The WNBA and MLS Were Born the Same Year. One Pays $584K. The Other Pays $633K. Guess Which Is Which.
Last issue, we compared the WNBA to the NBA at the same age and found the women’s league is ahead of schedule on every metric. But that comparison — a basketball league to a basketball league 50 years apart — still carries the weight of the gender question. So let’s remove gender from the equation entirely.
Let’s compare the WNBA to a men’s league that was founded the exact same year, faces the exact same “secondary sport” challenge, and is at the exact same stage of maturity: Major League Soccer. And then let’s add the NWSL — women’s soccer, founded in 2012 — to see what a younger women’s league looks like on the same growth curve.
Three Contemporaries: The Class of 1996 (and 2012)
| League | Founded | Age | Sport | Gender | Teams | Roster Spots | Avg Salary 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLS | 1996 | 30 | Soccer | Men | 30 | ~900 | $633,000 |
| WNBA | 1996 | 30 | Basketball | Women | 12 | 144 | $584,000 |
| NWSL | 2012 | 14 | Soccer | Women | 14 | ~420 | $117,000 |
MLS and the WNBA launched within a year of each other. Both were “secondary” leagues — soccer behind European football, women’s basketball behind the NBA. Both struggled with attendance, media rights, and credibility. Both grew slowly through their first two decades. And in 2026, their average salaries are $633,000 and $584,000 respectively — an 8% gap.
For two leagues born in the same year, operating in different sports with different genders, an 8% salary gap is remarkably small. It suggests that league maturity, not gender, is the dominant variable in compensation.
The NWSL tells the other half of the story. Founded in 2012 — 14 years after MLS and the WNBA — the NWSL’s average salary is $117,000. That’s almost exactly where the WNBA was at the same age. In 2010, when the WNBA was 14 years old, its average salary was approximately $72,000 (about $105,000 in today’s dollars). The NWSL at 14 is actually ahead of where the WNBA was at 14.
The growth curve repeats — for women’s soccer just as it did for women’s basketball.
“MLS pays $633,000. The WNBA pays $584,000. Both were founded in 1996. The salary gap between them is 8% — not 116x. When you compare apples to apples instead of apples to oak trees, the gender pay gap in professional sports shrinks to a rounding error.”
— The Sports Page, on choosing the right comparisonRevenue and Scale Comparison
| Metric | MLS | WNBA | NWSL | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 | 1996 | 2012 | |
| League Revenue (est.) | ~$2B | ~$1B | ~$215M | MLS has 2.5x more teams |
| Revenue Per Team | ~$67M | ~$83M | ~$15M | WNBA leads per-team |
| Avg Attendance/Game | ~22,000 | ~11,000 | ~12,000 | NWSL catching WNBA |
| Games Per Season | 34 | 40 | 26 | Different schedules |
| Total Roster Spots | ~900 | 144 | ~420 | WNBA is 6x smaller |
| Avg Salary | $633K | $584K | $117K | 8% gap MLS vs WNBA |
| Revenue Share to Players | ~25% | ~9.3% | ~15% | All below NBA’s 50% |
The Per-Unit Economics: WNBA Beats MLS
The Growth Curve: All Three Leagues on the Same Path
The Revenue Share Problem
Here’s where the legitimate criticism lives — not in the raw salary comparison, but in the revenue share. WNBA players capture 9.3% of league revenue. MLS players capture roughly 25%. NBA players capture 50%.
The WNBA generates $6.9 million in revenue per roster spot — more than three times what MLS generates per spot. But WNBA players receive $584,000 of that $6.9 million (8.5%), while MLS players receive $633,000 of $2.2 million (29%). The WNBA’s athletes are more economically productive per capita but receive a smaller slice of the pie.
THAT is the argument worth making. Not “116x less than the NBA.” The real question is: why does a league that generates $6.9M per roster spot pay its players only $584K?
Historical Parallels
In 2006, both leagues were fighting for attention. MLS was a niche sport in a football/baseball/basketball country. The WNBA was a women’s league in a men’s sports market. Both paid modestly, both struggled with attendance, both relied on their parent organizations (FIFA/US Soccer for MLS, NBA for WNBA) for legitimacy. The salary gap at age 10 was 1.9x. By age 30, it’s closed to 1.08x. The convergence tells the story: maturity equalizes.
The NWSL average salary in 2026 ($117K) is ahead of where the WNBA was at age 14 (~$72K nominal, ~$105K inflation-adjusted). The NWSL’s attendance is already comparable to the WNBA’s. The revenue is growing at 33% per year. The curve repeats. Every women’s professional league follows the same trajectory — just 15–20 years behind the men’s version. The NWSL will face the same “116x” comparisons in a decade. And the same maturity argument will apply.
“The WNBA doesn’t need to be compared to the NBA. It needs to be compared to MLS — same age, same challenges, same growth phase. When you do that, the salary gap is 8%. The revenue-per-spot gap actually favors the WNBA. The only gap that doesn’t is the revenue share — and that’s a negotiation problem, not a gender problem. The 2026 CBA just moved the needle. The next one will move it further. The curve is bending.”
— The Sports Page, on comparing apples to applesPitch a Story
Noticed a weird stat? Saw something that doesn’t add up? Send it in. The best ideas become issues.
