Welcome to No Barrier to Entry: The WNBA is rose gold just like our hearts ♡
The three Ws: WNBA, women's pay disparity, and why I made this
Welcome to the first issue of No Barrier to Entry 🎉
I've been tinkering with this idea on subject matters or topics that are seen as well-gated or might seem intimidating for other folks to ask about.
That’s why I created this space to talk about those subjects in an approachable way or I tag in some SMEs for an assist.
The name is a play on the expressions “High Barrier to Entry” or “Low Barrier to Entry” which are typically used to describe things that require someone to spend a lot of time, money, or make a huge investment just to participate in the activity.
This newsletter isn’t about excluding others but bringing others together. Sounds like a bumper sticker, right? Good.
No Barrier to Entry is for anyone who wants it. Now let’s jump in.
WNBA, Women’s pay disparity, and The Commissioner’s Cup
Last night was the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup – a new in-season tournament that the WNBA launched to commemorate it’s 25th year as a league. Each team was designated with 10 Commissioner's Cup games leading up to the Olympic break. The two teams with the highest winning percentage across those games would compete for the rose gold cup (this thing is really rose gold and it is the fire emojis IRL) and a large prize of commas on commas 💰 (technically only one comma but the song didn’t prepare us for that).
Why this is a big deal: Women’s sports are severely underfunded, under recognized and if we are being honest, under appreciated and under respected.
UNDER OVERLOAD AMIRIGHT.
The Commissioner’s Cup gives these players a chance to make more money.
And to quote WNBA great, Lisa Leslie
The Pay Disparity in Women’s Sports: The WNBA Edition
This is worth its own full series on Hulu but I digress..
Did you know that the average salary for a WNBA player pales in comparison to other major league sports, specifically male leagues.
Average salary for WNBA Player: $100,658.51
That ⬆️ is in bold on purpose.
Average salary for NBA Player: $8.2 million with the minimum salary still blowing the women’s pay out of the water at a whopping $898,310.
The Commissioner’s Cup meant that players can compete for an extra $30,000*or $10,000**.
* for each player on the winning team
** for those that fall short of winning
This was a massive opportunity WNBA players would otherwise not have.
Before you say it, yes there are players that have sponsorship opportunities and are brands in their own right so they are seeing funds outside of the league but:
1) that’s small sample size and not applicable across the entire league
2) if you were to compare that amount of money to a bench player on any NBA team it would be like comparing a second grader’s lunch money to a VC bro’s lunch money.
And less us forget the COVID-19 pandemic in this conversation, which left a lot of WNBA players out in the metaphorical cold without pay.
Okay back to sports.
So who won the rose gold beauty? So glad you asked, as a proud fan of the winning team, it brings me immense joy to tell you that the Seattle Storm did the damn thing last night.
Seattle outpaced the Connecticut Sun all night with a final score ending at 79-57. The team was firing on all cylinders with Breanna Stewart taking home the MVP title after just winning Gold last week in Tokyo.
Breanna aka Stewie is a player worth learning more about. Here’s a taste of what she’s overcome and accomplished since tearing her achilles in 2019 👇
To quote Fort Minor, ✨ remember the name ✨
But Allyssa, does that mean the season is over now? Nope. Now we head into the second half of the WNBA season. The concept of the Commissioner’s Cup is still very new but think of it like the NBA All-Star game or MLB All-Star game, with both of those games coming at the half way point of the season.
Pick a team, any team, and support your heart out
With a whole second half of the WNBA season ahead of us you might find yourself wondering – “who should I root for?”
Great question! The WNBA doesn’t have a team representing most major cities like other sports might so finding a local team to cheer for might prove tricky depending on where you are located but never fear, region is a state of mind. Root for whoever you want!
Twitter friend and all around good person / DB supporter Hayley McGoldrick compiled a wonderful guide to help you find your dream team 👇
Atlanta Dream – they are all powerful and deserve the world
Chicago Sky – they have local legend Candace Parker tysm
Connecticut Sun – DiJonai is swagger personified
Dallas Wings – their jerseys and draft picks delight my eyes a lot
Indiana Fever – yep, the ones with the Stranger Things inspired jerseys
Las Vegas Aces – A’Ja Wilson and Liz Cambage! Need I say more? Yes I do because they also have 3x3 Olympian Kelsey Plum baby
Los Angeles Sparks – Lakers fans, if you squint hard enough this team is a lot younger I mean better than the other team in LA with the same color scheme
Minnesota Lynx – the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 WNBA Champs want your respect
New York Liberty – I write this newsletter whilst wearing my fire as all get out NY Liberty shorts and if you support Oregon you support NY Liberty those are them rules
Phoenix Mercury – If you saw Space Jam 2 you are already a Mercury fan
Seattle Storm – need I say more? Bird. Loyd. Stewie. Canada. Katie Lou. STACKED.
Washington Mystics – This team is my sleeper for the second half and their Rise jerseys are dope af
This brings us to the end of the first ever edition of No Barrier to Entry. I hope you enjoyed what you read or at least found things in here that made you hmmm and aww in new ways. Or maybe you now have topics for your next Zoom small talk moment or dinner conversation.
Whatever case that might be, thank you for reading this far.
I appreciate ya and I hope you have a great rest of your day :)
Don’t forget to smash that subscribe button and I’ll see you soon 👇
PS: Like Taking Back Sunday said, tell all your friends!