Paige Bueckers is expected to become the first overall choice for WNBA n ° 1 from Connecticut University from Breanna Stewart nine years ago. The two have become stars not to be missed in college, the two are UCONN icons, the two went to the Four Fours.
Stewart did it while doing nothing. Bueckers, which has ucon In the Final Four For the second consecutive year, did it while doing millions. And it is far from being the only one to take at the moment.
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There is no way to make towards the WNBA for the players as for men, who can jump for the pros after a year of college, whatever their age. Fresco outside the Duke competition, Cooper FlaggFor example, should go n ° 1 in the NBA draft and he has just been 18 years old in December.
NBA and WNBA have different rules concerning the eligibility project. For years, it has hindered how and when the players could start making money. The era of the name, image and resemblance of university sports has changed almost everything, leveling the playing field in some respects for female athletes such as Bueckers and allowing it to have agreements with Nike, Gatorade and other sponsors while wearing UCONN colors.
“I think Paige is the child of the poster for the way he is supposed to be,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “This is how it is supposed to work. She left high school at a time when people were not just paid to play.
To switch to the WNBA draft, players must either be a senior with all the eligibility for exhausted college, or that they are 22 years old during the year of draft and give up any remaining eligibility.
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However, there is no complaint to change the rules of women, because, frankly, that would not make much sense in the current salary structure. The n ° 1 choice of this year’s NBA draft will earn around $ 13.8 million in its recruited season. The n ° 1 choice of the WNBA draft this month will earn $ 78,831 in its recruit season.
Smart business for women’s players to stay at school
Staying at school is not a bad thing for players. It is an intelligent affair. Nile Deals will follow many of them at the WNBA. But the professional check does not change exactly for those at the top of the female game. The most current WNBA basic salary is around $ 242,000, although it should increase with the recent financial boom in female sports.
The former guards of Miami, Haley and Hanna Cavinder, became the first faces of the Nile era in university sports when he started on July 1, 2021, when they were still in the state of Fresno. They were immediately presented on a display panel in Times Square, the new Faces of Boost Mobile. University sports were immediately modified.
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The Cavinder Twins have built a fortune of several million dollars and have more than 7 million followers on their Instagram and Tiktok accounts. They have never confirmed real figures, but it is reasonable to believe that Cavinder twins are among the best -paid university athletes given their gains and their participations in shares in various companies. Their university career ended last month.
“I think we were quite naive at first, honestly,” said Haley Cavinder. “To be transparent, I don’t think Hanna and I really knew him. We had talks about what Nile was, and I have always seen tweets about it. But I never really imagined being paid or Hanna being paid until July 1. And then I said to myself: “ wow, it’s overwhelming. ” I didn’t know how much money there was.
Olivia Miles, who played Notre Dame for four seasons, was to take place between n ° 2 and n ° 4 of the WNBA draft this month. Instead, she decided to Enter the transfer portal And play a last academic season – taking her Lucrative Nile agreements with her wherever she finds herself and missing on the pay day of $ 78,000 WNBA for the 2025 season.
The same goes for Juju Watkins in southern California, perhaps the most talented player in the female game. His season ended with a torn ACL In the NCAA tournament, but its zero transactions will live and could even grow when it come back to the courtyard – Presumably next season. There is no urgency for her to become a professional, because her flow of income already exists.
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The most effective college athletes buy in sports’
Opendobers, a company that provides null services to dozens of schools, has data that could be shocking for some. It shows that the best women’s programs have a combined social media that exceeds that of the main male programs, which is a clear factor in determining zero value.
Although the number of those who engage with the best male programs on social networks are biased at around 4 against 1, it is close to a split of 50-50 during the mapping of basketball stars and female teams.
“Students-athletes are probably the most effective media purchases at the moment,” said Steve Denton, CEO of Opendobers. “And everything I see in the data tells me that, that is to say that their social public is three times greater than the average social public. … They are simply better in terms of-they organize their social flows better than men.”
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The opportunities offered by Nile were certainly a reason why Bueckers chose to stay at university. The same goes for miles.
This was one of the reasons why Kate Martin was not in a hurry to leave Iowa and put an end to her time as a teammate with Caitlin Clark – who obviously played a major role in the explosion of women’s basketball in recent years. Martin was at university for six years. When she arrived, Nile did not exist. When she left, people paid money to bear things bearing her name.
“To make my studies pay and then be able to capitalize and earn a little money on my Nile, I thought it was huge,” said Martin, who enters his second season of the WNBA. “And so it was one of the main reasons why I decided to stay.
“So, I don’t blame people. You know, I would make fun of because I was there for six years, but I really didn’t care. I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I didn’t stay.”
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