The only men's leagues close in comparison to the WNBA were the NBA and MLS, both earning A's this year for racial hiring practices. In, Morning Consult. Stewart was unable to reap the benefits of free fertility treatment, having frozen her eggs earlier in 2019. What do (Sports) Unions Do in a Pandemic? They say that when controlling for factors such as type of job, type of industry, experience, tenure, hours worked, and so forth, the pay gap largely disappears. The number of Black head coaches increased from three in 2020 to five in 2021. Because everyone says, We support women. Mississippi State hit a three-pointer late in regulation to force overtime versus Louisville. According to ESPN, it was the most . "This has been an amazing year for the WNBA!" I interviewed Brittney Griner a couple of years ago for a magazine story in which she revealed that the league was contemplating shorter and tighter uniforms. Chart. The WNBA's audience is 75 percent women. Similar to typical CBA negotiations, WNBPA player-members working conditionsin this case, travel accommodationsrepresented a significant negotiating point. Since 1963, pay discrimination on the basis of sex has been illegal in the U.S., however. An NBA basketball measures in at 29.5, sometimes known as a size 7, while the WNBA basketball is about an inch smaller measuring in at 28.5, otherwise known as a size 6. These athletes are showing kids around the world that basketball is a sport loved by all races and genders, and by putting in the work, they too can make it to the professional level. Thats how it started: with her flicking me in the ear about it, he said. Seemingly straggling both sides of the fence, the Golden State Warriors power forward is also blaming virtue-signaling corporate America for failing to do enough to resolve a gender salary gap and apparently wants to shame them into writing some checks. Get full access to all features within our Business Solutions. That number spiked to 5.2 million in the final 15 minutes when Ogunbowale hit the. In Glacier Northwest, the Employer Wants the Court to Set Aside Sixty Years of Settled Law, Historic New EU Law Part of Growing Push for Sectoral Bargaining, The National Restaurant Associations Training Scheme Is Unconstitutional, Job Advertisements in NYC Must Include a Pay Range, 2019 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unions have served as LGBTQ+ allies for decades, 83% of WNBPA members are persons of color; and 67% are black or African-American, boosts the ceiling on total individual cash compensation more than threefold, Though many thought the WNBPAs 50% revenue-sharing goal was unrealistic, a first among womens professional sports leagues, both conceal and play through her pregnancy, professional sports leader in LGBTQ+ inclusion, narrowly ratified its newly announced CBA with just 51.5% support, the best womens basketball league in the world. Yet, the ratings are up and there must be a reason. It was the mostwatched regular season WNBA gameon ESPN2 since 2011. Sep 22, 2022 The 2022 Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals were contested between the Las Vegas Aces and the Connecticut Sun. Women again held the majority of CEO/president positions, with 66.7%. The fact is a lot of men don't want to watch the WNBA because they think it's boring. Women's basketball has steadily increased viewership year-over-year. All in all, we should commend both the WNBA and the WNBPA for its Big Bet on Women with this new CBA. The WNBA has held the top position in the racial and gender report cards since the WNBA's inaugural report in 2004. The opening weekend recorded a 25% increase from the previous year and two weeks in, the WNBA was averaging 357,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. NBA star Draymond Green is calling out female athletes for more or less being all talk and no action about equal pay. The women's U.S. Open finale recorded 2.44 millionviewers and a 0.38rating against 2.05 million and a 0.35rating for the men's. The WNBA has many players with college We do X for women. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? Im a very tiny part of a bigger thing, he said. Why do more women tune into Scandal or The Real Housewives of Wherever for water cooler fodder instead? The average NBA team value is $1.9 billion, a 13% growth over last year. The Biden administrationtackles exploitative child labor practices; Railroad reaches agreement on sick days; Supreme Court will look at CFPB funding. ESPN is using all of its platforms, not just the TV games, Stiff said, pointing to coverage and player appearances onSportsCenterandGet Up! Clarendon, who uses pronouns interchangeably, has been an inspiration and role model for many in the LGBTQ+ community. As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic. "We need the marketing to match our product," she said in her essay. May 26, 2022. The NBA's total revenue in 2017 was about $8.76 billion and $4.3 billion of it went to its players; The WNBA's total revenue in 2017 was about $60 million and $20 million of it went to its . Accessed March 05, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236700/wnba-finals-viewers/, ESPN.com, and Sports Media