OT: Pretty funny salary comparison, WNBA and NBA

18IsTheMan

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No, not comparison of player salaries...it's a comparison of NBA mascot salaries and WNBA player salaries. The top paid NBA mascot makes $625,000 while the highest paid WNBA player makes $228,000. Gotta chuckle.

 
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Crutcher

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No, not comparison of player salaries...it's a comparison of NBA mascot salaries and WNBA player salaries. The top paid NBA mascot makes $625,000 while the highest paid WNBA player makes $228,000. Gotta chuckle.

And this is funny, why?
I don't get your sense of humor.
 
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b-flag

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No, not comparison of player salaries...it's a comparison of NBA mascot salaries and WNBA player salaries. The top paid NBA mascot makes $625,000 while the highest paid WNBA player makes $228,000. Gotta chuckle.

another snide effort to throw shade on womens sports
sorry it bothers you so much. you do not need to watch
the highest paid wnba player can also earn much more in foreign nations
apparently people in other countries are not so hung up about women in sports
your insecurity is duly noted
 
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b-flag

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You gotta admit that that a mascot for an NBA team making more than the highest paid WNBA player is pretty humorous.
do you always feel the need to repeat the same words, or do you stutter?
i find stuttering pretty humorous
 

Lurker123

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You gotta admit that that a mascot for an NBA team making more than the highest paid WNBA player is pretty humorous.

I thought it was humorous. I'd be curious what those salary comparisons would look like if one league didn't subsidize the other?
 
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I thought it was humorous. I'd be curious what those salary comparisons would look like if one league didn't subsidize the other?
you know what else is funny.....a mascot making more than cops and firemen
talk about skewed priorities
but, it is easier to cast shade on womens sports
womens soccer is a thing too, can we commiserate about mascots with them?
oh, wait, i see a big difference between soccer women and hoops women. i get it now
 

Forkcock

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another snide effort to throw shade on womens sports
sorry it bothers you so much. you do not need to watch
the highest paid wnba player can also earn much more in foreign nations
apparently people in other countries are not so hung up about women in sports
your insecurity is duly noted
It's all about competition. Women's sports in the USA just do not move the needle. I enjoy watching LPGA events and our WBB team but that's just about it. Bill Burr is right, most couldn't name the top 5 WNBA players of all time or even the WNBA team in their own city. Call it throwing shade all you want, but it's true.
 

b-flag

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It's all about competition. Women's sports in the USA just do not move the needle. I enjoy watching LPGA events and our WBB team but that's just about it. Bill Burr is right, most couldn't name the top 5 WNBA players of all time or even the WNBA team in their own city. Call it throwing shade all you want, but it's true.
More dedicated non-fans exhorting about their lack of interest. Somebody making you dip your toes in the water?
 

winloseortie

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Here is a good look at subsidies, eyeballs, salaries, growth and the future

 

Lurker123

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Here is a good look at subsidies, eyeballs, salaries, growth and the future


Maybe I missed it (I am on some good medication) but they mentioned the subsidies once, and dint even mention the amounts. Only that they may have to get bigger now that the Wnba players negotiated for higher salaries amidst losing more money.
 

cockyclt

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The WNBA needs a better TV contract. Apple recently paid $2.5 billion for a deal with MLS, and WNBA games get better ratings than MLS games. TV contracts are where the money is really made in sports.
 

18IsTheMan

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The WNBA needs a better TV contract. Apple recently paid $2.5 billion for a deal with MLS, and WNBA games get better ratings than MLS games. TV contracts are where the money is really made in sports.

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.
 
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cockyclt

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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.
Thanks for saying that. I get irritated when people say the WNBA isn't doing well because people don't want to watch women play sports. But by pointing out that MLS and WNBA have been around about the same amount of time and get around the same ratings, you show the problem with the WNBA isn't women's sports. It's just that it takes a long time before a sports league can do extremely well. The NBA has after all been around three times as long, and it really wasn't until the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson days the league took off.
 

Lurker123

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Thanks for saying that. I get irritated when people say the WNBA isn't doing well because people don't want to watch women play sports. But by pointing out that MLS and WNBA have been around about the same amount of time and get around the same ratings, you show the problem with the WNBA isn't women's sports. It's just that it takes a long time before a sports league can do extremely well. The NBA has after all been around three times as long, and it really wasn't until the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson days the league took off.
I don't think more time is going to make a huge impact on the wnba. It is what it is.

I like the comparison to MLS. A women's version of a popular sport compared favorably to an unpopular men's sport.
 

cockyclt

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I don't think more time is going to make a huge impact on the wnba. It is what it is.

