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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Spark is one of six WNBA players to be paid the league's highest salary of $113,500. </p>

Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Spark is one of six WNBA players to be paid the league's highest salary of $113,500. 

Late last week, I was perusing the Twittersphere when I came across a tweet that caught my attention.

A mutual follower wrote “You know, it’s pretty wild how the WNBA isn’t as popular as the NBA for the simple fact that they’re women.”

Time and time again, I think about this subject. It’s an unfortunate fact that most women’s sports take a backseat to their male counterparts.

On very rare occasions — such as with the FIFA Women’s World Cup — do we see their popularity soar. However, whenever women’s sports do go on an upswing, they always fall back down to a hum eventually.

It’s frustrating to see the lack of love for women’s sports on many fronts, not only because there are so many unrecognized talents, but because it affects the athletes’ pocket books as well.

Since there aren’t as many sponsorships as well as less TV revenue for the WNBA, the average player’s salary hovers around $70,000.

Just to compare, the median NBA salary is a little more than $2.3 million.

The only way this is going to change is if the league can pull in more revenue.

Sadly, this won’t happen if people don’t change their mindsets on how they view women’s basketball, as well as women’s sports in general.

After I responded to the tweet by comparing between NBA and WNBA player salaries, I received a lot of feedback.

Some of the responses were very constructive, but others were blatantly rude toward female athletes.

Numerous comments — many of them coming from men — said that women don’t deserve any more money playing basketball than they’re already making because their sport isn’t as exciting if they can’t throw down a dunk.

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One commenter talked about putting players in lingerie, and maybe that would get more eyes on games.

Yeah, a lot of the women in the WNBA can’t dunk. But why can’t we appreciate the game past those highlights? Can’t we enjoy the fact that these are women who are top-notch athletes in their field?  

And attempting to sexualize these women when the sport has nothing to do with sexual appeal showcases how many people are still in a mindset that is completely backward and disgusting.

It doesn’t stop at basketball. Professional softball has yet to catch a big enough fan base for proper recognition. Women’s golf doesn’t garner the same amount of viewership as men.

Sports fans gawk at male athleticism, which desensitizes them when watching women’s sports. What we need to do is appreciate what women can do athletically, rather than compare one game to another.

Only after we move away from this mindset can we truly start to appreciate women’s sports and, in turn, get more eyes and revenue on an under-appreciated league.

If men can create lofty and comfortable livings out of playing sports, so should women. Just because women aren’t slamming down thunderous dunks or throwing fastballs at 98 mph, that doesn’t make them any less exciting.

They just play a different brand of ball. And people need to start appreciating that brand some more.

Skyler Lebron is a sports writer. Follow him on Twitter @SkylerLebron and contact him at slebron@alligator.org.

Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Spark is one of six WNBA players to be paid the league's highest salary of $113,500. 

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