Finally, Celebrating Female Athletes

Say what you will about the Kardashians, and I could say a lot, but Skim’s new ad campaign highlighting badass female athletes feels good. The first thing that popped into my head when the campaign popped up in my Instagram feed was, “damn, it’s about time.”

It has taken 50 years since Title IX was enacted into law to see women’s basketball have the crowds it deserves. These women are playing at an exciting level. The NCAA championships this year took on another level of excitement with star athletes who have been drafted to play in the WNBA.

These women are not being paid the same amount as their male counterparts. Let’s not forget that the NBA is a serious business. The athletes get paid based on salary caps, which affect the amount of capital being made in the entire NBA business machine.

Everything else these athletes do, such as sponsors, is their own personal added bonus, and finally, women are getting their due here, too. Athletes seem to be the latest actors in all the advertising during the games.

Now that the WNBA has packed stadiums and owners who are focused on building a female powerhouse sports arm of the NBA, we will start to see higher salary caps. Stephen Curry has a salary cap of $135M for 2023/2024, whereas Jackie Young, who signed with the Las Vegas Acers a few days ago, makes $252,450 a year. These two make the most money playing ball.

I hope it doesn’t take another 50 years for WNBA players to make the type of cash Curry is raking in.