🏀 Caitlin Clark is Underpaid + 🍕 Hidden Takeaway Tax + Bridal Party Costs

The money stuff that you wish they taught in school

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Your Questions & Answers

• 🏀 Caitlin Clark is Underpaid

• 🍕 Hidden Takeaway Tax

• Bridal Party Costs

🏀 Caitlin Clark is Underpaid

Q. “I play basketball at pretty high level and would love to play college ball in the US so I’ve been following the Caitlin Clark stuff online and how Indiana picked her at #1. But I also saw on TikTok that she’s only going to get paid less than $100k? Number #1 picks in the NBA get way more than that, why is the WNBA pay so bad?“

- Millie, 16, Victoria

Answer

Hey Millie - that’s a great question and you’re right, WNBA pay is shocking, even if you’re the #1 draft pick.

For those who don’t know, this girl is a once in a generation talent. She’s currently an elite college athlete, playing point guard for Iowa State. She’s broken basically every record there is to break and every team in the professional league (the WNBA) wanted her. She also has 2.1 million followers on Instagram and is an inspiration to many young players. Last week, Indiana Fever got their shot and drafted her at #1. In the men’s game, players like LeBron James went number 1.

Ok, Millie, back to your question. Yep. Her salary is going to be terrible. The WNBA salary for the number 1 draft pick is… just over $76,000. So for being the absolute best in her field, Clark will get paid just a little more than any average college graduate in the United States.

For comparison, the NBA (men’s game) number 1 pick gets a salary of between $8 million and $12 million.

Yeah, that’s right:

• WNBA #1 pick: $76,000

• NBA # 1 pick: $8,000,000 - $12,000,000

What’s happening here?

Basically, the WNBA isn’t a profitable sporting league. It makes about $200 million in revenue every year. The NBA? It brings in $10 billion. That’s a huge difference. The more money a league brings in, the more money there is to distribute to the teams, and to the players in the form of salary.

So how do sports leagues make their money? It’s mostly broadcasting deals. That’s the money that TV stations, cable sports providers (e.g. ESPN) and streaming services (e.g. Kayo) pay to get the exclusive rights to show sports.

The more people that watch, the more these companies will pay to get the rights to screen games to their audiences.

At the moment, more people watch the NBA than the WNBA.

That’s changing. Last year, an average of 600,000 people watched every WNBA game. That was a record. The comparable figure for the NBA was 1,090,000 viewers. So the gap in viewers is nowhere near as big as the gap in broadcast earnings.

The WNBA broadcast deal is up for renewal next year. On the back of the popularity of stars like Clark, it seems very likely that the league will get a lot more for their broadcast rights this time. And that should filter down into much bigger pay packets for the elite athletes that play in the league.

Hope that helps explain the difference a bit (though I get it’s a pretty unsatisfying answer). And good luck with your goal to play in the college system over there!

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🍕 Hidden Takeaway Tax

Q. “We always get the same order from our local pizza shop but it was like $30 more last week when I ordered it. The question last week about different prices for different people got me thinking. Like I know there’s a delivery fee but that’s like $4 not $30. My Dad normally orders it but I did it last time. Am I getting charged more because I’m younger or something?

-CC, 18, NSW

Answer

Hey CC, that’s really weird. Look, the most obvious explanation is just that they might have accidentally messed up and overcharged you. But the other one that came to mind was a bit of a sneakier one.

Did you use Uber Eats, Menulog or another food delivery service when you placed the order? Because if you did, and your Dad doesn’t use them when he orders, then I’ve got the explanation for you.

It’s a bit of a hidden tax on your takeaway that not many people know about.

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