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WNBA Players Are Overpaid
Mises Institute ^ | July 10, 2018 | Tho Bishop

Posted on 07/11/2018 2:55:54 PM PDT by all the best

A case can be made that WNBA players are actually overpaid relative to what consumers actually want. After all, the WNBA is subsidized by the NBA in a variety of ways including direct financial support, free publicity, and the fact that many WNBA franchises are owned by the city’s NBA owner. In fact, the WNBA’s big television contract was itself a byproduct of the channel reworking its agreement with their male counterpart.2 So instead of grumbling about the salaries male basketball players enjoy, perhaps A’ja Wilson should be thankful that the men's product helps bolster her own paycheck. At the end of the day, just about any article focusing on how athletes are either under- (or over-) paid stems from the fallacious view that their compensation is an inherent product of their labor, rather than the subjective values of consumers. The financial success of professional athletes has almost nothing to do with their talent and everything to do with the entertainment the public receives from it. LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in human history, but if his sport of choice generated the public interest the WNBA has, he would not be signing a $154 million dollar contract. This also helps explains why e-sports players are making more money than the best in the WNBA. No pain can still result in financial gain. Of course consumer preferences can change. Perhaps the American public will come to appreciate the strong fundamentals of the WNBA and, as a result, salaries will improve. Until then, women basketball players should perhaps look for markets that place greater value on their skill. Like Russia.

Government interventionism also benefits the sport, as Title IX requirements have forced colleges to maintain women's basketball programs if they wish to keep their men's team.

(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: basketball; nba; sports; wnba
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1 posted on 07/11/2018 2:55:54 PM PDT by all the best
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To: all the best

Similar to how football basically subsidizes the rest of the sports programs at most universities. WNBA is basically a glorified scholarship program that only exists because of political correctness.


2 posted on 07/11/2018 3:05:13 PM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: NohSpinZone
WNBA is basically a glorified scholarship program that only exists because of political correctness.

And it provides a great date night for Lesbian couples.

3 posted on 07/11/2018 3:05:47 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: all the best

They are lucky to get paid at all. For example, the University of Tennessee was supposed to be the Mecca of women’s basketball under Pat Summitt, but even there it was the men’s team that drew the paying crowds, made money for the university, while the much hyped women’s team could do little more than break even.


4 posted on 07/11/2018 3:08:07 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: dfwgator
How many of these seats are given away, I wonder? I'm thinking there's a lot of padding of stats here:


5 posted on 07/11/2018 3:10:17 PM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
One more thing about basketball at the University of Tennessee. While men's basketball was paying the bills, the lady basketball partisans had a saying: "The University of Tennessee, where men are men and women are champions".

Ingrates.

6 posted on 07/11/2018 3:13:30 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: dfwgator
And it provides a great date night for Lesbian couples.

So funny. My daughter played college ball and 4 years pro in Europe. But it is not fun to watch. They are just not that good. (Although a woman could win a 3-point contest, as long as she was not guarded)

We had a women's WNBA team here in Tulsa. 80% of the fans were lesbians.

7 posted on 07/11/2018 3:13:58 PM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is EVIL and needs to be eradicated)
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To: all the best

Plus they are mostly dykes who marry each other.


8 posted on 07/11/2018 3:14:04 PM PDT by beergarden
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To: all the best

So are the NBA players.


9 posted on 07/11/2018 3:14:41 PM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: dfwgator
People pay money to watch women play Basketball?

That's hard to believe.

This league I would pay to see though, these gals are hard hitters, fantastic action.


10 posted on 07/11/2018 3:15:11 PM PDT by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES-GOD WITH US)
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To: FatherofFive

“We had a women’s WNBA team here in Tulsa. 80% of the fans were lesbians.”

haha or couples whose guys were the subservient one, if you catch my drift


11 posted on 07/11/2018 3:15:12 PM PDT by beergarden
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
While men's basketball was paying the bills, the lady basketball partisans had a saying: "The University of Tennessee, where men are men and women are champions".

Guess they forgot that 1998 Football National Championship.

12 posted on 07/11/2018 3:15:13 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: FatherofFive

It’s like women’s soccer. Men’s soccer is great, but watching women’s soccer is like watching soccer in slo-motion.


13 posted on 07/11/2018 3:16:42 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: all the best
p78
14 posted on 07/11/2018 3:17:59 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: all the best

Despite the WNBA’s reason for being and social implications, I actually enjoy watching the women’s game. The gal’s game is a more pure style of basketball in terms of finesse and execution than the NBA. Yes the men’s game is more athletic, but I am a guy who misses Dean Smith running the four corners otfense with Phil Ford.


15 posted on 07/11/2018 3:24:39 PM PDT by buckalfa (I was so much older then, but I'm younger than that now.)
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To: Snickering Hound

ROTFL.


16 posted on 07/11/2018 3:27:23 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Don't pass up the opportunity to use the Second Amendment today! IT'S FREE!)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

I thought UConn was the place for women’s b-ball?


17 posted on 07/11/2018 3:27:33 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: dfwgator

Meanwhile, cornhole is turning into a bonanza hit, outdrawing baseball, not to mention WNBA.

http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/espn-may-stumbled-next-big-thing-cornhole.html

So basically, sports viewers would rather watch fat dudes toss beanbags into a wooden hole than watch the WNBA.


18 posted on 07/11/2018 3:27:53 PM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: Calvin Locke
I thought UConn was the place for women’s b-ball?

For a while way back in the 90s and early 2000s, UT basketball was right at the top.

19 posted on 07/11/2018 3:54:25 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: dfwgator

I think some of the Lady Vol mafia tried to ignore football. Men’s basketball was more of a direct competitor.


20 posted on 07/11/2018 3:56:05 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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