The simple solution to solve the WNBA's looming ‘Pay Us' labor crisis: MoneyCall

New York Times

23-07-2025

Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic's weekly sports business cheat sheet. (Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here.)
Name-dropped today: Stud Budz, Lloyd Howell Jr., Sydney Colson, Derrick Rose, Dave Portnoy and Pat McAfee, Sephora, Kim Kardashian, Peacock, Soar the Eagle, Snoop Dogg and more. Let's go:
'Pay us what you owe us'
Few pro athletes are as comfortable and willing to speak up as the players of the WNBA, as you saw on and off the court this past weekend in Indianapolis — from message T-shirts to the Stud Budz. (If you don't know the Stud Budz, you must read this explainer.)
No one wants to see a lockout. Most everyone — even WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert — agrees the players should be paid more. (At her annual midseason press conference, she even said, 'We want to significantly increase their salary.') Players are meaningfully underpaid relative to the value they drive for the league. And so as the league and players carom towards a brutal labor battle this fall — just as the league is hitting escape velocity — what to do?
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Let's solve this with sensibility: Just match the NBA.
In the NBA, 50 percent of league 'basketball-related income' (TV deals, tickets, sponsorships, merch sales) goes to player salaries, split equally among the teams.
Currently, the WNBA's current BRI rev split with the players is reported to be anywhere from 75/25 to 90/10 (depending on your accounting), either of which feels archaic.
To be sure: Team owners will hate going from 90/10 to 50/50, but their ever-increasing franchise valuations and overall revenue growth will more than make up for it.
Let's take an easy example, and focus specifically on TV money: The WNBA's new TV deal, which goes into effect next season, is around $200 million a year. Half would go to player salaries. Split that $100M among the 15 teams in 2026. That's $6.5 million per year per team for salaries, a $5 million increase from the current salary cap.
That's a jump in average player salary from $117K to $540K — of course, star players would (and should) get more than role players, just as they do in the NBA.
The bottom line is that there is already a standard for how major pro basketball leagues split the basketball-related revenue with players. It can be applied here.
It's less a question of what is owed than: 'Pay us … like our pro basketball counterparts in this country.'
Much more coming on all this from The Athletic's WNBA reporters.
Rocky times for NFLPA, plus instructive WNBA ratings
Big talkers from the sports-business industry…
NFL, ESPN near NFL Media deal: My colleague Andrew Marchand gets you caught up on the fascinating potential 2025 bookend to the 1987 media deal that you could argue officially put ESPN on the map. Can NFL Media help accelerate ESPN's new direct-to-consumer platform, officially launching in a few weeks?
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Without Clark, WNBA ASG ratings solid: 2.2M didn't come close to matching last year's (Caitlin Clark's WNBA All-Star Game debut), but they were up huge over 2023 B.C. (Before Clark), and it was still the second most-watched WNBA ASG ever.
Big 12 turns down Memphis millions: In this avaricious era of college sports realignment, you'd never think a conference would turn down a couple hundred million dollars to add a school — but the Big 12 actually said 'no thanks' to Memphis.
NFLPA leadership crisis: Lloyd Howell Jr. out (from two jobs!). JC Tretter out. What does it say about the strength of the most powerful sports league in the world that the players' union is so rudderless?
My colleague (and host of our new 'No Free Lunch' podcast) Ndamukong Suh is taking questions from readers (including MoneyCall readers!), and I will be sending him that one. But you should submit your own questions for him: [e-mail].
Other current obsessions: Sydney Colson doing a stand-up set during WNBA All-Star weekend … Derrick Rose's enthusiasm for chess … Mac Miller bobblehead night in Pittsburgh … the return of 'Happy Gilmore' to the zeitgeist … Peak's new seven-day walking challenge … No, seriously: Stud Budz …
ESPN's Pat McAfee vs. Fox's Dave Portnoy?
Barstool Sports is partnering with Fox Sports around college football Saturdays and weekday programming. I had to check in with my colleague Andrew Marchand for his take on the latest Fox vs. ESPN battleground:
How do you envision the rivalry playing out?
💬 The intrigue is in the big names and traditional media vs. new media. On weekdays, Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg, traditional media, are ESPN stars on mornings and will face Barstool directly. ESPN has a huge advantage in reach, so it will have better TV ratings, but with Pat McAfee, ESPN has leaned into a new way of tallying audience, using YouTube and social — Fox may lean into that.
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On Saturdays, McAfee has been something of a flight risk on 'GameDay,' threatening not to return at times, but now against Dave Portnoy and Barstool on 'Big Noon Kickoff,' I imagine McAfee may be more inclined to stay for the fight. The one misconception is that Portnoy will be used like the every-down panelist McAfee is. Fox will likely mix and match Portnoy to best utilize him, but not on every segment.
Get more from Marchand on this on his podcast this week.
Data Point: $2.38 billion
That was The Athletic's proprietary valuation for the University of Texas' football program — roughly the valuation of the Carolina Panthers when they sold in 2018.
Our college football team did valuations for all 68 power-conference teams, and the entire list is definitely worth checking out.
Price Increase: NBC's Peacock
As of today, Peacock's pricing goes up $3 per month (the cheapest tier, ad-supported, goes from $7.99 to $10.99). It's reductive, but call it the 'live sports tax' — NBC adding the NBA creates valuable new programming for Peacock subscribers, but it wasn't cheap for NBCU to acquire (~$2.5B per year).
Brand Launch: Denver Summit FC
Love the name. Love the logo and crest. Kudos to the team for letting the fans pick the name.
Runner-up: The American. The American Athletic Conference ('AAC') is now just the American Conference ('American'), complete with a very, um, atypical *conference* mascot, Soar the Eagle.
Sponsorshipping
> Sephora x AUSL: The beauty giant is the presenting sponsor for the softball league's championship series this weekend, doubling down after deals with the Golden State Valkyries and Unrivaled.
>Skims x League One Volleyball: Kim Kardashian's company is replicating its WNBA and NBA deal (official underwear) with the start-up volleyball pro league (official loungewear/intimates/sleepwear).
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Investor of the Week: Snoop Dogg
Let's get Swansea City that behind-the-scenes TV show deal for the days when new part-owner Snoop comes around the training grounds.
Elevator Pitch: WNBA in an NFL stadium
Loved this idea from my colleague Richard Deitsch about why the WNBA should schedule the Fever to play in the Colts' stadium and smash the attendance record for a WNBA game.
Power Ranking: Top NHL local broadcasts
See the full 32-team ranking here.
Beat Dan in Connections: Sports edition
Wed 7/23: Puzzle #303
Dan's time: 00:27
Try the game here!
Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:
How Premier League teams convince players to sign with them.
Two more:
Back next Wednesday! Here's a sensible 50/50 split: Forward MoneyCall to three colleagues, then to three friends. And, as always, give a (free!) try to all The Athletic's other newsletters.