ries cap out at $80,000 (Wollert p.106). Although we think that is an astonishing figure lets look at a comparison of the American Basketball League, which was one of the first women’s basketball league, it went bankrupt in 1999 because it could not compete with the NBA’s media and marketing clout (Woellert p.104), the WNBA, and the NBA.WNBAABLNBAHeight6ft.5ft. 11in.6ft.7in.Salary million30,000$70,000 $2.3$Field goal percentage41%43.9%45.5%Points per game (avg.)6978.296.9Number of teams16829Games per season284082Reg. Season attendance9,3913,60017,077Ticket price$14-$15$10$34Sources: WNBA, ABL, NBA Nielsen Sports Marketing (Leland, Rosenberg)Although there are many differences, the two that show most is the games per season and attendance. The NBA plays 82 games a year, their season last from October to June. The WNBA season goes from May to August (Britannica Concise). The difference in attendance between the WNBA and NBA is almost eight thousand people, but NBC ratings for the WNBA season opener surpassed all other sports in that time slot by reaching 1.4 million households (Leland, Rosenberg, p.56). The NBA averaged 4.8 million households this regular season (Rosenberg, Leland p.56). Coverage of women’s sports has improved but over 90% of all print column inches and hours of televised sports still go to the men (Zavian). The 2002 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game attracted an average audience of 3,487,262 households, making it ESPN’s most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) ever. It has only been since 1991 that women’s sports received more coverage than horse and dog racing (Zavian). In a study in 1991 of four U.S. newspapers, women-only sports stories accounted for only 3.5% of the sports coverage (Zavian). Stories focusing on men’s sports outnumbered those on women’s sports by a ratio of 23 to 1 (Zavian). ABL players were paid on average $70,...
