The wage gap in basketball

Ágnes Török and Bence Márk Nárai

Index
Introduction............................................................................................................................................3
1. The situation in numbers................................................................................................................4
2. Economic and marketing reasons...................................................................................................5
3. What steps have been taken so far..................................................................................................8
4. Interview......................................................................................................................................10
5. Future prospects...........................................................................................................................13
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
Our opinion..........................................................................................................................................14
Bibliography.........................................................................................................................................15
Introduction
In the 21st century, we might feel that the issue of inequalities between men and women has
nothing new to show us anymore. The female emancipation has started more than two
hundred years ago, and it has reached many accomplishments as time went by. The idea,
which demands a complete economic, social, political and religious equality of women with
men, had an undeniable effect on the society of the past few centuries. In spite of the fact that
numerous steps had been taken in this case, inequality between men and women still exists.
However, the phenomenon has many ways to reveal itself. From global sized problems on
education, illiteracy or violence against women, to our everyday life stories filled with sexist
or homophobic comments.

Needless to say, the economical aspect is one of the main problems of the situation. The wage
differences in the labor market demonstrate well how women are being underpaid worldwide,
or receiving less salary compared to men in the same position. The question of salaries and
rewards is something that the world of sport has to deal with as well. In the sports industry,
the pay gap varies greatly not only between genders but also between particular sports. For
example, while the gap is minimal between male and female tennis players, it grows
enormously when it comes to male and female basketball or football players. Although many
sports struggle with unequal salaries between men and women, we will focus on the relation
between the two highest ranked basketball leagues in the world, the NBA and the WNBA.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league formed in the
United States in 1949 by the merger of two rival organizations, the National Basketball
League (founded 1937) and the Basketball Association of America (founded 1946). 1 It is
composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the four major
professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The NBA's regular season runs
from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. The league's playoff tournament
extends into June. The league's several international as well as individual team offices are
directed out of its head offices in Midtown Manhattan, while its NBA Entertainment and
NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey. The NBA has
always been a league that was dominated by what some historians have called "teams of the
era". The early decades of the NBA were dominated the Minneapolis Lakers and their star
George Mikan. From 1948 until 1954 the Lakers won 5 NBA championships. From 1957
1
https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Basketball-Association Retrieved: 10.02.2020.
until 1969 the Boston Celtics won 11 championships in 13 seasons and the 1980s was
dominated by the Lakers and Celtics who combined to win 8 of the 10 titles during that
decade. The 1990s saw the rise of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls; who would capture 6 titles
during the decade. The 2000s saw the Lakers again being dominant winning 5 titles during the
decade. Only the 1970s and 2010s did not see a franchise win at least 4 NBA titles, though the
Golden State Warriors got close by winning 3 titles in the 2010s. 2 As years went by, the
popularity of the NBA increased rapidly. Nowadays, there is no question that the NBA games
are one of the most visited sport venues in the United States, and the most watched television
sport programs in the country as well.

However, the women’s basketball league is way younger than the NBA. On April 24, 1996,
women’s basketball announced “We Got Next” as the NBA Board of Governors approved the
concept of a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to begin play in June 1997.
Since then, the WNBA has been the home for the best women’s basketball talent in the
world.3The league is currently composed of twelve teams, which are divided into two
divisions, the Eastern conference and the Western conference. The regular season is played
from May to September, with the "All Star" game being played midway through the season in
July (except in Olympic years) and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the
beginning of October.

1. The situation in numbers

The wage gap between male and female workforces has been proven plenty of times by
numeric researches. Professional sports are no exception, moreover, in this case the difference
in numbers is even more evident, since WNBA and NBA salaries are listed in open databases
from the leagues’ franchises, and are causing tension between the WNBA Players’
Association and the WNBA authorities to this day.

In a latter chapter the reasons behind the enormous gap is explained, which can shortly be
described as a difference in the worldwide marketability of women’s and men’s basketball
teams and players. To show an actual insight of the difference in numbers of the two
associations, data has been taken from the open sources for the salary caps allowed and ruled
by the league commission, and the top 10 highest paid male and female basketball players in
the aforementioned leagues.

