Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, and Simone Biles are reportedly among the highest-paid female athletes of 2024.
Despite the political climate, 2024 has been the Year of the Woman in sports. Recently, interest in women’s sports peaked as the industry saw record viewership, attendance, sponsorships, and revenue across sports categories. So much so that stars like Whoopi Goldberg launched the All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN), the first global women’s sports channel, and WNBA stars launched the Unrivaled Women’s Basketball League.
Though most athletes care more about their craft than their coins, tracking female athletes, especially Black female athletes’ earnings, is particularly important as athletes in these demographics have historically been underpaid in comparison to their white and male counterparts. Last week, Sportico released its list of the highest-paid female athletes of 2024, in which Black female athletes showed some of the highest earnings.
According to this year’s list, Coco Gauff took the number one spot for the second year in a row, earning approximately $30 million in endorsements and salary/prize money. Fellow tennis star Naomi Osaka, who came in sixth on the list, earned nearly $15 million this year. The list also included Olympic gymnast and gold medalist Simone Biles, who reportedly earned $11.1 million.
While these women reached incredible financial heights, their recorded earnings do not even reflect half of what the highest-paid Black male athletes reportedly made. Forbes’ annual highest-paid athlete list reported that LeBron James earned $128.2 million, followed by other Black athletes like Giannis Antetokounmpo with $111 million, Kylian Mbappé with $110 million, and Stephen Curry with $102 million.
The wage gap between men and women is an ongoing issue across all industries. For years, female athletes like Brittany Griner were forced to play overseas just to earn enough income to adequately support their families and themselves. Most recently, stars like Angel Reese have highlighted how pay disparities impact their ability to cover the cost of living. Despite her virality and the unprecedented ratings of the WNBA, Reese explained that the money she makes as a player is not enough to cover her expenses.
“I just hope y’all know,” Reese told fans on Instagram Live, per ESPN. “The WNBA don’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think it pays one of my bills. Literally.”
Instead, she says her work off the court covers her finances. Like Reese, most of Gauff, Osaka, and Biles’ earnings reportedly came from endorsements. While brand partnerships and endorsements have always been a part of the sports world, the Unrivaled League hopes to lessen the need for athletes to take on endorsements by offering them the highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history, reportedly at least a minimum of $100,000 for the season.
“The principle of our league is that it’s the top talent, and women need to be paid accordingly,” Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier said, as previously reported by theGrio.“We need to be treated as professionals, and so that was a huge thing is making sure that this is transformative, and something that’s new is we’re going to be paying players what they should be paid.”
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