I like the comparison to MLS. A women's version of a popular sport compared favorably to an unpopular men's sport.
You think soccer as a sport is unpopular? It's literally the most popular sport in the world.
 

Lurker123

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You think soccer as a sport is unpopular? It's literally the most popular sport in the world.

I should have clarified with "in america". I should have noted the huge discrepancy in popularity between America and the rest of the world when it comes to soccer.
 

18IsTheMan

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Thanks for saying that. I get irritated when people say the WNBA isn't doing well because people don't want to watch women play sports. But by pointing out that MLS and WNBA have been around about the same amount of time and get around the same ratings, you show the problem with the WNBA isn't women's sports. It's just that it takes a long time before a sports league can do extremely well. The NBA has after all been around three times as long, and it really wasn't until the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson days the league took off.
I don't think more time is going to make a huge impact on the wnba. It is what it is.

I like the comparison to MLS. A women's version of a popular sport compared favorably to an unpopular men's sport.

Yeah, it's an apples to oranges comparison to try to compare the start of the NBA to the start of the WNBA. People often say "hey, it took the NBA x number of years to really take off." But the league started in 1946 and didn't have televised games until 1965. There was no massive marketing for it. No social media. None of the advantages the WNBA has. The WNBA got more exposure and marketing in its first season than the NBA had in two decades. It took a long time for the NBA to get exposure and, once it did, it took off. The WNBA has not lacked at all for exposure. People know about it. They just don't care. There's nothing anyone can do make it more popular than it presently is.
 
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cockyclt

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I should have clarified with "in america".
Well, that is true. Soccer is definitely not as popular here as the rest of the world. The main reason men's soccer isn't as popular in America as in the rest of the world is that the main three sports (football, basketball, football) have a longer tradition. Soccer's popularity elsewhere in the world shows its potential for popularity. Similarly, a big reason women's sports leagues are not as popular in America is that Americans don't have a very long tradition of women's sports. This could change as popularity could grow. Or it could not change. It is a guess at any point. No one in the 50s could have predicted the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson days of the NBA and how that would grow its popularity.
 

cockyclt

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Yeah, it's an apples to oranges comparison to try to compare the start of the NBA to the start of the WNBA. People often say "hey, it took the NBA x number of years to really take off." But the league started in 1946 and didn't have televised games until 1965. There was no massive marketing for it. No social media. None of the advantages the WNBA has. The WNBA got more exposure and marketing in its first season than the NBA had in two decades. It took a long time for the NBA to get exposure and, once it did, it took off. The WNBA has not lacked at all for exposure. People know about it. They just don't care. There's nothing anyone can do make it more popular than it presently is.
On the flip side, the NBA didn't have to compete with all the entertainment options competing for people's time. Once it got televised games, they didn't have to compete with a million cable channels, streaming networks, the internet, video games, etc. So in that sense, it was easier for the NBA to grow.
 

18IsTheMan

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On the flip side, the NBA didn't have to compete with all the entertainment options competing for people's time. Once it got televised games, they didn't have to compete with a million cable channels, streaming networks, the internet, video games, etc. So in that sense, it was easier for the NBA to grow.

Eh, that's grasping at straws. They were fewer entertainment options because didn't want/need as many. I could argue also that people watched MUCH less tv back then they do now, so even with drastically increased rates of tv viewing, the WNBA has lagged.
 

cockyclt

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Eh, that's grasping at straws. They were fewer entertainment options because didn't want/need as many. I could argue also that people watched MUCH less tv back then they do now, so even with drastically increased rates of tv viewing, the WNBA has lagged.
There were fewer entertainment options because the technology didn't exist. Also, people watch a lot less TV now than they used to unless you consider watching say short YouTube or TikTok videos on your phone as watching TV.
 

18IsTheMan

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There were fewer entertainment options because the technology didn't exist. Also, people watch a lot less TV now than they used to unless you consider watching say short YouTube or TikTok videos on your phone as watching TV.

So, does that mean in 50 years, you think the WNBA will be where the NBA is now?
 

cockyclt

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So, does that mean in 50 years, you think the WNBA will be where the NBA is now?
I think it's hard to make predictions for a year from now, let alone 50 years. I think if properly managed it could be but whether or not it will be remains to be seen. I am not overly impressed with the people in charge of the WNBA right now. You need people at the top who really believe in it, like Mark Davis who just bought the Aces (and has done a wonderful job and immediately won a championship).
 

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