The NBA/WNBA Pay Gap

By: Ariel Rubin

I have watched many videos of women complaining about not being paid as much as men. I don’t know much about that, so I won’t comment. 

But I have also seen videos of WNBA players complaining about not getting paid as much as the men in the NBA. On this point, I disagree. In this article, I’ll use logic to prove that these critics are incorrect in their demand for more money.

This reason isn't really the WNBA's fault. It's that the WNBA has only been around for a little more than 20 years. How can you even compete for viewers with a league that has been around for 80 years? 

The NBA had 60 more years to gain the trust of the fans and dedication to the fans' sports teams. These bonds get passed down generation after generation. The WNBA has formed the groundwork, but has not taken the necessary steps that truly provide a connection with fans.

The WNBA makes 200 million dollars a year. This money comes from mostly big media deals, with their biggest deal beginning in 2026. In addition, when they sell clothing on their website, they make money from it. When they sell a seat to a game, they make money from that, and so on. 

Now, this may seem like a lot of money, and it is. However, when we compare this to the NBA, it is virtually nothing. Percentage-wise, this is only 1.66% of the NBA’s revenue. The NBA annually rakes in 12 BILLION a year. That's 12 BILLION!! It’s 60 times what the WNBA makes. 

That is a ton of money, and it comes mostly from media rights, and a small percentage of it is merchandise. This, then, leads to my second point. Why is it that the WNBA makes so much less money?

If I'm being honest, it’s because very few people care about the WNBA. There are so many famous NBA players, such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The list goes on and on and on. 

Excluding Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese, how many WNBA players can you name? 2? 3? Maybe 4 on a good day. Right there lies the problem: so few people care about the WNBA. 

As of 2023, the highest average attendance for a WNBA team was 9,000 fans. The highest for the NBA? 18,500. Yes, that's right - the least attended NBA team still has more than double the amount of the highest-attended WNBA team. 

Now, one might say, “Well, WNBA teams play in smaller stadiums, so this comparison is not fair.” But that's completely incorrect, as a majority of the WNBA teams play in NBA stadiums. 

Now, to be fair, their attendance did increase in 2025 because of Cailyn Clark. However, the NBA's lowest attended team still has more people come to games than the WNBA’s highest attendance team. To sum up, basically no one comes to WNBA games.

Ultimately, I think that the WNBA players' wage gap makes sense. They haven't made as strong a connection with their fans and fewer people know any WNBA players or care about their teams. As a result, the league makes less money

How can they fix this problem? I think that they should make seats cheaper than they currently are. If they do this, more people will come to these games, which will spark a bond. Attendees might even bring along friends who have never been to a game before. Now they're all attached to this one team, and they’ll pass that connection down to their kids.

So that is it: the WNBA “wage gap” makes sense.

Thanks for sticking around. I'll catch you in the next one.