Gap between Caitlin Clark's WNBA salary and her male counterparts draws outrage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don’t watch women’s sports except perhaps tennis. So I think this is fair. Professional sports are a business, not an entitlement.

The NCAA men’s basketball championship (Purdue-UConn) drew a smaller TV crowd than the women’s final for the first time ever.

The men’s final on Monday (primetime): 14.82 million viewers.

The women’s final (Iowa-South Carolina) on Sunday (not in primetime): 18.87 million.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/womens-ncaa-final-bigger-tv-ratings-than-mens-first-time-1235870291/

That was a one off and you know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t watch any sports, but even I know who this girl is. I assume (?) and hope she will get some big endorsements. She is a pretty girl and that will help her—think volleyballer Gabby Reese.

- my .02 which means nothing.

You sure about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to look at viewership and game attendance and compare the two. Salaries for any players is dependent on income brought in, with a few standouts making (significantly) more.

Viewership and attendance to the WNBA is far less.

This.

When the WNBA is bringing in as many viewers and attendance is as good as the NBA and the merch is flying off the shelves, salaries will increase.

If anyone can help increase viewership in the the WNBA, it would be Caitlin Clark.

WNBA hasn't been promoted or invested in nearly as much as the men's side. So the "they don't bring in viewers" line becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t watch any sports, but even I know who this girl is. I assume (?) and hope she will get some big endorsements. She is a pretty girl and that will help her—think volleyballer Gabby Reese.

- my .02 which means nothing.

You sure about that?

Don't be that dick that trashes a talented athlete based on her looks. It's mean. And it's sexist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don’t watch women’s sports except perhaps tennis. So I think this is fair. Professional sports are a business, not an entitlement.

The NCAA men’s basketball championship (Purdue-UConn) drew a smaller TV crowd than the women’s final for the first time ever.

The men’s final on Monday (primetime): 14.82 million viewers.

The women’s final (Iowa-South Carolina) on Sunday (not in primetime): 18.87 million.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/womens-ncaa-final-bigger-tv-ratings-than-mens-first-time-1235870291/

Now do every other game in the season and the pro games.

The number of watch-hours per player is far higher for men's.

Still proves that “people don’t watch women’s sports except perhaps tennis” is hogwash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don’t watch women’s sports except perhaps tennis. So I think this is fair. Professional sports are a business, not an entitlement.

The NCAA men’s basketball championship (Purdue-UConn) drew a smaller TV crowd than the women’s final for the first time ever.

The men’s final on Monday (primetime): 14.82 million viewers.

The women’s final (Iowa-South Carolina) on Sunday (not in primetime): 18.87 million.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/womens-ncaa-final-bigger-tv-ratings-than-mens-first-time-1235870291/

Average viewership for the whole bracket:

Men: 10M
Women: 2M

[Anonymous]

Protest Bowser. The city is subsidizing the Wizards and having the Mystics play in warehouse in South East

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don’t watch women’s sports except perhaps tennis. So I think this is fair. Professional sports are a business, not an entitlement.

The NCAA men’s basketball championship (Purdue-UConn) drew a smaller TV crowd than the women’s final for the first time ever.

The men’s final on Monday (primetime): 14.82 million viewers.

The women’s final (Iowa-South Carolina) on Sunday (not in primetime): 18.87 million.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/womens-ncaa-final-bigger-tv-ratings-than-mens-first-time-1235870291/

Now do every other game in the season and the pro games.

The number of watch-hours per player is far higher for men's.

Still proves that “people don’t watch women’s sports except perhaps tennis” is hogwash.

Fair point. On the scale of NBA, people don't watch women's (or men's) tennis either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t watch any sports, but even I know who this girl is. I assume (?) and hope she will get some big endorsements. She is a pretty girl and that will help her—think volleyballer Gabby Reese.

- my .02 which means nothing.

You sure about that?

Don't be that dick that trashes a talented athlete based on her looks. It's mean. And it's sexist.

She is not a pretty girl. That was what was challenged.
It is not sexist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol @ no one watches womens sports so its ok to pay them worse

Caitlin Clarks most recent games have had more viewership than any basketball game in the last 5 years - including every single game in the NBA during that time.

