Putting it all on the line

The GIST: It’s officially spooky season in the WNBA as CBA tensions rise ahead of the agreement’s Halloween deadline. With the league generating more revenue than ever — it banked an estimated $226M in 2024 and is expected to haul $500M in 2026 — and players want their rightful slice of the pie.

• But is the WNBA at a place where they can dole that out yet considering their business model? Economists argue yes, even with the league’s continued operating losses. So much up in the air.

The context: The current deadline to finalize a new CBA is October 31st, though both sides can agree to extend. Players have said negotiations stalled, with many criticizing league commissioner Cathy Engelbert. On Friday, Engelbert said she has no plans of stepping down, yet players such as Napheesa Collier are declining to meet with her.

The asks: Players want to secure improved access and benefits in regards to travel, healthcare, and safety, yet their biggest critique is that they are woefully underpaid, which could be remedied with an amended revenue sharing plan. The idea is that player salaries could grow with the league, and its biggest stars could financially benefit from the dollars they’re drawing in real time.

• Economist David Berri crunched the numbers: Because of the league’s fixed salary cap and the W’s revenue boom, the percentage of revenue paid to players fell from 11% in 2021 to under 7% in 2025, even though the average wage grew $10K. He also estimates stars like A’ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas should have earned over $4M, far beyond their $249K supermax cap.

• Earlier this year, economist Claudia Goldin argued the same, estimating the W salary should be about 25%-33% of the average NBA salary to attain pay equity. That number is expected to be $14M for 2025-26, jumping in the past two years in correspondence with the NBA’s $75B media rights deal.

The rebuttal: Critics claim the league isn’t ready for revenue sharing — the W still operates at a loss, which totaled $50M in 2024 after major expenses like charter flights added to the balance sheet. But the league’s trajectory has it poised to bank more than ever: Berri estimates it will make at least $300M with 13 teams, not to mention ION and Versant deals outside its $2.2B media package.

The conundrum: The WNBA was the fastest-growing brand in 2024, and to maintain its status, it needs to offer an optimal product to entertain avid fans and win over new ones. While the league is doing that with better venues and media rights deals, it needs to balance that by paying players more — if nothing else, to avoid the continuing PR crisis that is “Napheesagate”.

• The WNBA is still in its startup era where eating losses is normal, yet investment seems to be going everywhere besides boosting salaries for the talent. The league must understand that it can no longer avoid biting the bullet on bigger player contracts — the potential backlash isn’t worth it. Offense is the best defense.

The GIST: Despite his global appeal and 12 (!!!) Latin Grammy nominations, there’s continued cultural and political controversy over Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime performance, with much of the criticism centering around the singer’s set being entirely in Spanish.

• This take is ignorant for multiple reasons, including because it ignores that the Hispanic sports audience is growing, skews younger, and is quite avid. Let’s explore why this audience deserves focus, especially in women’s sports. Going where she goes.

The data: There’s been consistent, widespread growth of Hispanic fans across several sports, including soccer, basketball, baseball, and football. Hispanic viewership for the Super Bowl is increasing, going from 10% in 2016 to 14% in 2024, while MLB’s World Series saw viewership rise from 10% in 2016 to 15% in 2023.

• The gains are even bigger in women’s sports, especially soccer. Hispanic viewership for the NCAA women’s championship jumped 354% between 2021 and 2024. And in the soccer world, 32% of U.S. women soccer fans identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 2024 participation among teenage Hispanic women was up 82% from 2023 and 185% from 2021.

• Despite this, the marketing opportunity with Hispanic fans has been overlooked. A majority (54%) are likely to be first-time buyers of brands supporting their favorite teams or leagues, and 61% would be more likely to watch a sport if it featured Latinos. Yet only 4% of U.S. marketing focuses on Latino viewers, even though they overindex on avid sports fandom.

Women fans: While specific data on Hispanic women sports fans in the U.S. is lacking, these fans are taking matters into their own hands with DRAFTED, a platform for Latina sports culture. Launched in 2023, the platform reaches 4M people monthly with content and products, and the community it’s built has drawn partnerships with brands, teams, and leagues.

Women’s sports: Women’s sports has catered to its Hispanic audience, but primarily in local markets, especially in soccer. The NWSL offers Spanish language broadcasts and teamed up with Liga MX Femenil for its Summer Cup, while Angel City FC has integrated Spanish into its marketing and campaigns to speak directly to its Hispanic audience, including its Klarna merch partnership.

Zooming out: Unfortunately, the Hispanic market has long been overlooked and even in new data, the opportunity among Hispanic women isn’t being tracked. And despite the NWSL’s marketing efforts, it is the least popular league with ForSoccer’s young Hispanic demographic.

• There’s clearly a strong connection between Hispanic sports fans and avid fandom via culture and language, which is being recognized on the NFL’s biggest stage — Bad Bunny has over 45M followers, with over 20% being from the U.S. Marketers should consider the overlap between Hispanic fans, women who are sports fans, and fans of women’s sports to reach this often overlooked demo. There’s still time…