If people don’t watch, then there’s fundamentally no money to be given to the players. If you want money to be given to the player, you need to watch.
That’s how it works for women’s sports, and that’s how it works for men’s sports as well.
Pay for all athletes is dictated by the viewership they bring in, not their performance. WNBA players actually make disproportionately more relative to viewership.
You honestly talk like someone who’s never watched a sport in their life.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
The NBA, like most people sports leagues, had no rule preventing women from trying out. They’re already co-ed. The NBA doesn’t admit women because they don’t beat men in try-outs.
MonkRome@lemmy.world 4 months ago
That last sentence is a bit misleading, women aren’t trying out for the NBA left and right. There also is a massive cultural barrier there, some of the best wnba players could likely play in the NBA and yet it hasn’t happened. I think someone would have to be willing to sacrifice their wnba career to try it out. If the person that does this isn’t built physically for it, it could paint a negative perception for years to come. Thus far it’s just been easier to keep separate. I do think we will see women start to enter sports dominated by men in the coming years though.
Tom_Hanx_the_Actor@lemmy.world 4 months ago
“Some of the best players in the wnba could likely play in the NBA…”
As an avid NBA fan (occasionally watch wnba) this is absolutely not true. Golf, Nascar, Tennis, yeah. It’s more likely to happen in the NFL than it is in the NBA though, because specialists positions like kicker. The NBA, players are required to play both offense and defense. For a woman to have both the pure athleticism to be competitive with the best 500 male basketball players in the world? Not an impossibility but she’d still likely be bench depth and seen as a pr motivated move. That level of nba player gets paid, maybe, 3x the top paid WNBA player but it’s give and take with potential endorsements etc.
Wanderer@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Are you an athletic person? Do you enjoy playing team sports and exercising?
Something makes me think you aren’t.
MonkRome@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Not only am I athletic, played team basketball for years.