There is literally no excuse to pay her less. She will be rolling in it with her sponsorships though.

For some reason (I'm not honestly not sure why), people love to watch women's college sports but not women's professional sports.

It happens with softball too. the NCAA softball championships gets good viewership and is super fun to watch

But nobody watches the pro leagues. My family included. We hunker down and watch as much of the women's college world series as possible. but we tried to watch the pro games and ended up turning it off.

Same with our family. We watched the women's NCAA basketball final a couple of weeks ago and we are really into the championship playoffs of college softball but never watch professional women's basketball or softball. I just don't find it enjoyable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol @ no one watches womens sports so its ok to pay them worse

Caitlin Clarks most recent games have had more viewership than any basketball game in the last 5 years - including every single game in the NBA during that time.

There is literally no excuse to pay her less. She will be rolling in it with her sponsorships though.

For some reason (I'm not honestly not sure why), people love to watch women's college sports but not women's professional sports.

It happens with softball too. the NCAA softball championships gets good viewership and is super fun to watch

But nobody watches the pro leagues. My family included. We hunker down and watch as much of the women's college world series as possible. but we tried to watch the pro games and ended up turning it off.

Same with our family. We watched the women's NCAA basketball final a couple of weeks ago and we are really into the championship playoffs of college softball but never watch professional women's basketball or softball. I just don't find it enjoyable.

People prefer younger women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The contract for the rights to play the games on TV ends next year.

Viewership is way up and rising so the contract for 2025 season will be higher and then they can raise salaries.

Caitlin Clark sold more jerseys last night on draft night than any athlete ever.

This is laughably false. The entire quote is higher than any athlete in the COMPANY’s History.

"Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin said that Caitlin Clark had the highest selling jersey on draft night of any athlete in any sport in the company’s history," Markazi wrote.

And it’s still seems like hyperbole because they sold out after an hour because they probably didn’t make very many jerseys. Then added “in most sizes”. The company said the same thing about Otani and other players but it’s hard to find the actual number of jerseys sold. It’s a marketing ploy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol @ no one watches womens sports so its ok to pay them worse

Caitlin Clarks most recent games have had more viewership than any basketball game in the last 5 years - including every single game in the NBA during that time.

There is literally no excuse to pay her less. She will be rolling in it with her sponsorships though.

For some reason (I'm not honestly not sure why), people love to watch women's college sports but not women's professional sports.

It happens with softball too. the NCAA softball championships gets good viewership and is super fun to watch

But nobody watches the pro leagues. My family included. We hunker down and watch as much of the women's college world series as possible. but we tried to watch the pro games and ended up turning it off.

Same with our family. We watched the women's NCAA basketball final a couple of weeks ago and we are really into the championship playoffs of college softball but never watch professional women's basketball or softball. I just don't find it enjoyable.

People prefer younger women.

I don't know if thats it. My 12yo DD is the same way. She watches lots of woman's college sports but no profesionall women's sports.

It might have to do with the organization/branding. It feels familar to root for Texas or Oklahoma, with their decades of success in sports, versus some team with a stupid name like "Mystics". Rivalries are already built in based off the colleges and conferences.

It just feels much more "established"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The contract for the rights to play the games on TV ends next year.

Viewership is way up and rising so the contract for 2025 season will be higher and then they can raise salaries.

Caitlin Clark sold more jerseys last night on draft night than any athlete ever.

This is laughably false. The entire quote is higher than any athlete in the COMPANY’s History.

"Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin said that Caitlin Clark had the highest selling jersey on draft night of any athlete in any sport in the company’s history," Markazi wrote.

And it’s still seems like hyperbole because they sold out after an hour because they probably didn’t make very many jerseys. Then added “in most sizes”. The company said the same thing about Otani and other players but it’s hard to find the actual number of jerseys sold. It’s a marketing ploy.

It's also funny bc if you follow MLB, you know that NOBODY wants to buy any jersey made by Fanatics. So its probably not hard for that company to "sellout"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH just told me that Griener basketball player made 1 million a year in Russia.

Well - we all know what happened to her for the price of 1 million a year. Go to Russia and find out if it’s worth it?

My point was much more money abroad.