Watch. Vandersloot to New York, the rise of superteams and a Liberty-Aces WNBA Finals? During a remote interview with NBC Sports reporter Kerith Burke that followed up a series of his tweets on the subject, Green suggested that women in sports need to change their tactics, even while acknowledging that in the current marketplace, mens sports generate far more profit. He says women need to call out companies/entities who aren't valuing female athletes (they have been). Copyright 2023 OnLabor. [Online]. With the regular season, the 2021 WNBA season averaged 306,000 viewers, which is a 49 . Starting next year, the league will use best-of-three series to determine semifinalists, and a best-of-five for the semifinals and finals. When the league was first introduced, the WNBA would play two 20-minute halves utilizing a 30 second shot clock. Here is a sampling: He was legit giving them solid advice on how to get paid more. [Online]. The 2021 Women's National Basketball Association Racial and Gender Report Card (RGRC), released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, confirms sports' best record for racial and gender hiring practices. But now Im excited about the game tonight. In any industry, moreover, a certain level of unfairness and arbitrariness occurs when it comes to hiring, promotion, or pay. The percentage of people of color who held assistant coaching positions increased for the second consecutive season, from 54.2 percent in 2020 to 58.0 percent in 2021. The league has several initiatives focused on civic engagement, LGBTQ+ advocacy and COVID-19 vaccine accessibility. In short, thats a lot of numbers about rising ratings and there must be a reason for it. Food-service workers in four states are being required to pay for a food-safety training class every few years. The arena football leagues never had a similar following to the NFL. The average age of a baseball viewer is 57, up from 52 in 2006. As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail. I mean all women -- straight, gay, married, single, athletic, non-athletic, etc. That was a 74% uptick from 2020's season . Lets take a look at a some of the differences between the two leagues. "Level of interest in the National Basketball Association in the United States as of May 2022, by gender." Each team received $110 million from shared-revenue outlets including national media, sponsorship, and licensing streams. Why aren't more women paying attention to the WNBA? The WNBA averages around 7,000 attendees per game while the NBA averages 18,000 in attendance. Other opportunities for the WNBA to expand may come in the form of a new franchise in Oakland, California. "It's so interesting, . Compensation. The percentage of women holding positions in the WNBA league office increased 4.5 percentage points, from 60.9 in 2020 to 65.4 percent in 2021. Trying to attract men who already have preconceived notions about the WNBA or female athletes in general is fruitless. For some reason there is a disconnect between women and the act of consuming women's sports, particularly the WNBA. The WNBA received an A+ for race and an A+ for gender, and an overall grade of A+. As a UConn fan, why look elsewhere? Their Bosses Are Refusing to Bargain. It was Oregon. We will no longer be beholden to them but we need your help. Hes literally telling women what they need to do to make their voice heard, Fieldsisbetter (@kwok_mason) April 1, 2021, Draymond isnt wrong How yall gonna get paid more when you not drawing NBA level revenue? Gender Pay Gap in Tennis. The most revolutionary change the agreement came to was access to free fertility services, which has been often seen as a luxury and not a necessity. That's a staggering 13% decline from last season when the numbers were already slipping in a . Think about it. A year ago, the Sky's WNBA championship clincher (also a Game 4 on ESPN) averaged 417,000 viewers while up against NFL television competition. The PSA highlighted the significant impacts and disparities that communities of color have experienced during the pandemic. The PSA encouraged fans and the public to educate themselves about the COVID-19 vaccine. Recognizing that family planning and personal health has been a challenge for many of its players, the WNBA has announced an increase in the benefits related to healthcare and family planning. She competed onDancing with the Stars. Uber and Lyft drivers in New York City go on strike, Hyundai divests from an Alabama factory due to child labor violations. Starbucks Workers Are Unionizing. This has since been updated and the WNBA now plays four 10-minute quarters and has a 24-second shot clock. Im really tired of seeing them complain about the lack of pay, because theyre doing themselves a disservice by just complaining, Green said about female athletes. Theyve got a player named Sabrina (Ionescu), a player named Ruthy (Hebard), my two favorite players, and Maite Cazorla.. While the overall rules of the game are the same, the WNBA court does have some adjustments to the sizing of certain areas. Instead, each player sat on a coachs bench and delivered in-game analysis within earshot of all the chatter during timeouts and the game. Please do not hesitate to contact