User:Cjones1015/Gender pay gap in sports

Economic Return

Economic elements also affect pay equity in sports. For an example from basketball: in 2018, the WNBA teams attracted 7,716 fans per game, which is more than 10,000 fans below the audience attracted by NBA teams per game. In many sports, female teams attract fewer fans compared to male teams, leading to female teams selling fewer tickets and generating less revenue. The highest-paid female wrestler, Ronda Rousey, has stated that she believes how much female athletes get paid should relate to how much revenue they bring in. The different marketability of athletes affects the corresponding earnings of male and female athletes.

However, the pay gap between men and women players is extreme and far outstrips these differences in revenue. Again comparing the NBA and WNBA: in 2019, the average NBA player earned $8,321,937, while a WNBA player earned $75,181. Golf also presents a massive pay gap between men and women athletes, with a PGA player earning around $1,235,495 and an LPGA player earning $48,993 on average. The soccer pay gap between MLS and NWSL is over $300,000, with men earning around $410,730 and women earning an average of $35,000. The MLB and NPF difference in pay is over $4,000,000, with women averaging around $6,000 a year in 2019. The difference in pay between ATP and WTA turns out to be around $50,000 a year as well . 

Furthermore, the women players' earnings as a proportion of WNBA profits has changed over time. In the 1954–55 season, players grossed a total of 45% of the WNBA operating income. This eventually grew even higher, almost to 60%, but recently the WNBA players have been earning only 21% of the league's revenue.

Media Coverage

In the United States, viewership for the 2019 Women's World Cup Final in France was 22% higher than the viewership of the 2018 Men’s World Cup Final in Russia. Roughly 14.3 Million people in the United States watched the Women's final while only 11.4 million watched the 2018 men's final. The 2015 Women’s World Cup Final peaked at 25.4 million viewers, even higher than the 2019 Final. The reason for the lack of viewership in the 2019 final compared to the 2015 final was due to scheduling conflicts on the day of the 2019 final. At the same time that the women's final was taking place, the Men’s Copa América final and Men’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final were happening all on the same day.

Statistics____________________________________________________________

Some popular and widespread sports still retain a significant pay gap. The following statistics show the income disparities between female athletes and their male counterparts.

Soccer______________________________________________________________

In soccer, the United States women's national soccer team is paid almost four times less than the men's team.[49] The women's team won the 2014 World Cup tournament but was paid $7 million prize money less than their male counterparts who failed in Round 16. In 2016, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, American football player Hope Amelia Solo filed a lawsuit against the U.S Soccer Federation for disregarding pay equity with her teammates.

Basketball___________________________________________________________

The pay gap in basketball also exists. In 2014, 5 teams of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) out of overall 12 made a profit.[50] In 2017, the WNBA's average salary was $71,635, while the minimum salary for the National Basketball Association (NBA) is $838,464.[51] The WNBA player who received the highest income is nearly one-fifth of the income of the lowest-paid NBA player.[52] In 2018, the WNBA paid its players much less of their revenue, less than 25%, than the NBA does, about 50%. If the WNBA revenues were shared with its players as the NBA revenues are, their average salary would rise from $77,878 to around $191,083 in the 2018 season.[53] In 2020 a new WNBA collective bargaining agreement was put in place and will go until 2027. Players in the WNBA will on average earn a salary of $130,000, with minimum and maximum salaries of $68,000 and $215,000 respectively; with the possibility for top athletes to earn over $500,000 annually. The WNBA league will spend up to $250,000 a player and at least $1 million in promoting and marketing of players annually. Significant change in the revenue sharing could allow players in the WNBA to earn 50% of their revenues as of the 2021 season.[54]

Golf________________________________________________________________

The gender pay gap in golf is far from over. According to Golf Support, the prize money disparity between male and female athletes is 83% in professional golf. If a male and female golf player both wins a tournament, the male player can earn 6 times more than the female player.[55] The Professional Golfers Association offers female athletes $50 million of prize money, far less than $256 million which devotes to male athletes.

Skiing______________________________________________________________

The income disparity in professional skiing is outstanding, too. The U.S Olympian ski racer Lindsey Vonn points out that to those female ski racers who are not at the top, many of them have to give up their practice time to do part-time jobs to increase their income due to the insufficient prize money they receive.[56] For Vonn, although she has won Olympic medals and World Cup titles, a large part of her income comes from endorsements instead of prize money.

Despite the disparity, statistics also show the equity of income in sports. Global research conducted by BBC Sport found that in the total of 44 sports that have been surveyed, 35 sports reward the same prize money to male and female athletes which shows an improvement compares to previous years.[57] The following examples are sports which offer equal prize money.

Baseball/Softball_____________________________________________________

The pay gap between baseball and softball is very far off from each other. The average salary for an MLB player is 4.47 million dollars a year. The average pay for a professional softball player is 6,000 dollars a year. There have been some steps in the right direction as there has been a player who signed a 1 million dollar contract over six years. This is still only 200,000 a year. There is still room for improvement, but there are strides being made in the world of baseball.[58]

Tennis______________________________________________________________

Tennis has been considered as the leader of pay equity in sports. In 1973, the American tennis player Billie Jean King moved into areas of pay equity in tennis. Her efforts led to the change of the prize money of the United States Open.[59] Starting with the United States Open, up to now, all of the four Grand Slam tournaments offer the same prize money to female and male athletes.[60] The list of the top 10 highest-paid female athletes in 2018 released by Forbes shows that tennis is the best-paying sports for female athletes as eight tennis player joined that list.[61] In 2019, Serena Williams is the highest of all women's tennis players on the Forbes World's Highest-Paid Athletes list. She currently is sitting at number sixty-three. Williams is the highest of all female athletes on the list.[62]

Volleyball___________________________________________________________

Volleyball is also one of the pioneers of promoting pay equity in sports. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) rewards the same prize money to both female and male athletes since 2004.[63] Specifically, in 2015, the winning male team and female team were all rewarded the equal prize money of $60,000.[64]

Surfing_____________________________________________________________

The World Surf League (WSL) has altered the prize money structure and announced that female and males athletes would be paid the same amount of prize money from 2019 season in all the range of events that WSL controlled. This announcement also says that equal prize money campaign will also be managed to introduce to the second-tier surfing matches.[65]

Sports Industry_____________________________________________________

On top of athletes, the gender pay gap is also present in sports industry positions. A Pay Scale Survey has found that female sport marketing managers and sport event coordinators earn 82 cents and 92 cents respectively, for every dollar a male earns.[66] Disparities in the wages of female and male Head coaches exist, a study on head coaches in Division One programs finds the gender wage gap to be larger in this sports industry. A study done at the University of Northern Colorado involved a sample of 72 head coaches in Division One Basketball across the United States and found that male coaches earned an average of $2,716,191 million, whereas female coaches earned much less with an average salary of $689,879.[67]

Although, all women may face forms of inequality in sports workplaces, the intersection of gender and race leads to more severe barriers in place for black women in this industry. The lack of women of color in the athletic administrative and coaching positions in sports is greater as they not only face the challenges brought on by gender discrimination but also that of racial discrimination.[68]