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Sue Bird: "I pretty much lost money playing in the WNBA"
Fortune
Follow
10/19/2024
Basketball star Sue Bird claims she "lost money" while playing in the WNBA.
Category
🤖
Tech
Transcript
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00:00
I think for both leagues, we've signed massive media deals.
00:03
So the money is around the corner.
00:05
So that's really exciting.
00:06
For a long time, a lot of us had to play overseas.
00:09
But really recently, you've been able to make money
00:11
off the court.
00:12
And that's actually what was, from a player's standpoint,
00:16
so confusing.
00:17
I was like, wait.
00:18
I'm only getting paid in some of my later years
00:22
after the new CBA was signed.
00:24
I did get to make in the $250,000 range,
00:28
which was wonderful.
00:29
But for a large portion of my career, I was stuck at like $100,000, $110,000.
00:35
I pretty much lost money playing in the WNBA, if I'm being honest,
00:38
if you look at inflation and stuff.
00:39
So it was really confusing, because I was getting offered
00:43
crazy deals off the court from a marketing standpoint,
00:46
representing brands, maybe going to do a speaking engagement.
00:49
And that's really, for me, that disconnect.
00:52
I knew we had something.
00:53
I knew that the players were in the community.
00:56
I knew that the players had value, even outside of being basketball players.
01:00
But why weren't we being valued as a player?
01:03
So the good news is, all of us, I mean, I'm retired now,
01:06
but a lot of the players, we learned how to be our own businesses.
01:10
We understood what it was to create our own brands.
01:12
And now you're getting a really dynamic athlete
01:15
that brands get to work with.
01:16
And that's really, when I talk to different brands, what I push.
01:19
And athletes are ready for it.
01:20
But yeah, the media deal's here now, so it's all going to change.
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