me. Its a good product but its a different product than the NBA. This is particularly true for women's sports, and female sports fans - which are both surging. ", ESPN.com & Sports Media Watch, Number of viewers of the WNBA Finals on ESPN from 2003 to 2022 (in 1,000s) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236700/wnba-finals-viewers/ (last visited March 05, 2023), Number of viewers of the WNBA Finals on ESPN from 2003 to 2022 (in 1,000s) [Graph], ESPN.com, & Sports Media Watch, September 21, 2022. "I think women really flipped this on its head," Ogwumike said, according to Bloomberg, "especially as it comes to stigmas and societal norms with expectations thrust around working women having to make this decision between family and career.". Overview and forecasts on trending topics, Industry and market insights and forecasts, Key figures and rankings about companies and products, Consumer and brand insights and preferences in various industries, Detailed information about political and social topics, All key figures about countries and regions, Market forecast and expert KPIs for 600+ segments in 150+ countries, Insights on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide, Business information on 60m+ public and private companies, Detailed information for 35,000+ online stores and marketplaces. Did you even listen to the interview or just went with the response you thought was best based off the other people who clearly didn't listen? The average salary of a WNBA player is around $71,000 while the average NBA salary is $6.4 million, but it makes sense right now considering the crowd sizes and how much each organization is bringing in. Watch Draymond Greens comments embedded below and form your own conclusions: Thanks to those who've taken an interest in this issue. For Stiff this is more than a job. Probably not and Serrano doesnt believe its him. WNBA regular season ratings up 24% on 2019. And last year's finals averaged 546,000 across. Working Conditions. It's one thing for women who have no interest in sports in general not to care about the WNBA. Sky forward . If you are an admin, please authenticate by logging in again. [and without] leav[ing] anyone left behind, as WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike emphasized. Enjoy OnLabors fresh takes on the days labor news, right in your inbox. Following the completion of the 2021 WNBA Finals, the WNBA announced a new playoff format, ending the use of single-elimination games. Indeed, the WNBAs reigning scoring champion, Britney Grinera towering 68 centerhad to contort into a middle coach seat to participate in last years All-Star Game. But once the WNBA season wraps, several players head overseas to play internationally. i did two interviews today about the WNBA the wave is growing so stronggggggg yall make sure to follow@natalieweiner@MirinFader@murrminks@WHoopsBlogger@DorothyJGentryetc they all know a ton more than me im just here to cheer and get these basketball jokes off, Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano)July 6, 2018. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Watch Oregon basketball, Serrano recommends now. Both series went five games with each team taking one title. They are used to high-flying dunks and blocks and fast-paced wheeling and dealing on the court. Those conversations have to take place., atch Oregon basketball, Serrano recommends now. The new format gives the WNBA more opportunity to generate revenue and showcase players' talent on TV. Indeed, the NBA and WNBA should be active participants in this quest. But the only female baller that can really throw down is Brittney Griner. The 2019 NBA Finals averaged a little more than 20 million viewers per game; the 2019 WNBA Finals averaged about 400,000 viewers per game. The recent push for new health and family care support can be attributed to many players' candidness about their journeys to building their families. A roundtable discussion with Benjamin Sachs, Kate Andrias, Steve Kest, and Robert Kuttner. OnLabor is unable to accept unsolicited submissions. Daily News & Commentary: September 18, 2018, Commentary Round-up: Bostock v. Clayton County, Opinion Summary: Bostock v. Clayton County, Interview with ACLUs James Esseks on Bostock and Harris. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set Diggins-Smith cited the lack of such a dedicated nursing space in her teams facility as a reason, along with postpartum depression, that she decided to sit out the entire 2019 WNBA season. For example, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unionized female employees earn 29% more than non-unionized female employees and unionized black employees earn 27% more than non-unionized black employees. Richard E. Lapchick directs the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Notice I didn't just say women. Statista. Why start a story on WNBA viewership with Shea Serrano? During the appearanceshe met Bryant. There were eight women in CEO/president positions in 2021. Green then went on to recommend that activists and athletes call out corporations which, according to him, just pay lip service to women empowerment specifically for an alleged failure to put a single penny