"I can't even pay my monthly rent due to annual salary." WNBA's top star is criticizing the importation of poor female athletes
"I can't even pay my monthly rent due to annual salary." WNBA's top star is criticizing the importation of poor female athletes
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Although it is the WNBA that is gaining huge popularity this season, players' salaries have turned out to be poor. Angel Reese (22) of Chicago, one of the best rookie players this season, lamented that he couldn't even pay monthly rent with his salary.
Reece hosted an Instagram live after attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York on the 16th. "You can't live on your annual salary alone," he said on the show. "It's hard to afford the rent of your place in Chicago."
Leith said his monthly rent is 8,000 dollars and that "I live in a place where my income is higher than mine." Leith signed a four-year, 324,000-dollar contract with Chicago Sky this season along with Caitlin Clark of Indiana, who received the Rookie of the Year award. According to the online sports finance system "Spotak," Leith's annual salary this season is 73,439 dollars. As he said, paying 8,000 dollars in monthly rent will result in a deficit. "I can't even buy a sandwich even if I want to," he said.
Of course, annual salary accounts for a small portion of Reece's income. Standing out as a WNBA star this season with immense popularity, he has signed sponsorship deals with many companies. Last year, he signed multi-year contracts with Reebok, a famous sports brand, to launch his personal product collection. Yahoo Sports in the U.S. estimated that Reece will earn 1.8 million U.S. dollars by signing sponsorship deals with brands such as Beats, Airbnb, Amazon, PlayStation, Vos, and Sonic. The extra income has become the main source of income. However, not many players are making sponsorship deals as they are recognized as top stars.
Poor treatment of female athletes has often emerged as an issue, but no realistic changes have been made. When U.S. President Joe Biden heard Clark's annual salary (76,535 dollars), the most popular player this season, he became angry and said, "Women are not receiving fair pay. Now is the time for us to provide our daughters with the same opportunities as our sons and to ensure that women receive reasonable pay." 메이저사이트
The reality is that the commercial value of women's sports is not highly valued. The WNBA only has broadcast rights worth 60 million U.S. dollars this season. In contrast, the NBA signed an astronomical contract for broadcast rights worth 77 billion dollars for 11 years in July. The average value of NBA teams amounts to 3.85 billion dollars. Players' salaries are expected to be paid according to this market logic. Nevertheless, it seems hard to avoid criticism that there is a problem with salaries to the extent that it is difficult for the most popular professional sports players to pay monthly rent.