2
https://nbahoopsonline.com/History/ Retrieved: 10.03.2020.
3
https://www.wnba.com/history/ Retrieved: 10.03.2020.
The salary cap is the upper limit of the total salaries that a team can provide for its signed
professionals for a season. It can be surpassed to a certain extent by paying luxury taxes.

In the 2019-2020 season the salary cap for the NBA was $99,093,000 the same maximum for
the WNBA was $1,300,000. These totals include the annual incomes for the players, and the
team has the right to decide the number of players on the roster. 4 That is an enormous
difference, but to clarify the circumstances there are some details to mention.

The WNBA season is lasting only for about 4 months, while NBA season is approximately 8
months long from the first match until the final stunt. (The 2019-2020 season was an extreme
case, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA season lasted for more than a year.)

The average salary of the top ten highest paid athletes in the NBA belongs to Stephen Curry,
Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, James Harden, LeBron James, Kevin Durant,
Blake Griffin, Kyle Lowry and Paul George and their annual average salary is
$36,768,891,40, while the total league average is $6,665,745.

The top ten highest paid WNBA players are Elena Delle Donne, Emma Meesseman,
DeWanna Bonner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Brittney Griner, Sue Bird, Courtney Vandersloot,
Allie Quigley, Jazmine Jones and Chelsea Gray. Their total average salary is $208,737,8.5 The
league average salary is around $130,000.6

Let us compare the two key numbers, since individual earnings are extreme in both cases, and
not every player is born to be Stephen Curry or Elena Delle Donne.The average salaries are
perfect example to show the size of the difference.

The NBA average monthly income is $833,218.125 (the $6,665,745 annual salary divided by
the 8 months of season), while the WNBA average is $32,500 per month (the $130,000
divided by the 4 months of the season).

2. Economic and marketing reasons

Since the National Basketball Association is the older league, it had already worked its way to
be able to have multiple sources of income through media deals, merchandise sales,
sponsorships and ticket sales. To be able to gain a deeper understanding of how the financial
background for these leagues work, in this chapter NBA’s economic aspect is being
4
https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/players.html Retrieved: 10.15.2020.
5
https://www.spotrac.com/wnba/rankings/ Retrieved: 10.16.2020.
6
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/01/14/new-wnba-cba-increases-average-salary-to-nearly-130k-maximum-
salary-above-500k/ Retrieved: 10.16.2020.
investigated, since it could be the leading example for the WNBA to follow. Then after each
information, a detailed comparison is made between the two. Because NBA is not a public
company, it does not release detailed financial reports to the public. However, according to
Forbes, which regularly compiles valuations of the 30 team of the NBA, total revenue across
the organization reached $8.76 billion in the 2018-2019 season. Each one of the teams is
worth at least $1 billion, and a team on average is worth $2.12 billion.7

The NBA was a pioneer in the history of major sports leagues, with revolutionary
achievements. It was the first league to introduce the 3-day All Star Weekends, where all the
famous active and retired basketball stars are invited. Since the introduction of the event it
became an important meeting point for the pop culture’s finest of the United States. Not only
the relevant basketball players and coaches participate in these programs, but all the
significant and trending performing artists and celebrities (actors, musicians, TV personnel
etc.) can be found in the stands, and also in some cases participating in certain activities
during the weekend. There is an actual event for celebrities throughout the All Star Weekend
before the main event where famous people showcase their talents in the game of basketball.
For example, in 2011 the most valuable player of the match was Justin Bieber, which shows
the prestige of the event very well. To be able to raise the WNBA’s market and marketability
value, involving “A” list celebrities in promoting the league could be a very effective way.

As it was mentioned above, the NBA is now attracting famous people to participate in games
and watch the regular season matches from the first row seats at the sidelines, but this
attraction came from a long, conscious road of building the brand, publicity and marketability
of the sport of basketball. There are some key factors in the business of sports, and one of the
most important is publicity and air time on television and other media platforms. Therefore,
the first goal for major sporting events is gaining as much coverage as possible, which in the
case of NBA is a multibillion dollar TV broadcasting deal. The current deal for the rights of
the NBA games is a three-party agreement between ESPN, Turner Sports and the National
Basketball Association, where the former two companies are paying the latter party
approximately $2.6 billion for the streaming permission annually. The deal is valid from 2016
until 2025, and the total price was an estimated $24 billion. Whereas, the WNBA television

