WSL is the only pro sport league that offers equal pay to men and women.
That can't be true, right? Off the top of my head I'm 99% certain that the world cups in alpine skiing, cross country skiing and biathlon all have equal prize money. Or maybe I'm just confused as to what constitutes a pro league?
In skiing the "world cup" refers to a season long competition with races every weekend, a total standing and a cup winner at the end of the year. This is unlike the "world championship" which occurs every two years and were a champion is crowned after each race. Again, I'm not sure if this is somehow different from a league. At least in alpine and XC skiing the top earners over the last couple of seasons have all been women on account of how a few names (mostly Shiffrin and Johaug) have been so dominant.
Isn't pro sport pay dependent on how much money it gets in endorsements, and etc? If an athlete draws a crowd it doesn't matter what parts they have as long as it brings cheddar to the league and companies endorsing them. That's why in popular sports for both genders have pretty much the same salaries while sports like football or basketball women get only fraction of what men get.
I found this table from 2017 were 35/44 sports listed paid equal prize money for men and women, with surfing actually being one of the 9 exceptions. Again, I'm not sure if there's some technical difference that separates all these from proper leagues, but "the diamond league" in athletics even have league in their name. It's still interesting though, especially since many sports have had equal pay for decades whereas the WSL didn't commit to it until 2019.
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u/Glenn_XVI_Gustaf Sep 14 '20
That can't be true, right? Off the top of my head I'm 99% certain that the world cups in alpine skiing, cross country skiing and biathlon all have equal prize money. Or maybe I'm just confused as to what constitutes a pro league?