Caitlin Clark, this year’s No. 1 draft pick of the WNBA will earn less than six figures in her rookie season with the Indiana Fever, reigniting debate over whether professional women athletes in the United States are paid fairly.
Clark will have a starting salary of $76,535 and earn around $338,000 over a four-year contract with the Fever.
The second, third, and fourth picks of this year’s draft will also earn $76,535 in their first year according to the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
Athletes like No. 2 draft pick Cameron Brink, who are headed to more populated cities like Los Angeles are going to be making significantly less than the average cost of living during their rookie contract agreement.
Los Angeles has a cost of living index of 161.7, which is 60% higher than the national average. The average cost of living is around $100,000 before income taxes.
The first four WNBA draft pick’s first-year salary is equivalent to career salaries like truck drivers ($74,931 per year), police sergeants ($76,927 per year), dental hygienists ($74,321 per year), and forensics investigators ($70,603 per year).
In comparison, the minimum salary for a first-year NBA player is around 1.12 million dollars for a single season and a 136 million dollar contract cap.
Victor Wembanyama, the No.1 draft pick in last year’s NBA draft signed a 55 million dollar four-year contract.
Although the NBA brought in around 10 billion dollars compared to the WBA which brought around 200 million dollars in 2023, the viewership of women’s basketball has significantly increased over this past year.
In the March Madness NCAA championship, the women’s game had several more million views than the men’s game. The women’s championship rang in at around 19 million streams, while the men’s championship averaged in at around 15 million viewers.
This large change in women’s basketball viewership seemingly has to do with Clark and her incredible talent.
Clark also delivered yet another television milestone during the WNBA draft on Monday night that averaged around 2.5 million viewers, which is around four times as many viewers as the 2023 draft and the previous draft record of 600,000 viewers in 2004.
Cathy Engelbert, Commissioner of the WNBA says, “Caitlin has the ability to make up to a half of a million dollars just in WNBA wages this year, so they’re just looking at a base…but she also has million and millions of dollars in endorsements, and actually because she’s declared to become pro, her endorsements are higher in dollar value… she has a global platform now, not just a U.S. platform, so she’s going to do just fine.”
Clark has several endorsements from well-known companies like Nike, State Farm, Gatorade, Panini, and Gain Bridge.
However, this still has not stopped fans from becoming shocked and upset over Clark’s starting salary and wishing she was paid better for her contributions to women’s sports along with her mind-boggling amount of talent as an athlete.