7
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/071415/how-nba-makes-money.asp Retrieved:
10.18.2020.
deal is worth $25 million per season, with a mandatory amount of 40 primetime WNBA
matches.8

Media and broadcasting deals help build the brand and economy for women’s basketball, but
to be honest, selling the sport events is far from enough. In the NBA, there were eras, where
household names, and players like Michael Jordan single-handedly carried the league’s
reputation to another level. Since for Americans major sports are mainly built around
business, the WNBA has to have its trailblazers to reach more audience. A great indicator to
show how marketable a team or a player is the list of sponsorship deals.

There are leading athletes, who in some cases have lifetime sponsorship deals, like LeBron
James with Nike, whose worth for Nike is more than $1 billion, according to his manager. 9
These endorsement contracts are confidential in general, but it’s not too hard to find data of
NBA players’ deals, while WNBA player endorsements feel like an Easter egg hunt due to
limited sources of data the lack of online coverage. Mostly rumors, and supposed deals are
shared by sources. Maya Moore, a former star athlete, who was an anchor for the actual
popularity of the WNBA was rumored to have a deal with Nike worth $3-4 million. What’s
the common thing with the two players mentioned above? Maya Moore and LeBron James
are both four time WNBA/NBA champions with multiple individual awards and All-Star
appearances.1011 What’s the difference? Around $996 million in their Nike endorsements.
Marketability, again is a heavy aspect, and it’s a reason why women athletes can’t get the
sponsorship deals they would deserve in a perfect world.

But what about the teams and their profit through merchandising? In the past few years,
there’s a new tendency inside the major sports leagues (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA), that on the
teams’ equipment not only the name of the franchise and the name of the player are shown,
but a patch can be found too, with labels of various corporations. Teams are now able to put
company logos on their gear to gain extra income for advertising. What is interesting about
these patches, that in 2011 WNBA was among the first American professional sports leagues,
that first introduced jersey sponsorships, which in this case made them a trendsetter in
national merchandise customs. 12 Later on, most of the pro leagues picked up this feature, and
8
https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardmegdal/2019/04/23/new-cbs-sports-network-deal-with-wnba-latest-
reminder-of-new-revenue-streams/?sh=727c3bf05cc8 Retrieved: 10.20.2020.
9
https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-nike-deal-exceeds-1-billion-maverick-carter-says-2016-5
Retrieved: 10.21.2020.
10
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01.html Retrieved: 10.21.2020.
11
https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/m/moorema01w.html Retrieved: 10.21.2020.
12
https://www.espn.com/espnw/blogs/opinion/story/_/id/6304592/good-business-selling-out Retrieved:
10.25.2020.
as expected, it paid out even better for the major leagues of male athletes. Since the
introduction of the advertisement patches, NBA’s Golden State Warriors has a jersey deal,
which is the most valuable among any basketball teams in the United States, of $20 million
per year with Rakuten (a Japanese telecommunication company) 13. While $20 million per year
for a 2.5 by 2.5-inch patch is a dream for any WNBA franchise, they are already making huge
steps toward their goal of reaching new heights of making incomes in any way possible.

3. What steps have been taken so far

As we can see, the problem of inequalities between the basketball leagues has been on the
table for a while. However, it is undeniable that many steps had been taken to solve the issue,
and to reduce the differences. There are various ways to express solidarity and support
towards the WNBA and its battle, and it is important to see how negotiations turned out when
the problem had been discussed.

