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When it comes to WNBA and NBA, there has been a big difference between the money that both leagues generate. It is not just the total revenue generation that the WNBA and NBA have, there is a huge gap between the salaries of the players, coaches and the commissioners of both the leagues.
As per WSN, the WNBA generated around $60 million in revenues in 2023, which comes from 12 teams in the league. Compared to the WNBA, the NBA generates $10 billion in revenue which is generated through 30 teams across the league.
Of the $60 million revenue that the WNBA generates, $12.3 million is distributed among players, which is 20.5% of the league’s total revenue. While the NBA distributes 53% of its revenue to the players’ salary. NBA has kept increasing every year, in terms of money generation and players making money.
In terms of total games played in a season, the NBA leads the WNBA by a heavy number. The NBA plays a total of 1230 games during the regular season, while, till 2023, the WNBA played only 204 regular season games and 34 games for each team compared to 82 in the NBA.
The WNBA recently increased the total number of regular-season games to 40 for each team this year, beginning from the 2024 season.
The average salary of an NBA player is $9.6 million, while the average salary of a WNBA player is $102,751.
Is WNBA recent stardom a big fad?
The 2024 WNBA Draft is arguably the biggest since 2013, when Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins and Elena Delle Donne were drafted at top three numbers. Despite the 2013 draft, the league didn’t see the league’s rise skyrocketing. However, there is a wider hope that the 2024 draft might prove to be historical.
There is also a wider consensus that women’s college basketball is more famous than WNBA basketball. The rise of players like Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink and Angel Reese was much more substantiated because of the fame of college basketball. But as they enter into the WNBA, there are still questions about their impact being carried into the league.
The public reaction to women’s basketball has been unprecedented. Attendance has skyrocketed in the last year, in the NCAAW and in the WNBA Finals. The league is also looking to add more teams, while it has also increased the total number of games being played.
WNBA’s rise is not an overnight story as WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said before the start of the draft.
“Women’s basketball is not a fad. We’ve been steadily building this momentum for years.”
Moreover, women’s basketball hasn’t seen players like Caitlin Clark shooting threes like Steph Curry. These young women college basketball players have also shown a different level of physicality, which is unprecedented.
