Considerate丨The women's basketball women's football team is much better than the men's basketball team, but when will the income treatment keep up?
The income treatment of female athletes is far inferior to that of male athletes, which has always been a common phenomenon in sports. Now, with the Chinese women's football team and women's basketball team achieving proud results in international competitions one after another, this "value inversion" has become even more dazzling. The many problems caused by this are also quite worrying. So, when we saw the special forces-style schedule of women's basketball national player Han Xu, we couldn't help but ask: In addition to brushing up the "sonorous rose" and "fearless Jinlan" when they won the championship, what else can be done for this group of respectable and lovely girls?
Written by Yu Ruiyin
Editor丨 Feng Xiao
The women's basketball team has just triumphed, and the women's football team has gone out again. The women's basketball girls of "Fearless Cam Ranh" have just brought back Asian champions from Australia after a 12-year absence, and "Sonorous Rose" also officially announced the final list of 23 people today, because the Women's World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, is about to start at the end of the month - this quota was also ushered in by the girls more than a year ago as Asian Cup champions.
Caption: After the women's basketball Asian Cup won the championship, improving the treatment of women's basketball players has become a topic of concern for everyone.
Counting the Women's Volleyball League Finals held in the United States in the middle of last month, this July can be called a happy summer for fans who follow the women's three balls. Needless to say, the women's volleyball team, which has been linked to national honor and the spirit of the times since the 1980s, the revival of women's basketball and women's football in recent years has allowed fans who are habitually disappointed in men's sports to intermittently enjoy the refreshing moment of "Asia's dominance and the world's top". The "red flag exhibition, crowds of people, gongs and drums, and firecrackers sounding" depicted in Zhao Benshan's sketch not only appeared in the audience of the arena, but also was confirmed in the screen brushing of the circle of friends.
However, after these occasional dopamine moments fade, after a large number of "temporary fans" complete the check-in task, what proportion of real fans really pay attention to the women's basketball, women's football career and the actual treatment and interests of female athletes?
Not long after the women's basketball team returned to China, Han Xu, who won the Asian Cup MVP, confirmed the news that he would continue to play in the Chengdu Universiade for his country next month, which for a while aroused the puzzlement and grievances of the women's basketball supporters. Although the Universiade is also a world-wide comprehensive competition, after all, the weight is not as high as that of top events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup; Letting Han Xu, who already has a WNBA contract and has completed an "intercontinental special forces trip" because of the Asian Cup, have another switchback run, not to mention, the risk of injury and fatigue is not to mention, the season is washed to pieces and difficult to integrate into the overall arrangement, which is also extremely detrimental to the future development of the WNBA.
Caption: In New York, where land is at a premium, Han Xu's income actually looks a little "shabby".
What is even more distressing is that what awaits Han Xu after returning to the United States is not a comfortable commute. Recently, a reporter from the Associated Press followed Han Xu's New York Liberty to experience a flight from Connecticut to Atlanta and then another flight to Las Vegas. Unlike NBA teams that own charter flights, they have to huddle among ordinary tourists to check in, security and wait together. Although you can fly in the slightly more spacious Comfort Economy class, an MVP-level player like Brianna Stewart will still upgrade to first class at his own expense - otherwise his legs will not be stretched.
According to public reports, Han Xu's annual salary when he renewed his contract with the Liberty team was less than $70,000, but his income from playing in China was in the millions, and playing in the United States was not a significant increase in income. Otherwise, every year in the offseason of the WNBA, a number of top players come to the WCBA or Europe to pan for gold part-time, and Britney Griner even took the risk of being arrested in Russia.
The disparity in the income of male and female athletes in the same sports has become a common problem in the world of sports. It is only against the background of the long-term ineffective performance of the Chinese men's basketball team and men's football team that the phenomenon of inverted value of women's basketball and women's football girls is even more uneven. After winning the championship, there was an annual salary of 12 players playing in the WCBA circulating on the Internet, although the authenticity is to be tested, but the income of many players is hundreds of thousands of dollars is still sighing. Coupled with the bitter picture of the girls taking economy class on the way back, nibbling on fries to fill their hunger, and the news that Zhou Qi played the National Games for Sichuan 6 million yuan, this strong sense of tearing was born.
Caption: Sitting in economy class and eating chips, the return of female basketball players is sad.
Caption: Yang Liwei (right) was injured in the Asian Cup and returned home in a wheelchair, which is distressing.
But it must be known that top students like Han Xu and Li Meng who can get WNBA contracts, as well as Wang Shuang and Zhang Linyan, who have the opportunity to temper in European and American leagues, are already a few at the top of the pyramid in these projects. Even so, the media coverage and brand attention they receive are more like occasional glimmers in hidden corners than ordinary fans' attention to the NBA and Europe's five major leagues. Except for the Asian Cup, the Asian Games, and even the World Cup and the Olympics, few people seem to care about their daily lives - the premise is that they have to win glory for their country in these events.
But beyond the brief halo, what we see is Yang Liwei's sadistic plot of having to terminate his contract with the Los Angeles Sparks in order to play for his country, and tearing his ligaments in the Asian Cup semifinals; There are also those girls at the base of the pyramid, women's football captain Wang Shanshan has to work part-time as a physical education teacher in Tianjin to supplement the family during the season, like an "ordinary worker" silently undertakes everything.
Of course, objectively speaking, whether it is capital investment, financial support, brand value or commercial monetization, women's projects represented by women's basketball and women's football are usually several orders of magnitude worse than men, which also directly affects the salary level of practitioners and the guarantee of training matches. The inversion phenomenon of "applauding but not applauding" does not apply to the perfunctory statement of "existence is reasonable", and this also depends on policy makers and event organizers to improve, balance, and ultimately promote benign development.
FIFA has expanded the total prize pool for this year's Women's World Cup to $152 million, and according to the distribution of prize money at all levels, our women's team members will also be rewarded with at least $30,000 each - although it is shabby to be worth tens of millions of dollars compared to male football players, but at least they can use this money to benefit themselves better - for example, to upgrade without thinking when they need to rest?
Caption: Female football players like Wang Shuang who leave messages are already a minority at the top of the pyramid.
To put it more practically, every time after the competition, the overwhelming screen brushing and likes, in addition to the traffic carnival, there are actually very few that can be left for these girls. Real money income and security in place can really ensure that these lovely girls (especially most of the "ordinary people" outside the spotlight) feel honored by the job itself, improve their lives, and continue to generate electricity. They need attention and support, not after every "why do Chinese women do it" passion, but every day.
You may ask, what does such an initiative mean to me when I am not up to invest, fundraise, sponsor, and pay salaries for the girls? Well, at least we can start by buying a ticket and watching a league game. The number of viewers accumulated bit by bit has come up, and then there is a basis for talking about the income and value behind.