rent attempts to found a women’s basketball league have been made in the last two decades-and failed (Kaufman, Gegax, 68-69). Olympian and Women’s National Basketball Association player Rebecca Lobo says, “ The salary is still far from the million dollar mark” (Kaufman, Gegax, 68-69) WNBA rookies start out at $26,500$ a year plus benefits, and some top draft picks earn as little as $56,000, “The league is caught between the need to recruit talent with drawing power and the need to keep costs low enough to maintain five to ten dollar tickets” (Woellert, p.105). Tickets are fifteen dollars less than the men’s National Basketball Association tickets (Leland, Rosenberg, p56). Early play of the WNBA was sloppy, in part because the teams were new, and many players were new, and many players had trouble adjusting to the oatmeal and orange ball. (Welch). Teams had only had three weeks of preseason, and many of the women seemed sluggish from the travel schedule (Welch). In an early season low, Los Angeles Sparks center, Lisa Leslie leapt for a dunk and came down on her backside, some in the audience erupted in laughter (Welch). Now, the WNBA has Television deals with NBC, ESPN, and Lifetime. “The first year the WNBA spent fifteen million dollars on marketing, and one million dollars on salary” quoted Billie Jean King, a pioneer of women’s tennis (Equal Footing). Industry experts put the value of national contracts at about 25 million dollars over the past three years (Woellert, p.106). Soccer icon Mia Hamm who played on the U.S gold medal winning soccer team said, “ Without sponsorships, many athletes would be unable to take part in competition” (Equal Footing).The highest paid NBA player is Kevin Garnett whose 2000-2001 salary was $19,606,300 dollars (NBA Salary Report). With sponsor ties and bonuses a small amount of WNBA players can earn six figure incomes, but base sala...