Probably the biggest achievement in this case in the previous years happened in January,
2020, when the WNBA and its players signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
This is the fifth CBA in the history of the WNBA. The first CBA was in 1999, and
agreements followed in 2003, 2008 and 2014. The agreement is for eight years, from the 2020
through 2027 seasons, with a mutual opt-out provision after six years. 14 The new agreement
gives women of the WNBA a much better-funded pregnancy benefit, better lodging and travel
conditions, expanded player programs (i.e. funding for completing an undergraduate degree as
well as training for other careers beyond basketball), and a greater commitment to marketing
by the league. In addition, the players are going to see an increase in pay. The league salary
cap will jump from $996,100 to $1.3 million.15 A question, though, remains. What percentage
of revenue is now going to the players? According to the press release announcing the new
collective bargaining agreement: “…for the first time in WNBA history, the average cash
compensation for players will exceed six figures, averaging nearly $130,000…”

WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike said to CNBC, “We found common ground in areas
that confirmed the league’s and the players’ intentions to not only make meaningful
improvements in working conditions and overall professional experience, but also to improve

13
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacglover/2017/09/12/here-are-the-14-nba-teams-that-now-have-jersey-
sponsorship-deals/#43d938d2123a Retrieved: 11.03.2020.
14
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/28480768/new-wnba-cba-include-salary-bump-other-cash-
compensation-increases Retrieved: 10.02.2020.
15
https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2020/01/29/wnba-pay-equality/ Retrieved: 10.04.2020.
the business with strategic planning and intentional marketing that will keep the WNBA front
and center year-round.”16

The supporting role of the NBA is an important factor of the WNBA’s fight in building
recognition. Since the NBA is followed by much more people than the WNBA, supporting
acts by the players have a great importance in making people aware of the WNBA, and
realizing its values.

One fan of the WNBA is NBA superstar, LeBron James. In 2019, the NBA released a video
showing James listing who his favorite WNBA players were. Some players that he named
were Elena Delle Donne, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi. “Their skill set, their ability to
shoot, pass, dribble, command double teams, play above the level of the game, and inspire
their teammates is something cool.” James said.

Kobe Bryant was also a huge fan of the WNBA. He may have been the biggest fan out of all
the NBA players. Bryant would always enjoy going to the games with his daughter Gianna.
Not only was Bryant a fan, but he was a big supporter of the WNBA as well.

Leading up to the start of the WNBA season, NBA players wanted to show their support in a
big way. They decided to wear the WNBA hoodie with the logo to show the players they have
their full support. Players like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, and many others
were wearing a hoodie to show support.

Those photos were receiving a lot of interaction on social media, and people wanted to buy a
hoodie after seeing the NBA players wearing it. NBA players believe that the WNBA should
receive just as much support as they get.17

In addition, wearing the league’s hoodie or speaking out, are not the only ways to express
support toward the women basketball players. In the 2020 season, WNBA players were given
the opportunity to sit out the season, if they had health issues which made their attendance in
the league risky during the times of coronavirus. In this case, when the WNBA commission
accepted the reason why a player refuses to play during the season, the player received full
salary. However, many players had been left without their payment. To help them, Brooklyn
Nets star Kyrie Irving announced that through his KAI Empowerment Initiative, he is
committing $1.5 million to help cover the salaries of WNBA players who forgo playing
during the 2020 season. In addition to the fund, Irving has also partnered with the investment
16
https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2020/01/29/wnba-pay-equality/ Retrieved: 10.04.2020.
17
https://www.sportscasting.com/many-nba-players-supported-the-wnba-in-a-big-way/ Retrieved: 10.05.2020.
banking company UBS to provide financial literacy programs to all WNBA players, not just
those who qualify for the money.

“This platform was created to provide support for all WNBA players in hopes to relieve some
of the financial strain imposed during these challenging times,” Irving said in a statement.
“Whether a person decided to fight for social justice, play basketball, focus on physical or
mental health or simply connect with their families, this initiative can hopefully support their
priorities and decisions.”18

4. Interview
To support the research, we acquired Adam Patonay as an interviewee, who has been an
international basketball agent in the recent years, and has an all-around awareness of the
professional basketball scene. He has been working with numerous Hungarian professional
basketball players as part of the Laszlo Vinko Group, and now he’s making a name for
himself internationally as a sports manager.

- Mr. Patonay, you have men and women clients as well, but as of now You are
specialized in women’s basketball. At this moment how many players do you
work with, that have WNBA experience or potential to be a part of a team in the
women’s association?

