A Minnesota economics professor is breaking down the historic WNBA contract for her students in a fun and engaging way.
St. Cloud State University’s Lynn MacDonald, a Lynx fan and season ticket holder, said she saw an opportunity to overlap sports and economics as collective bargaining negotiations unfolded in the WNBA.
“It is fascinating and such a great topic for students to think about. So much with economics, with labor market, with negotiations. With salaries and the gender pay gap, there’s just so much here,” she said.
MacDonald donned a pink wig to give a shoutout to the league’s famous duo — the Stud Buds. Students who attended said they were fascinated.
“It’s just kind of crazy that an NBA rookie player makes more than the best player on a WNBA team,” said Amelia Russ, a junior at St. Cloud State University.
Players and the league reached a tentative agreement last week, increasing the salary cap from $1.5 million to $7 million. The cap will also increase annually based on league and team growth. The max salary for a player is now $1.4 million from $215,000, the average salary will be $583,000 and the minimum salary will be between $270,000 and $300,000, which is up from $57,000.Â
“To be able to see what we’re reading and learning about in the classroom and seeing how that works in the real world,” said Reed Kornovich, a senior at St. Cloud State University. “There’s a lot of useful information, especially as a future coach and aspiring athletic director.”
Still, while the max salary figure for a player is over $1 million, MacDonald said she still thinks it’s too low.Â
MacDonald is the guest on this week’s WoMN in Sports podcast. The conversation digs deeper into the other features of the new WNBA deal. New episodes drop Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.
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