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The debate over how much money WNBA players deserve to be paid has once again taken center stage in the wake of the draft, and it’s garnered enough attention to the point where Joe Biden has decided to share his thoughts on the matter.
There were plenty of people who argued Caitlin Clark should have taken advantage of her final year of eligibility at the University of Iowa based on how much money she theoretically stood to lose if she swapped her NIL deals for a rookie contract in the WNBA.
It was a foregone conclusion the Indiana Fever were going to select Clark with the first overall pick in the WNBA Draft, and when they made that official earlier this week, she inked a contract that will result in her making a grand total of $76,535 in contract money during her first season (although she’ll earn much, much more thanks to endorsement deals).
While that wasn’t necessarily a revelation, the news still sparked a renewed debate concerning the money WNBA players have the potential to earn in a league where the average annual salary is less than $150,000 and the max currently caps at a little more than $240,000 (for the sake of comparison, those numbers are respectively around $10 million and $52 million in the NBA).
Jemele Hill essentially rolled her eyes while addressing the latest in a long line of similar discussions—although this one has attracted the attention of the man currently serving as the President of the United States.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden hopped onto Twitter to address that pay gap in a post where he didn’t explicitly reference the WNBA but made it very clear he believes women who make a living as a professional athlete are “paid what they deserve”
Women in sports continue to push new boundaries and inspire us all.
But right now we're seeing that even if you're the best, women are not paid their fair share.
It’s time that we give our daughters the same opportunities as our sons and ensure women are paid what they deserve.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 16, 2024
This isn’t the first time someone occupying the White House has made a similar assertion. In 2016, Barack Obama stated “I am for equal pay for equal work” while hosting the Minnesota Lynx in the wake of their championship.
Of course, this is an issue that comes down to some incredibly elementary economics. Equal pay is certainly a nice idea in theory, but the fact that the WNBA generates around $60 million in annual revenue tells you everything you need to know about the current status quo.
You could argue there’s nobody who will play a more instrumental role in a potential paradigm shift than Caitlin Clark, although I would assert it ultimately comes down to whether or not the millions of people who kept tabs on her in college will continue to do the same as she gets deeper into her WNBA career.
However, even if that ends up being the case, the league has a loooong way to go before it comes close to sniffing NBA-level contracts.