into the WNBA or towards these women athletes. For example, Anthony Davis takes 23.7% of all FGs on his team; Natasha Howard takes 22.5% of all FGs on her team. Most Super Bowl wins by NFL team 1967-2023, Average ticket price in the NFL by team 2021, FIFA World Ranking: top male soccer teams 2022, Athletic footwear global market share by company 2015, Health & Fitness Clubs - Statistics & Facts, Sporting goods industry in the U.S. - statistics & facts, Research expert covering sports and video gaming, Profit from additional features with an Employee Account. The WNBA scored 98.3 points for racial hiring practices and 96.8 points for gender hiring practices in 2021 and continued to set an example for inclusive racial and gender hiring practices across all professional leagues. The WNBA 3-point line measures 20-feet 6-inches across the board. The NBA generated $7.4 billion in 2016-17, according to Forbes, which is likely more than 100 times that of the WNBA. Supreme Court rules high-earning professionals must be salaried to be overtime-exempt; federal judge rolls back nationwide injunction against Starbucks; OSHA fines another Amazon distribution center. . And everyone uses it to their advantage; yet these women are not using these people that are saying those very things to their advantage. People took notice. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. Had this been six months ago, and I saw they were playing, I would not have known anything. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . The percentage of majority owners and owners with voting power who are women was 33.3 percent in 2021. We do this for women. If every woman in the country tuned into the WNBA, it could stand on its own two feet. . She wasnt trying to attack or troll him. According to Sports Business Journal, Each NBA game has an average of 1.2 million viewers, while WNBA games have less than half that amount, resulting in a significant revenue gap. RELATED: How Warriors changed offensive plan in win vs. Bulls Whenever a select group of people - gender, race, ethnicity, religion - is subjected to inequality, pointing it out to those with the power to generate change tends to be perceived as complaining. The ratings didnt fall. This corrects the WNBAs former half-pay policy, which compelled four-time WNBA All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith to both conceal and play through her pregnancy for the entire 2018 WNBA season. The WNBA was founded in April of 1996 by David Stern, who was the commissioner of the NBA from 1984 through 2014. That number spiked to 5.2 million in the final 15 minutes when Ogunbowale hit the buzzer-beating championship-winner, capping the biggest comeback in championship game history. We need more women to read, watch, and soak up women's sports the same way men do men's sports. In the NBA the 3-point line measures 23-foot 9-inches at the top of the key and 22-feet in the corners. Theyre not laying out steps that they can take to change that. The WNBA requires players entering the draft to be at least 22 years old. It is a [], Today, the Supreme Court held that Title VII prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic. The 2021 WNBA regular season averaged 306,000 viewers, a 49 percent increase over the 2020 regular season and up 24 percent over 2019. Some of the women I questioned say they are fans, but they can never find a game to watch on television. The deciding game two days later, shown by ESPN, registered 417,000 viewers and peaked with 623,000 viewers, up 32 per cent from 2019's game four . As OnLabor reported (see here and here ), the WNBPA negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") with the WNBA earlier this year. Anti-Trump, gold medalist soccer star Megan Rapinoe recently visited the White House to lament that she is paid less than men who do the same job (even though womens soccer is apparently far less popular than its male counterpart. Register in seconds and access exclusive features. Their impact on transgender awareness has been felt by queer journalists and athletes who hope to see Clarendon continue to change the landscape of the WNBA. Wait. I watch the NBA, basketball is basketball. He thought about it more overnight. There are numerous complexities to the new EU directive, but for pro-worker Americans the key point to understand is that the historic new law aims to improve working conditions by increasing minimum wages and dramatically increasing collective []. Unfortunately, the WNBA fanbase is not nearly as large as the NBA fanbase is and this is evident in the coverage of games. Business Solutions including all features. PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! Noor Ahmed made significant contributions to this column. In 2021, the viewership of the women's final of the tennis U.S. Open outperformed the men's for the fifth time in just sevenyears. Please help us! If you need to flag this entry as abusive. It would also expand the number of players in the league, providing more opportunities for women to compete at the highest level. I'm not here to rationalize or talk about all the reasons why men won't watch the WNBA. Moreover, though exact numbers are unknown, a