How WNBA Players Boosted Their Average Salary by 400%: Advice from a Nobel Laureate

[Financial News] In 2023, Claudia Dale Goldin, a professor at Harvard University, became the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on her own. Afterward, she received hundreds of requests for consulting and speaking engagements, but she accepted only three.
One of those three was the collective bargaining negotiations for the Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA).
When the WNBPA asked her to advise them as they prepared for salary negotiations, Professor Goldin agreed in an email, attaching just one condition: she would work "without pay."
Terri Carmichael Jackson, executive director of the players' union, recalled, "I remember screaming the moment I read that email."
The outcome of Professor Goldin's advice was striking: average salaries rose by 400%. The WNBPA recently announced that it had concluded a collective bargaining agreement on these terms and said Goldin's guidance played a decisive role.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) also reported on the 29th (local time) that Goldin, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2023 for her research on the gender pay gap, had advised the WNBPA on its negotiation strategy.
Responding to the WNBA's request, Goldin examined various benefits for players and applied methods used by insurance companies to calculate policyholders' life expectancy to analyze the average length of WNBA careers. She found that the typical active playing career in the WNBA lasts only two to three years.
This meant that even if the WNBA granted certain benefits, many players would be excluded if those benefits were only paid out after three years.
Goldin therefore advised the union to focus its negotiations on securing a larger share of league revenues for the players, rather than on benefits that many would never receive. The union followed this strategy at the bargaining table.

As a result, the average WNBA salary, which was 118,000 dollars (about 180 million won) last year, will exceed 580,000 dollars (about 880 million won) starting this season. The WNBPA's new collective bargaining agreement is being described as the largest wage increase deal in U.S. sports history.
The WNBPA also noted that Goldin's advice helped calm the players during the tense talks.
Jackson, the union's executive director, recalled, "Whenever we were furious and ready to fight over the WNBA's response, Professor Goldin would say, 'This is just math.'"
Reacting to the outcome of the negotiations, Goldin said, "It's truly astonishing," while Mike Bass, spokesperson for both the NBA and the WNBA, called it a "transformative change."
Goldin is a labor economist who has identified the reasons behind differences in labor market participation and wage levels between women and men.
Besides the WNBA salary negotiations, the other two requests Goldin accepted were an appearance on National Public Radio (NPR) and throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball game.
A known New York Yankees fan, Goldin later said of her Major League first-pitch experience, "Walking out in front of thousands of cheering fans was more special than receiving the Nobel Prize."
y27k@fnnews.com Reporter Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter