Last week, WNBA players wore shirts emblazoned with "Pay us what you owe us" during warmups, sparking predictable social media outrage. Critics immediately jumped to their favorite argument: "How can they ask for more money when the league isn't profitable?"

They’re wrong, and this is another attempt at thinly veiled sexism, hidden behind a misunderstanding of business metrics. Let’s dismantle their weak argument piece by piece and learn about the WNBA and the basketball business.

Let's start with the basics around whether the WNBA has enough money to pay them more. The misunderstanding comes from an excessive focus on prior year performance to judge future year pay.

The WNBA reported $200M in 2023 revenue. With 40% year-over-year growth based on the women's basketball industry, we're looking at ~$400M by end of 2025. That's significant and just the beginning.

Because last month, the WNBA signed a groundbreaking $2.35B media rights deal spanning 11 years - roughly $213M annually starting in 2026. ION, the network airing games, saw 23M unique viewers alongside an estimated 54M in the US. This is particularly impressive given that, as an NBA subsidiary, the WNBA can't even independently negotiate these deals. Yet they secured the largest media rights deal in women's sports history.

But wait, there's more. The league is adding five expansion teams over the next five years. They are: Golden State Valkyries (2025), Toronto Tempo (2026), Portland Fire (2026), Cleveland (2028), Detroit (2029), and Philadelphia (2030). Each team will pay a $250M franchise fee. That's $1.25B in expansion revenue, or $250M annually.

These new teams will generate additional league revenue. The current 13 teams average $30M each in annual revenue ($400M / 13). Adding five more teams at similar performance increases annual revenue by another $150M.

Let's calculate the annual run-rate revenue:

Total run-rate revenue: $1,013M

That's over $1B in annual revenue - and growing fast. Suddenly, the $50M annual loss critics cite seems less relevant. The available pool for player salaries could be dramatically higher without threatening the league's financial position.

Don’t believe me? Let’s break down the WNBA P&L today with its 13 teams to get to $56M in losses in 2025 (growing the $40M losses reported in 2024 by the same topline growth rate and assuming no efficiencies):

If we extrapolate this to 18 teams (adding 5 expansion teams), that's about $553M in non-salary operating expenses against our $1,013M run-rate revenue. We could increase player salaries from the current $55M run-rate (for 18 teams) to $250M - a 400% growth rate - and still maintain operating margins similar to the NBA.

We haven't even factored in several major growth opportunities:

These initiatives could push revenue significantly beyond $1B annually.

Suddenly, the $50M annual loss that critics love to cite seems less relevant. The player salaries pool could be dramatically higher without threatening the league's financial position.

The money is there. The players’ pay isn’t.

Let's discuss the value creation standpoint because investments in player pay and other expenses create enterprise value. On the topic of enterprise value, the WNBA's 13 existing teams are now worth $3.5B combined (2x in the last year):

Add the five expansion teams at $250M each, and we're looking at a $4.75B league. Not bad for a "money-losing" venture.

Speaking of losses, the WNBA lost about $250M ($10M annually) over its first 25 years, plus another $160M in the last 4 years post pandemic with all stars entering the league. So that's a total of $410M of losses to build a $4.75B asset. In venture capital terms, that's better than a 10x return. Any VC would be eager for those numbers.

The "unprofitable" argument gets sillier when you look at the broader market. Over half of Russell 2000 companies operate at a loss. Some of the most valuable ones - Amazon, Uber, Airbnb - were "unprofitable" for years while building massive enterprise value. Tesla didn't turn a profit until 2020, yet created hundreds of billions in shareholder value.

Focusing on net income alone misses the point. The WNBA isn't just growing; it's creating enormous value. A 10x ROI is a no-brainer for the NBA. Paying players fairly to secure and grow that value is an easy decision.

Let’s start with the comparison to the NBA, its parent and most comparable organization. Of course, the NBA is significantly larger, and we can adjust accordingly. The NBA generates roughly 10x the revenue of the WNBA, a still growing franchise. But this 10x revenue difference translates to a 100x gap in minimum salary ($1.1M NBA vs $65K WNBA) and a 65x difference in average compensation. How does that math work?

Of course, the math still doesn’t justify the WNBA players’ low pay as a percentage of revenue. The WNBA allocates just 10% of its revenue to player compensation, while the NBA shares over 50%, comparable across leagues. This disparity is unjustifiable.

What’s also troublesome is that only the WNBA can’t justify higher pay when other American women’s leagues can. The new Unrivaled 3on3 Women’s League pays $220K for 8 weeks - nearly matching the WNBA’s maximum annual salary of $235K. Read that again: The average player can make almost as much in 8 weeks in Unrivaled as the best WNBA player.

Even more concerning is the global competition for talent. Of the 11 major international women's basketball leagues, 70% pay higher average salaries than the WNBA. Top players can earn $1M annually in China.

When we can fairly pay players and we're losing talent to international leagues that do, maintaining the current compensation structure isn't just unfair - it's unsustainable. The WNBA can't build a world-class league while paying world-class talent below-market rates. It's falling short of every benchmark right now. And it needs to change.

So the WNBA makes more than enough money to pay its players, especially with recent deals. It’s a massively successful growing franchise whose value is understated if you consider net income alone, so it can pay players fairly. And the WNBA should pay its athletes fairly to compete with others domestically and internationally. The players deserve all of the raises and increases to pay that they get in the upcoming conversations this year. It’s a start.