Illustration: Avalon Nuovo
Women’s Basketball Is Raking in More Cash Than Ever, But the Players Aren’t
WNBA base salaries as a share of revenue have shrunk, despite the league’s rapid growth.
The Women’s National Basketball Association is at the top of its game. The 2022 season was the most watched since 2006. The league also secured a record number of corporate sponsorships and raised $75 million, the largest amount in women’s sports history, last year.
As the league prepares to enter its 27th season in May, “we’re a growth story,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in an interview. “It’s such a multi-dimensional transformation of what was quite a small league.”