- In 2015, I successfully signed my first WNBA player, and in 2018 an other WNBA
player chose me as her agent. They both got picked in the first round of the draft. In
2018 I joined the Wasserman Media Group – with another former colleague of mine –
who are representing the most dominant players of the WNBA, with the intention to
raise the number of partner players, without losing the quality of representation. I am
fortunate enough to say, that in the past four years the number of the players I
represent rose from 2 to 10-15. For four out of them (Lexie Brown, Marina Mabrey,
Kennedy Burke, Beatrice Mompremier) I am the “lead agent”, which means, that in
the management company, the agent tasks related to the aforementioned players
belong mainly to me. Also, it is an honor and a great opportunity for me, that through
my direct supervisor I oversee the representation tasks of superstar level players,

18
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/27/kyrie-irving-donates-1point5-million-to-wnba-players-sitting-out-this-
season.html Retrieved: 10.05.2020.
 WNBA champions, Olympic champions and faces of famous brands. It’s a great
chance to learn and improve.

- You know the market factors and the way contracts are finalized. Could You
reflect on the financing differences between the NBA and WNBA (Career
opportunities, sponsorships, merchandise and media deals) on the level of teams
and players, as well?

- The NBA and WNBA – they are both governed by the same leadership and rules –
have their own strict (financial) rules. While in Europe players commit themselves to
clubs (teams), overseas players are committed to the league itself. In the latter leagues
all the teams must function the same way, offer the same conditions in every aspect
and use the same budget for the salaries of their athletes. In a way it’s a great thing,
but it has its downsides, too. The teams have the right to trade their professionals to
other clubs, without the permission of the players or their agents. One of my clients
got drafted by Dallas, she performed very well in the pre-season, but she did not make
the final roster of the team. With a little bit of luck, and lots of hard work she
successfully joined Indiana’s team, where she’s part of the franchise ever since,
because the organization is satisfied with her. In both leagues, the draftees receive a so
called “rookie contract”, which contains a benchmark salary for the first 3-4 years of
the agreement, depending on the number of spot they got drafted at (the first pick
earns the most, the sixtieth the least granted salary). After the rookie contract expires,
the athlete becomes a free agent and has the opportunity to negotiate her/his next
contract with any team for the desired remuneration. In this system, the latency of
salary is unimaginable, but athletes are responsible paying their own taxes. The tax
rate varies for each state. The NBA and The WNBA is selling the games’ broadcasting
rights for a serious price and this causes the players’ sponsorship and merchandise
value to rise significantly. Plenty of our clients are sponsored by sportswear giant
brands like Nike or Puma, but most recently our girls were the face of a campaign for
a cosmetic company. The media presence of these athletes is also regulated, and they
have to be available anytime. The clubs and the league are providing the fans with
content like news updates, pictures, videos, which are mostly shared on social media
platforms these days. During a commercial campaign, one of the first things that come
up is the number of followers of the athletes on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
- How could this wage gap emerge in the same sport between the two sex?

- It is not a special case in the world of sports, just think of the other dominant team
sports, especially in the United States. The sport leagues in the USA are based on
business, whoever makes profit, gets paid. The amount of work, performance and
success in their own field of the athletes is not the most important factor The primary
focus is on the marketability and profitability for the fans and the media. The first
season of the WNBA was in 1997, when the NBA went through prosperous decades,
and people bought Nike equipment and drank Pepsi, like it was a must, only because
of Michael Jordan. The WNBA and the women’s sports in general are on a long and
rocky road to equality. In my opinion, the market-based leagues make it quite
impossible to mention NBA and WNBA as equal parties. But at the same time
Wasserman established a division named “The Collective”, with the goal of managing
the best of the female athletes, to make them more appreciated morally and
financially. The manager of this division is my supervisor and not only basketball
players are part of the highlighted group, but soccer players, swimmers, surfers and
Paralympian athletes, as well. Men participate in a longer season of ten months,
playing 82 regular season games, while the women’s league is 5 months long with
only 30 matches in the same phase. The number of television viewers, the ticket and
merchandise sales cause this enormous difference. However, this year the WNBA
Players’ Association finalized an agreement with the league commission to raise the
salary cap in three steps in the upcoming years. Not only the wages rise, but other
benefits and individual sponsorship opportunities are expected.

- Could the WNBA ever be a competitor for the NBA, and if so what kind of
possibilities lie ahead of the WNBA to make it happen?

