WNBA first draft pick Caitlin Clark was chosen by the Indiana Fever earlier this month after a bombshell season with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
But some were quick to object to the details of Clark’s contract, as she’ll earn $76,535 in 2024, an amount set to increase each year. (If the team option is picked up in 2027, she’ll earn $97,582, as FOX Business reported.)
Clark’s offer from the WNBA is 132 times less than her male NBA counterparts — who have accepted $10 million contracts in the past, according to the HR platform HiBob.
Although the pay difference between players in the two leagues is “shocking,” the difference in league revenue is most likely the main driver, according to James Neave, the U.K.-based head of data science at the search engine Adzuna.
The NBA pulled in revenue of $10 billion in 2023, while the WNBA made $60 million, according to World Sports Network.
Basketball aside, Neave said the “bigger issue” in the gender pay gap lies in the more conventional workplace.
Read full story at Fox Business.
