For many years, nobody on PFA gave a shit about the WNBA. And that's because nobody in the world gave a shit about the WNBA. The NBA has been subsidizing it since inception, as the league has lost money every single year.
As a result, the players have been paid peanuts. The women have been told that, since the league loses money, proper salaries can't be provided. The women play anyway because they have other opportunities to make money via endorsements, public appearances, etc. Still, the typical WNBA player is not rich by any stretch of the imagination.
Then came Caitlin Clark. A superstar at Iowa, there was growing attention upon her, and some were eagerly awaiting her foray into the WNBA. In 2024, after graduating from Iowa, Caitlin joined the Indiana Fever, and made an instant splash. All of a sudden, the world was paying attention to the WNBA for the first time ever.
It was more than Caitlin's skill which brought her attention. Unlike most of the WNBA, which is comprised of women who are black, masculine, and lesbian, Clark is white, straight, and feminine. Despite the attention she single-handedly brought to the otherwise ignored league, many of the other players resented her, alleging that the new group of fans were racist, homophobic, or both. They were angry it it took a feminine hetero white player for people to want to care about the sport. Caitlin was on the receiving end of many hard fouls, some of which were believed to have been fueled by this resentment.
However, another white WNBA player has also enjoyed popularity this year. Sophie Cunningham is not a new player. She's been in the WNBA since 2019, but was virtually ignored until 2025, when she joined Clark on the Indiana Fever. A video of Cunninghan gained viral attention when she was seen throwing an opponent to the ground as retaliation for poking Clark earlier in the game. Dudes on the internet instantly noticed Cunningham's long blonde hair and model-like figure. Cunningham capitalized on the moment by taking and posting modeling pictures, wearing short dresses and high heels. This was a huge hit, and she instantly had tons of new male fans from around the world.
Between Clark's skill and Cunningham's beauty, the WNBA is more popular than ever. Clark is currently injured and hasn't played as well this year in the 13 games when she's appeared, but even in her absence (and possible failure to return in 2025), she has brought a huge new fanbase to the WNBA, with the help of teammate Cunningham.
How much of an impact have Clark and Cunningham made? In 2023, the league attendance was 1.587 million. In 2024, it was 2.353 million. In 2025, it is projected to be around 3.18 milion, averaging over 11,000 per game. That means Clark and Cunningham effectively doubled leaguewide attendance in just 2 seasons.
This has led to fellow players demanding a raise, given that their current salaries range from $66k to $249k, and average $109k. They feel that, as professional athletes playing televised games in big arenas, they are wildly underpaid, especially with all of the new WNBA fans in 2024-25.
Will the WNBA make money in 2025? I don't know. But I agree with the players that it's time to pay them better. They obviously can't be paid like their NBA counterparts (for a huge multitude of reasons), but clearly it's a joke that some players are making $66k. By comparison, teenage girls flipping burgers at In-N-Out are making $46k minimum.
But what about the racism and homophobia allegations? Is it true that people only care about the WNBA now because two white, heterosexual stars have been identified -- one highly skilled, and the other very pretty?
Yes, but it's not due to any racism or homophobia. First, dudes are the main consumers of sports, and dudes like looking at attractive women. Clark isn't beautiful, but she's young, feminine, and highly skilled, so guys took notice. Cunningham looks like a model, and her recent story of protecting the oft-abused Clark got her a lot of initial positive attention. In a perfect world, dudes would want to watch butch lesbians play basketball as much as they enjoy watching attractive, feminine women, but that's simply not how things actually work.
Additionally, Clark and Cunningham being white and feminine makes them stand out, in a league where that is uncommon. This is the reverse factor of what made Tiger Woods so notable in the golf world. It's true that Clark wouldn't have gotten nearly as much attention if she were black and/or butch, but that's because she would be too much like all the other good WNBA players who had passed through the league. People took notice of her because of her atypical demographic. This, by extension, later caused people to notice 2025 teammate Cunningham, who had previously stayed under the radar for 6 years, because nobody was caring about the WNBA.
Even in poker, this occurs. People took notice of Leo Margets making the WSOP Main Event final table because she was the first female to do so in the modern era. If she were a dude, nobody would have paid attention to her more than any of the other final tablists.
I will also say that the women in the WNBA who resent Clark and Cunningham also have themselves to blame. The WNBA is a form of entertainment. The players have a right to say, "I don't care if people want to watch feminine women playing basketball, I'm naturally more comfortable being butch, and I'm not going to conform to the stereotype." But then the viewers -- especially the male ones -- have a right not to watch. If you're part of providing an entertainment product, you are selling yourself. If you decide that pride comes ahead of putting yourself in a more conventionally attractive package, that's your prerogative, but it's also going to make you (and by extension the league) less marketable. Up until recently, the WNBA's fan base was mostly feminists and lesbians. The massive new interest in the league is largely coming from men, with also some increase from heterosexual women who enjoy seeing some stars who remind them more of themselves.
But is this also about race, beyond just the novelty? Maybe. In general, white men are typically more attracted to white women than black women. The notice taken of Clark and Cunningham may not have occurred if both were black. However, I still maintain that attractive, feminine black women could also accomplish the same popularity, but this just hasn't been the norm in the WNBA. Prior to 2024, it became almost a meme that the WNBA was a league of butch black lesbians. That's not the best look if you want to attract a mass sports audience. If a black player in the league resembled Beyonce, do you think she'd be popular? Obviously.
Still, it's amusing to see so many leftists clutching pearls that the new WNBA fans are racist, and also claiming sports media is racist for promoting the new white stars.
I do agree that the players need a raise, though. They're criminally underpaid at this point.
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Originally Posted by Dan Druff
