Dawn Staley speaks out on pay disparity
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
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Do a cursory search of per game average attendance for not only SC but Uconn, Iowa, Iowa State, Texas etc... and you will see that in the top 10 or so programs the women draw as many and in some places more than their male counterparts. I am not saying the women have passed the men, just that the disparity between their pay far outweighs the numbers they put in the seats and the attention and publicity they provide for the college.
That is where the new fan has a very narrow understanding of what has been occuring for the past 5 years. The LSU/ SC game did not involve Clark this year, yet it outpaced the Celtics/Heat Game in a head to head viewing. The SEC Championship game with LSU outdrew every other professional event on TV that day, which included Golf, Baseball and a few other sports like Hockey etc... all of which are male dominated sports. With the additonal eyes that have been drawn to the game, more people have noticed the exceptional players lie a Milaysia Fulwilley-SC, Hannah Hildago-ND, Juju Watkins-SC and you have off season commentators looking to see anyone that can challenge South Carolina next year. Most of this occurs because the women are not one and done. Because Clark is still drawing record numbers and viewers, people now understand why Aja is the best player in the world and the other women who are playing Clark and at times making her look pedestrian. The genie of wbb is out of the battle now and probably not going back in. The only proof you need is to check the financial packages, Espn, Prime TV, Ion, and other streaming outlets are negotiating to get their games in the future. Clark helped boost the sport but she by no means is the sport
The comparator is our MBB. We are nothing special, even considering our run to the NCAAT this year. Yet we still managed to turn a profit. A small profit, but a profit nonetheless in spite of being one of the worst teams in the SEC two years ago. The WBB team has been contending for and winning titles for several years now and is considered the current standard in the sport yet they still can't manage to turn a profit.
Even with the revenue the WBB team brings in, they are a distinct outlier in the sport: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/schools-that-make-the-most-money-off-college-basketball
If you are saying when you look at the top 10 women's programs in the country where their male counterparts are historically not top 10, the women typically outdraw the men, I can buy that. I think most people would. I'll even buy top 10 women's programs have comparable attendance records with their top 10 men's programs at a few of those schools. But I would also be willing to believe once you drop out the top 10 or so programs, the numbers for women drop off a cliff when comparing to the men's game. A dozen or so programs dont make the sport.
No doubt a good product will produce support. I am sure the top programs will see to it their athletes are paid as much as they have to be paid to stay on top because it's market driven... or at least I'd like to believe it is.
Basically the only reason the women have not turned a profit and the men even as average as ours has is due to Units given out during March Madness for getting in an advancing. This greatly benefits the bottom line of many men's teams. The thing is, because of the greatly increased interest in the wbb game and recent viewership numbers, ESPN has completely bought the wbb tournament and will start to award Units to the women which will have some of them like our program making more than their male counterparts. ESPN is also renegotiating thier regular season viewing deal with the wbb teams in the NCAA which will bring much more compensation for the women which will also enhance their bottom line especially with our team which is on espn in addition to he SEC Network almost 15 times a year. Given this information, Dawn is justified in her statement as it pertains to her success even if you do not like it.
IMO All coaches are paid too much. She should be the highest paid Women's Basketball coach but markets are markets. Football is the money maker or at least has been. That will be diminished in the future.
I would say that her performance dictates that she make more than other great women's basketball coaches because what she and her program add to this university is greater than Mulkey and others add to theirs. And from a business perspective, positive media exposure is worth money too.
I would say that her performance dictates that she make more than other great women's basketball coaches because what she and her program add to this university is greater than Mulkey and others add to theirs. And from a business perspective, positive media exposure is worth money too.
If the viewership for women's basketball increases to the level of men, then they should get equal pay. If it surpasses the men, then they should get more.
I agree about them being super-athletic when you put it as being relative to their competition. But that doesn’t automatically equate to the product being something worth millions of dollars. Relative to the other 7-year olds on the field, my son is a super athletic soccer player. That doesn’t mean I expect people to come from all over to watch him play.
But judging by the viewership numbers they are outpacing many pro sports thus they have inherent worth or otherwise they would not be able re-work deals with Espn and be changing their financial landscape.
18lsTheMan:
The latest figures I can find show our women’s team with about $9.5 million in revenue and a little over $9 million in expenses.
OP- You stated that WBB had $9.5 mil in revenue and $9 mil in expenses. How is that not a profit?
That's like saying SEC football is inferior to NFL football. It's true, but so what. It is still excellent competition.
When is the last time a Junior High boys game attracted 18 million viewers, or sold out 20k arenas?
But ppl, TV and advertisers are willing to pay huge sums for men's sports. Women's, not so much. Female (whatever that is these days) athletes and coaches can only be paid what they're worth, which is dictated by the market.
Right now, Dawn is the biggest thing going in Cola, a market with no pro sports, and a school with not much winning history in any sport. Fans are starved, but the money is not endless.
The first Gamecock wbb game I watched was the SEC Championship. Because it was a championship game as opposed to 1 out of 162 baseball games or 1 out of 84 hockey games. Which championship game had the most viewers, the men's final or the women's final?
The game is which the wbb team vs LSU had more viewers than the Celtics/Heat game at the same time was a regular season game in January. Also the women's final game had more viewers than the men's game this year 18.9 Million viewers fo the women's final to 14. 6 million for the Men.
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The women's final actually peaked at over 24 million in the final minutes. I didn't watch the men's final because I didn't care for either team. If the same thing happens next year I'll be impressed. Because watching the women's game IS like watching slow motion basketball with a lot of misses from right under the basket. Are the majority of that 19 million women viewers? I can't imagine 19 million men even wanting to watch it.
I'll bet there were more men watching than woman. The majority of sports fans are men.
So you're saying the majority of men would rather watch women's basketball than men's basketball? Not buying it.
No, I;m saying that most of the viewing audience was probably men. Men tend to watch more sports than women.
I don't think they watch women's sports more than women do. But it's just my opinion. I know I don't. And I watch a boatload of sports.
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