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Even Clarkenomics Can’t Solve Sexism in Sports

The WNBA will have higher salaries as the popularity of the game increases and more people tune in to watch it. The SAME WAY the NBA grew.
This. When butts in seats and eyeballs on TV's increase the salaries will increase.

The WNBA's existence the last few years was due to being subsidized by the NBA. ($15M a year)

I think CC will increase interest in the WNBA, how much is the interesting question.
 
I think we're hitting an inflection point in women's professional sports. Hopefully they can keep it going. Lots of investment going into it now. The WNBA hopes to get 4 more teams in the coming years, 1 confirmed in San Fran. The NWSL keeps growing and even getting their own stadiums. I don't think the WNBA will ever get close to the NBA in terms of salaries but hopefully CC and those that follow can help where they don't need to supplement their income playing overseas and through endorsements
 
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Women's basketball has changed quite a bit in my lifetime. Fast speed, high scoring like Iowa did this year is so fun to watch. When I was young, I watched slow paced 6 on 6. Boring
But lots of fans and high scoring. And the fans weren*'t all relatives.
 
Am I the only one who thinks people will watch Clark’s games and not much else?

I am wondering about this as well. Initially I think you are probably correct, but it will give the WNBA a great opportunity to show what it has got. Add in all the exposure carduso and Reese amongst the many others got during the tourney this year and there is going to be more interest than just CC22. It is going to be fascinating to watch.
 
Given the wnba operates on a net negative budget I'm surprised she's paid as much as she is. If the feminists don't like it then they should go support the wnba. Same people complaining probably couldn't name 3 wnba teams.
 
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With the WNBA I really wonder what ceiling for viewship is when it continues to be that more men watch the sport than women. Women in general don't seem to give sports as much attention. (in fact, isn't sports viewership and participation going down overall?)

I think Clark was uniquely exciting in the women's game and was celebrated for it. She became a cultural phenomenon. But hard to say that will translate into a bunch of enthusiasm for the WNBA.
 
sometimes she takes shots too quickly and they are bricks and she doesn't give the rest of the team time enough to get down there and rebound , hopefully the pros are faster and better at getting down there , she might get chewed out for not pausing a minute and making the shot count


Yes...so bad that she shoots threes in rythym from distance. Never has worked.

But it is telling how little someone knows about basketball when they do not realize that even in a miss those are not horrible shots. What it does to other team...how they play D, how they pull to D on their own shot to cover the transition, limiting their offensive rebound opportunities, etc.
 
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Why haven't a large percentage of women helped their fellow women? All those empty seats over the years. The failed franchises.

How many people who hold the opinion that the current state of affairs is driven by sexism have attended an WNBA game? How many have bought WNBA merchandise.
Hell even watched a game on TV?
 
It isn’t sexism that made NBA television rights worth billions compared to millions for the WNBA.

You can’t spend money that doesn’t exist.

The WNBA will have higher salaries as the popularity of the game increases and more people tune in to watch it. The SAME WAY the NBA grew.
I love it when morons waste time and energy because they simply can't understand the difference between sexism and economics.
 
It's cool to have an absolute game changer come through the program, and somebody Iowa fans can be really proud of. But history tells us that people just won't support women's sports over the long haul. As great as the USA women's soccer team was or has been, if they had a game on TV the same time as the USA Men's team... the ratings would be 10 to 1 in favor of the middle of the road Men's team vs a perennial power in the women.

Everyone is celebrating the 2.44 million viewers for the WNBA draft... to put that in perspective:

At least 21 of the meaningless bowl games people complain about and players sit out of had higher TV ratings than the WNBA draft; that number goes higher if you include the playoff games.

This includes:

Memphis vs Iowa State
Airforce vs James Madison
Duke vs Troy
Northwestern vs Utah
Kansas vs UNLV
Texas STATE vs Rice
Oregon vs Liberty

And then you start to get into bigger name teams with much larger viewership numbers than the WNBA draft.
 
The amount of money these wbb players make compared to women in swimming is absurd. Women swimmers deserve more.
 
It's cool to have an absolute game changer come through the program, and somebody Iowa fans can be really proud of. But history tells us that people just won't support women's sports over the long haul. As great as the USA women's soccer team was or has been, if they had a game on TV the same time as the USA Men's team... the ratings would be 10 to 1 in favor of the middle of the road Men's team vs a perennial power in the women.

Everyone is celebrating the 2.44 million viewers for the WNBA draft... to put that in perspective:

At least 21 of the meaningless bowl games people complain about and players sit out of had higher TV ratings than the WNBA draft; that number goes higher if you include the playoff games.

This includes:

Memphis vs Iowa State
Airforce vs James Madison
Duke vs Troy
Northwestern vs Utah
Kansas vs UNLV
Texas STATE vs Rice
Oregon vs Liberty

And then you start to get into bigger name teams with much larger viewership numbers than the WNBA draft.
I’m not sure this is the best comparison. Last year’s NBA draft first round had about 2x the number of viewers as this WNBA draft. If the WNBA was able to draw 1/2 the level of interest as the NBA it would be financially viable and the salaries would increase dramatically. I doubt it rises to that level immediately, but it will undoubtedly go up quite a bit this year. Hope it is sustainable.
 
There’s a real chance I never see Caitlin Clark play another game ever again. And I’m guessing that’s most people who watched her last one.

But I will definitely see another women’s college game.
 
I’m not sure this is the best comparison. Last year’s NBA draft first round had about 2x the number of viewers as this WNBA draft. If the WNBA was able to draw 1/2 the level of interest as the NBA it would be financially viable and the salaries would increase dramatically. I doubt it rises to that level immediately, but it will undoubtedly go up quite a bit this year. Hope it is sustainable.
I feel it's a decent comparison because if the WNBA draft with CC and all the hype can't get more viewers in prime time than Servpro First Responders Bowl played at 530 pm then I have to wonder how much of this is real passion and how much was morbid curiosity
 
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I feel it's a decent comparison because if the WNBA draft with CC and all the hype can't get more viewers in prime time than Servpro First Responders Bowl played at 530 pm then I have to wonder how much of this is real passion and how much was morbid curiosity

A draft and a live sporting event are 2 completely different things though. The NHL draft had less viewers than the WNBA Finals
 
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A draft and a live sporting event are 2 completely different things though. The NHL draft had less viewers than the WNBA Finals
I didn't know there was a NHL draft? Then again I have watched about the same amount of NHL and WNBA over the last 20 years
 
Also "clarkenomics" is dumb.
Think Tim Robinson GIF by NETFLIX


 
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