I have often heard the argument that women’s sports are not as entertaining as men’s, but there should not be an automatic comparison between the two, as they are entirely different.
While the specific sports follow the same rules, men and women have different schemes and play styles due to athletic differences, inconsistent speeds of game play and often contrasting economic opportunities.
With women’s athletics still on the rise, it makes sense that more people would drift toward the already-established men’s leagues, which are often more appealing at a basic level.
However, women’s athletics at any level deserve to be celebrated. It does not make sense that women do not receive the same chance to play on a national stage. Female athletes work just as hard as male athletes in practice, and they deserve to be rewarded as such.
Recently, women’s sports have been shown on national television more often, and events have been moved to larger arenas, such as the Dallas Wings moving games from their typical stadium to the American Airlines Center, which has 13,000 more seats.
Even as an athlete in high school, I noticed that far more people came to watch our boys’ basketball games than the girls’ games, even though they were scheduled one right after the other.
It was disheartening to see how much larger the crowd was for the boys’ games than the girls’, even though it made sense due to the greater successes for the boys’ basketball teams.
I have often seen the same imbalances at ACU athletic events. On average, I see a much higher attendance at men’s basketball games than at women’s games, despite a higher level of success for the women.
However, this does not mean that people should write off women’s sports, which I have often found to be the case.
I have had many conversations with people in the past few years about the National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Association, especially with the recent growth of the WNBA after Caitlin Clark and her draft class joined the league.
Clark has brought new eyes to the WNBA through her talented three-point shooting and extraordinary passing ability, so much so that by the year 2030, five new teams will be in the league that were nonexistent in her rookie year.
The 2024 Finals, Clark’s rookie year, averaged 1.565 million viewers per game, the highest-viewed playoff series in the history of the league. In 2025, the Finals were expanded to a seven-game series, previously only a five-game series.
Despite record viewership, the WNBA averages lower ratings and receives less money, leading the athletes in the league to receive around nine percent of the league’s earnings collectively in salaries, while athletes in the NBA receive around 50% of the league’s revenue.
In an interview on “TODAY” on Oct. 21, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the women of the WNBA deserve pay raises, and they will likely be getting them in the next collective bargaining agreement, but argued that it is not a matter of revenue share.
The NBA season runs from mid-October to mid-June, while the WNBA runs from mid-May to early-October. This schedule has some overlap, but for the most part, people do not have to decide whether to watch one or the other.
However, I have heard people complain about the WNBA games in the months when the NBA is not actively playing games. Things like, “They’re not as good as the men,” or “The game is too slow.”
This attitude does not apply to basketball alone, but it spreads to other sports as well. For example, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has won four World Cups while the men’s team has won zero–yet the women’s team spent six years fighting for equal pay rights.
Women’s sports, especially professional basketball, are on the rise, but not everyone has to watch women’s sports because I recognize they are not for everyone.
However, do not let the fact that “it’s not as exciting as men’s sports” stop you from watching. Just like apples and oranges are not the same, women’s sports are an entirely different game, and should be regarded as such.
