Those numbers are peanuts though. MLS draws around 280,000 viewers while WNBA draws around 380,000, so not really any big difference. And they've both been around about the same amount of time. The $2.5 billion MLS deal was for 10 years, so $250 million per year. That's nothing. The NBA is projected to take in $10 billion in TV revenue just for this past season alone. NBA TV revenue is 40x the MLS Apple deal. The NBA is subsidizing the WNBA as a pet project. If it really wanted to, it could pay every WNBA player the NBA league minimum salary, which dwarfs the highest player salary in the WNBA. But financially, it's a losing venture. The WNBA hemorrhages money. It's been around for a quarter century with every imaginable advantage to get eyeballs (cable, streaming, etc). It's nothing comparable to when the NBA started and had to find its legs and build a fan base in the absence of mass TV exposure. The NBA is playing it smart: keep it afloat as a goodwill gesture. But there's no way they're going to sink more money into raising player salaries. And, if after a quarter century of mass exposure, the fan base still isn't there, then it is what is at this point.