- Fortunately, the WNBA is part of the NBA structure, so there is no competition. In the
recent years NBA is the most improved major league in the United States, thanks to
the sport itself and the amazing management of the association. The National
Basketball Association is focusing on market growth in Europe, Asia, initialized
activities for children, and it’s doing the same managing role for the WNBA. More
and more female coaches and other professionals are employed by men’s teams, as
 they are aware, that woman fans are just as important for them. Maybe to find these
potential fans, WNBA could be the key to their hearts to become basketball
enthusiasts for a lifetime.

- Do you see any chance, that the two leagues could offer the same salaries to
players?

- Hopefully, in my previous answers I explicated my opinion and the reality on this

case, so let me just answer in a brief manner: I believe, never.

5. Future prospects
Taking into consideration the happenings of the past few years, and the answers given by
Adam Patonay regarding the issue, we can state a few expectations for the following period of
the WNBA. It is undeniable, that the actions that have been taken so far, especially the CBA
agreement, is a good start to narrow the pay disparities between the two leagues. The
agreement states that one of its goal is to pay for the players the 50 per cent of the WNBA’s
revenues. But to reach that, the league has to achieve a particular amount of revenues, which
are much more higher than the actual ones.19 The eight-year deal will definitely have its
benefits and will show great result. However, we can only be sure about it, when the deal will
get to an end in 2027. We can also expect the growing popularity of the WNBA, if the
marketing campaigns and the promoting activities by the players will be successful. In
addition, new TV deals might be an important area that the Association need to focus on. The
active presence on media platforms has a dominant role in the 21st century. However, the
question still remains: will the WNBA be able to narrow this gap as much as possible, or after
a certain point, it will not be able to build the desired recognition?

Conclusion
To sum up, the wage difference between the NBA and the WNBA players is a great reflection
of the gender inequalities, which still counts as a significant problem worldwide. On the other
hand, having a closer look at the issue in basketball, we can see that it is not mainly about the
gender, but about the economic reasons why the salaries show such a difference. The
revenues of the two leagues differ enormously. It is mostly because of the insane popularity of
19
https://winsidr.com/2020/02/basketballs-gender-wage-gap-narrows-but-doesnt-vanish/ Retrieved: 11.08.2020.
the NBA, but the longer season is an inevitable factor as well. Furthermore, the short history
of the WNBA makes it even more difficult to build a recognition, compared to the 70 years
old NBA. In spite of these above mentioned facts, the gap is still way too large. The
Association did a great effort in the past few years to deal with this problem, and these actions
already had some positive results. The new collective bargaining agreement is a milestone in
this situation, since the agreement not only narrows the pay gap between the salaries of the
two leagues’ players, but also includes some important benefits, which were unimaginable a
few years earlier, but were also much needed. The supportive work of the NBA and its
players also have a key role in the emancipation progress, just like the different programs, that
are dedicated to help the WNBA. As we can conclude from the interview made with Adam
Patonay, the total vanish of the pay gap is nearly impossible. However, there is space for
development in the future, and the Association is already in a good way.

In the end, sport is a platform that have promoted and still promotes social inclusion, foster
collaboration and solidarity among people of diverse backgrounds. Because of its great power
and values, the world of sport is the place where these battles on inequalities need to be
settled.

Our opinion
So perhaps this conversation is not about equal pay, but equal promotion. Women’s sport and
elite female athletes need equal investment for these barriers to be brought down. How else
can they be expected to develop players, leagues and role models for the next generation of
girls? The gender pay gap is a real issue in sport, as it is in business- It is not a problem that
should be ignored, but the topic is irrelevant if female athletes do not have the same
opportunity to prove their worth before the game has even begun. At this moment the facts,
and the future is not the brightest for women’s sports, but one thing is certain: the women’s
right activists in sports are in motion, and step by step WNBA athletes are granted better
conditions each season. The recent CBA is a great improvement, and it provides the constant
development of the Women’s National Basketball Association it deserves. NBA players’
movement and the marketing promises of the bargain could bring increments on the long run,
but with all honesty, being equally payed is impossible with all the positive speculations, too.
Even though the same salary is not in sight for now, the reputation is starting to build up, and
it’s going to be worth for girls dreaming of making the “league” one day.
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