King James, And His Damsels In Distress

by Joe Siano

Your Highness,

While the sports world follows your latest career moves, a pressing matter demands your attention and voice.

You are renowned as a forceful advocate for social justice.  Turn then, your empathetic gaze upon the plight of America’s female professional basketball players.

“Equal Pay for equal work” has long been a rallying cry for the exploited classes.  The underserved.  The underprivileged.

This principle is enshrined  in federal law via the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which specifies that:

“No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions…”

How unjust are things?  Let’s go to the stats and break it down like Larry Brown.

 The average WNBA player is paid 96% less than the average man in the NBA

•   $600,000 per year versus $15,150,000

Others may assert that the NBA schedule is longer than WNBA season - 82 games versus 44
When adjusted for schedule length, the differential improves marginally

•  $184,756 pay per game in the NBA versus $13,636 in the WNBA

Some may counter that NBA games are longer – 48 minutes  versus 40.
Doing the math, the women are still paid at an hourly rate 91% below that of the men

•  $239,945 per hour in the NBA versus $20,454 in the WNBA

Take a look at the scoreboard:

And what do the golden years hold for the athletes in each league?

NBA players can expect a pension of over $30,000 per year for a three-year veteran and over $215,000 for ten years of service.  They also get lifetime medical coverage.

The WNBA offers no guaranteed benefit plan.  Unfair! Outrageous!

Some wag may suggest that the WNBA players receive far less compensation than their male counterparts because the WNBA generates far less revenue than the NBA.  As a long time progressive, I’m sure you agree that individual income should not be tied to that person’s production.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.  This should hold true on our athletic courts and fields as it is in our mills, factories, farms, shops, and offices.

King James, it’s time for you to, once again, speak truth to power.  You are a business partner of the NBA, which holds a 42% stake in the WNBA.

Upon reflection, you may see that you are part of the Power, the Hoops Patriarchy.

Here are some suggested remedies:

1. The NBA Board of Governors immediately insists on parity and level salaries to about $8,000,000 per year across both leagues and give the women comparable retirements plans.  I fear that this top-down solution may meet with resistance from the NBA Players Association.
2. Make the NBA players heroes by asking them to voluntarily contribute to help balance the scales.  A GoFundMe for the underappreciated Women pro ballers  
   
   
   
3. Subsidies: Lobby lawmakers to make matters right by subsidizing the league via a Pro Sports Gender Pay Equity Act.  American taxpayers are sure to see the justice in this.

Thanks for your attention in this righteous cause.  Have a great season with your new team.

Have a blessed day.

The Two-percenter

Related Articles:

When The Sixers Woke Up As The Teeners

Social Justice Jocks

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“Half the people are stoned and the other half are waiting for the next election.
Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction.” 
- Paul Simon