both win the same amount of money in a grand slam tennis tourament but only one plays best of 5 sets.

Its all about the amount of money that comes into the sport through television rights and gate takings.

If women bring in the same? Then by all means pay them the same.

Yeah, sport is a pure thing, but the people you play for, are and will always be running a BUSINESS. If women could rake in the same amount of fans etc, then they would be paid accordingly.

I did this assignment too Twigs. Did mine on "The value of the NAB Cup."

I think the salaries should be proportionate to the amount of money the league brings in. Therfore, WNBA players should not earn as much as NBA players etc.

Yep, its about money and who will draw the audiences. For me I'd rather watch women's tennis then men's, golf about the same for men and women and men's basketball over women's.

Professional sport is about entertainment and business. It's about winning and earning.

Subsequently, players are paid according to their ability to contribute to the success of the franchise in both of its facets. A Brett Maher is paid more than an Erik Burdon, and an Adam Ballinger is paid more than Tracy Gahan, until such point that the Lightning are stronger earners than the 36ers.

You should send that to Vince Marino and see what he says about an $800,000 player budget...

Perhaps they should, But you can only pay as much as they earn, and for example if the WNBA brings in $2m per year you cant pay your players $86m like in the NBA.

But different sports are slightly different as already stated with tennis. Perhaps maybe swimming, dont know how they get paid here but interest is similar, so salaries probably should be around the same.

The main thing is on a larger scale, people prefer to watch mens sport, therefore more cash.

In a different industry like Fashion, womens clothes make shitloads more than mens, so women models would get paid more.

I am with the majority as are most people I know.

The pay is relevent to the amount of money brought in through ticket sales, tv rights, etc...

LOL no

Why should they get paid as much for a less entertaining game?

It is market driven, not gender driven.

Um, post 202400, on what planet do you live? I'm thinking Alabama in the year 1954. Could you be a more sexist pig? I've played female basketball since I was a little tacker and my team does not consist of 190-centimetre lesbians, but thank you for assuming that it does, and congratulations for being completely off-track. This post was initiated to attract public opinion about whether people think men and women should receive the same pay - it was not about comparing the physique of female netball and basketball players. I can just imagine what physique you have to offer the world, and strangely enough I have the vivid image of an overweight, hairy creature who sits in front of a television in his ripped jocks watching Married With Children repeats.
Isaac, why to get some class about this forum? The about of sexist comments constantly amazes me.

Yeah, I should stop that ad I have running in The Advertiser: "Wanted: Sexist pigs to post on forum."

I do think the anonymous poster had some point(s) in there about why some female sports draw more male attention than others. The remarks you've pulled up might be crude, but they aren't that off-topic are they?

If their comments don't represent a majority, they at least represent their personal opinion, as was requested originally.

One side topic of "should they get the same pay" is "why don't they now" and it comes back to spectators, right? It'd be lovely if all sport and art was considered purely on honourable merits (talent, skill, etc), but it's not going to happen, and both sexes can be guilty of preventing that.

I doubt Crikey has the readership of Women's Weekly, for example, amongst female readers.

What's wrong with Married with Children repeats??

I agree with the general consensus that more interest = more income into the sport = more pay for the entertainers.

Yo, not saying that your outrage is not well directed (in this case it probably is), but the simple fact of the matter is that sports (both male and female) package 'sex appeal' as a way to market to the opposite sex, and in the end earn more money for the sport and its stars. Female beach volleyballers are one extreme, however at the same time AFL footballers are similarly marketed to female viewers to increase ratings. It is all about the money you can pull in from the interest you generate. If you think that image is irrelevant, you are kidding yourself.

Revenue, revenue, revenue.

The sports generally apportion an amount of income to the players as payment, so i would suggest if you run a competition and you give the players a share of 25% of revenue then its all easy.

for example
36ers season revenue $8 million (just a easy to use number) 25% Players Payments = $2 million to share

Lightning season revenue... $4 million... 25% player payments = $1 million to share

So..pay is the same..but is different :)

ps
Lauren Jackson joins the 36ers..she gets a portion of the $2 million

When they start doing the dishes and housework again, then sure pay em the same as us.

wat's that last comment supposed to mean?

You must be a woman if you can't figure it out

It's called "trolling" and it's lame, so ignore it.

MW, try not to antagonise the few females left on the forum that the rest of the people here haven't scared off already!

Jeez louise , Not all female athletes are lesbians . Some are bi .

Just having a bit of fun Isaac!

whether male or female it doesn't matter - if you're hot and sexy and always wanted then you should be paid a lot more then the average joe citizen

most people don't consider being a sexist pig as "having a bit of fun" MW, if your not going to be constructive don't post on this thread.

PS thanx Isacc :P

womem only play 3 sets so they should be paid the same

I do believe women and man should be paid the same! why don't they - many reasons but primarily due to marketing. media contributes greatly to what attracts sponsors etc. I like to watch both male and female basketball, one is based on slam dunk and the other on game play and tacktics. because i follow both male and female basketball I am often reminded how little is discussed through our media channels about women's basketball even though on the world stage our women do lot better then our men. i strongly believe that the degree of media attention and marketing impacts on what spectators follow. anyway its up to us men to get behind our women and support them to achieve equal stage. We men tend to take our women to watch men sports, having said that I guess its women who should start following and promoting support for female sports and instead of having men take them to a men's game they start taking men to women's games. If 3 of these could be encouraged we would see equality in pay. 1 - media, 2 - sponsorship, 3 -female's encouraging female sports.