA vs WNBA: Ratings
Which League Has Better Ratings?
The 2019 WNBA season started off with a bang to its rating season. The third game of the WNBA season delivered a 0.6 rating, which was up 200% from the same time last year.
After expanding its coverage to 16 different regular-season telecasts, the WNBA seems to be taking a step in the right direction.
The NBA, on the other hand, is a juggernaut in the ratings department. They set an all-time ratings high in 1998 when the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz garnered an 18.7/33, reaching 29.04 million unique viewers.
The 2019 NBA Finals were a different story, as it boasted an average rating of only 8.8 reaching only 15.14 million viewers. However, those numbers don’t take into account Canadian viewership, as one of the competitors in the 2019 NBA Finals were Canada’s Toronto Raptors. Averaging about 7.4 million viewers per game, which is approximately 20% of the Canadian population.
Does that Mean the NBA Has More Viewers?
The NBA has a wider reach in terms of broadcasting compared to the WNBA.
While the WNBA has increased its broadcast to sixteen different telecasts, the NBA still dwarfs them in that regard.
The NBA is shown on national broadcast channels such as ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV. On top of that, they broadcast over nine different regional networks for its thirty clubs.
Conclusion: It Is Still Complicated
The NBA and the WNBA are a comparison unlike many others in professional sports. It is one of the few sporting comparisons that transcends gender.
Basketball is played the same throughout, but compensation is significantly different.
Considering the NBA owns the WNBA, and many WNBA teams are owned by their NBA counterparts, it will be long before the two products will ever meet the same ground.
Basketball players are some of the most recognizable in the world – due to their media personalities and on-court presence, as well as the fact that they are devoid of significant advertisem*nt and equipment masking their image.
Growth seems natural for both the NBA and the WNBA going forward. Basketball is amongst the sports that have the highest enrolment at the youth level, due to its safety, organization, and ability to play regardless of weather and equipment.
How the WNBPA goes forward with its CBA will play a huge role in how the WNBA grows going forward.
The NBA reigns supreme at this moment, but the ladies are coming for their due. Should they reach a CBA similar to their male counterparts in the NBA, we could be seeing a whole new era in basketball.
