system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Male and female athletes should be paid an equal percentage of their sport’s revenue, not necessarily the same absolute dollar amount.

Controversy in soccer, tennis, basketball, etc. highlights that most female athletes make less money than male athletes. However, they’re often paid similar percentages of the revenue they generate - the inequality is because women’s sports don’t bring in as much revenue. 

Suppose a company made two products: one with wide appeal, say, ice cream, and one with more niche appeal, say, quinoa. The company hires salespeople to sell each product and pays everyone 30% commission. Of course the ice cream salespeople will earn more money because they sell more ice cream because more people want ice cream than quinoa. It has nothing to do with who’s a better salesperson, it’s just based on their market share. No one would say that’s unfair just because they both have the title “salesperson”. 

So if male and female athletes in a given sport are paid the same percentage of their organization’s revenue, how is that unfair?
gpt
It's actually a little more complex IMHO. Women should be paid more than the dollar amount of their respective league. Lets take the WNBA. Their league is not super profitable. At all. So why does it stick around? Because it 'is' actually very profitable. It's just that WNBA teams don't see the profits and it's why the NBA keeps the league solvent and alive.  


It's essentially a marketing program aimed at introducing half of society that has less interest in sports to the league. Especially as younger girls. The WNBA has been a major plank in the NBA's marketing strategy since it's inception and the investment the NBA makes pays dividends in their expansion into the female demographic earning them lots and lots of money. Women ballers really deserve a larger percentage of their own league's profit because it represents real NBA dollars and the help money from the NBA to keep it alive isn't listed as 'profit' in terms of the players but they absolutely deserve some of it.