Top sports agent says WNBA salaries are 'blatantly unfair' to players \ stacker news ~Stacker

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Top sports agent says WNBA salaries are 'blatantly unfair' to players www.cnbc.com/2025/01/23/top-sports-agent-says-wnba-salaries-are-blatantly-unfair.html

925 sats \ 20 comments \ @siggy47 23 Jan Stacker_Sports

This is nuts. Has he compared the team revenues between the NBA and WNBA? Not fair? WTF?

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265 sats \ 4 replies \ @Cje95 23 Jan

Wild take esp since the league has been losing money for almost all of its existence. The NBA was keeping them afloat for over two decades. Some teams have turned the corner in recent years but the league as a whole still looses money.

Where I do see some room for change (granted I was reading the WNBA wiki so it could be wrong) is with the revenue generated since only 40% goes to the teams and players with the rest going to the NBA and outside investors. Now the league expected to still lose $50 million this year so this change would be much more long term than short term but it is still a change we should see nonetheless.

Some WNBA players have been smart and have pointed out that they want to get the same revenue share as the NBA and part of me thinks hey do it and if you are not generating crap and you are hemorrhaging money well it will relate in your salary. First though you would also need to factor in paying back everyone that kept you employed for all these years but I do think only getting roughly 20% of the revenue is a little on the light side.

139 sats \ 3 replies \ @grayruby 23 Jan

I broadly agree with you. I don't really agree with "First though you would also need to factor in paying back everyone that kept you employed for all these years".

I don't think this should factor in. NBA kept WNBA afloat in hopes it would expand the basketball fanbase to include more women and the women's game would grow and eventually be profitable for the NBA. Or they did it for good PR. Either way it was an investment from the NBA like any company would invest in R and D for a new business line. I don't think current players should be penalized financially because the business line sucked for the last 20 years.

But I do agree they really shouldn't be whining too much because no one watched that league until last season when Clark arrived.

80 sats \ 1 reply \ @Cje95 23 Jan

So I was looking at the whole payback idea from the point of if they want to shift to how other leagues are where the NBA isnt a party. More or less give the NBA its investment back so that they are not a party when deciding how to split the pie.

Now I know that they would never do something like this because it is a huge cost to them but in my mind if the players want to treat the league like how the NBA is treated then you have to remove the outside investors/NBA and just go with the owners and players. If that makes sense.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 23 Jan

Yup. I see where you are coming from.

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @elvismercury 23 Jan

Yeah not a huge fan of reparations.

62 sats \ 9 replies \ @grayruby 23 Jan

Well he is an agent so he is always going to say his clients are underpaid and it looks like he represents the creator of a new 3x3 women's league so there is that conflict of interest as well.

I am sure as the league grows salaries will rise but this issue is always great clickbait for the media.

60 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 23 Jan

Yeah, agents will be agents. It just seems like an absurd argument. It's like the EHL bitching because their salaries aren't commensurate to those in the NHL.

81 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 23 Jan

Fairness is an interesting concept. it's inherent to us. Cain murdered Abel because of perceived unfairness.

When my kids complain about fairness, I ask them, "Are you sure you want fair?" That usually shuts them up quick.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 23 Jan

Yes it is true most people only want fair when it suits them. Many years ago I managed retail stores and some of them were unionized. I used to hear "fair" a lot. My favourite was when they sited the collective agreement to make their point about fairness. I used to respond in kind "we can follow the collective agreement to the letter of the law but you told me you can't work weekends and the agreement says you must work every second weekend, so we can work together to come up with an arrangement that works for both of us or just follow what the agreement says is 'fair'".

40 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 23 Jan

I think that's the main point. Just like the head of a labor union or a defense attorney, an agent's job isn't to present the truth. His job is to make the best case for his clients.

If this is that best case, though, then they're in trouble.

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 23 Jan

All these people look like children next to Wemby. Haha.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nitter 23 Jan

https://xcancel.com/NBA/status/1882464605538312653

39 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 23 Jan

Toronto is getting a WNBA team. Toronto Tempo. Haha that's such a bad name.

64 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 23 Jan

Giannis Atorontotempo. That was the first thought that jumped into my mind.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 23 Jan

Maybe Giannis will sign with the Raptors since they named the women’s team after him.

61 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 23 Jan

People will try to draw comparisons between apples and oranges if it helps make their point stronger. WNBA doesnt have the draw the NBA has.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cje95 23 Jan

A few players have recently pointed out/spoke out about not changing the salary but changing the percentage of revenue players get. I do think this would be worthy of the league looking into and just showing the players look we have X cost if we give you the revenue increase the pot will look like Y and then the players can decide okay do I want to go forward and really invest my time in the sport to grow it or do I just want the cash.

55 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 23 Jan

Clearly incentives explain this take. He's an agent...

Hey, hire me. I think you are overpaid.

55 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 23 Jan

On the one hand, I agree.

On the other:

Still, female professional pickleball players are now making more than WNBA stars, averaging $260,000 per year, according to salary data from the United Pickleball Association.

What the everloving heck?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 23 Jan

The market speaks!