substantial proportion of WNBPA player-members identify as LGBTQ+. Englebert reported the average viewership of games rose 68% this season, crediting that largely to a substantial increase in games on the ESPN Network as well as the league's debut on the CBS . They care about the basketball product. Indianapolis 500 qualifying on NBC averaged a 0.6 rating and 933,000 viewers Saturday and a 0.5 and 824,000 Sunday, both down from 2018 on ABC, the last time qualifying aired as scheduled (Saturday: 0.7, 1.05M; Sunday: 0.9, 1.33M). I wanted to post the second half of this interaction with @KerithBurke & Draymond. It's not about the looks of the players, either. . Which was a drop of 16% on the previous year. She tweeted her disappointment. Get full access to all features within our Business Solutions. The WNBA sets the standard for powerful and inclusive representation across the organization in terms of the league office, players, coaches, staff and administration. While I get why they are focusing on inclusion and targeting this particular market, it's also very narrow minded. said the Rev. The situation is kind of like marketing gourmet ice cream to a group of people who are mostly lactose intolerant. In essence he saying complaining without taking the steps to address the revenue reduction or using leverage with people in powerful positions to increase the leagues revenue is not helpful. Right? During different parts of the 1980s she was an assistant womens basketball coach atWestern Connecticut State University and Brown University, and the head coach atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute. According to Forbes, "In 2021, viewership numbers dropped 12% to 331,000 average viewers but still yielded the second-largest viewership since the 2004 Draft (601,000 views)." The WNBA turned 25 this year and this is a positive sign for Cathy Engelbert's league to progress in the same direction. ", Morning Consult, Level of interest in the National Basketball Association in the United States as of May 2022, by gender Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098381/national-basketball-association-interest-gender/ (last visited March 05, 2023), Level of interest in the National Basketball Association in the United States as of May 2022, by gender [Graph], Morning Consult, May 26, 2022. He knows there are others who have covered the game longer and have a great depth of knowledge on it. And though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish similar wage data for LGBTQ+ employees, unions have served as LGBTQ+ allies for decades. WNBA star Candace Parker says it's not about making a salary equal to the men, but ensuring women are given a platform to succeed. A WNBA player sparked controversy on social media when she seemed to blame Black men for the league's low television ratings. By contrast, the series averaged 922,000 women 18-34, just 2.7% of the 33.8 million women in that demo. Success! Maya Moore (David Berding/Icon Sportswire via. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate differences in attitudes among market . American leader of the sports boycott of South Africa from 1975 until the end of apartheid, Chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at the University of Central Florida, Author of 16 books and the annual Racial and Gender Report Card, Directs UCF's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, Director of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport. Yes, he has one of the most vibrant voices in writing today. And others just say they have no interest, period. The WNBA's audience is 75 percent women. The TV viewership is a lot smaller in the WNBA with around 280,000 viewers for the 2018 season while the 2019 NBA Finals alone averaged 15.14 million. When Notre Dame played Mississippi State, 3.5 million people saw it. But the total money guaranteed to Players far exceeds the sum of their base salaries: select player-members will earn additional money from WNBA- and team-specific marketing agreements, in-season tournament prizes, and performance bonuses. Behrens' role extends to the other NBA entities, to include the WNBA. See all, NLRB General Counsel aims to limit employers' ability to hire temporary replacements during some lockouts; forty-four corporate Starbucks employees sign open letter urging neutrality towards unionization efforts; Senator Sanders plans vote to subpoena Starbucks CEO, Julie Su will replace Marty Walsh, Starbucks faces consequences for illegal acts, public pension funds eye a private equity firms treatment of workers, and two bills would impact workers rights. Third, each team will also dedicate a comfortable, safe and private place for Players to nurse their children. Let's first take a look at the last two WNBA Drafts. Every men's league can take a huge cue from the WNBA for their amazing contributions, consistently using their voice and their platform for social change, community service, intentional inclusion, and carrying the mantle of 'winning' in life beyond the playing field!". But most diehard college basketball fans are just that -- college basketball fans. The Sparks-Lynx game that had Serrano pregame texting ended upincludinga WNBA milestone.