A Billion-Dollar Industry With A Paycheck Problem

93% of women athletes still experience financial stress

In 2016, Abby Wambach stood on stage at the ESPYs to accept the Icon Award alongside Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning. What should have been a moment of pure celebration, Abby has since described as one of “rage” – where became acutely aware of the stark contrast between her financial reality and the men she stood next to.

For Abby – one of the biggest stars in women’s soccer – she left the stage thinking about how she would pay her mortgage and secure health insurance. Kobe and Peyton, in contrast, were stepping away from their careers with long-term financial security. Abby’s financial reality was very different from her male peers.

I come back to that moment often because nearly a decade later, it still reflects a fundamental truth about women’s sports: success has not always translated into stability. That gap – between excellence and economic reality – captures one of the most persistent challenges in women’s sports.

Fast forward to 2026, and you’d think we’ve solved that problem given the incredible growth that women’s sports have experienced in the last ten years. The WNBA is entering a new era with a transformational collective bargaining agreement. Deloitte projects that the industry will surpass $3 billion in global revenue in 2026. Viewership is climbing, sponsorship investment is accelerating, and culturally, women’s sports have never been more relevant.

However, if you dig beneath the surface, the financial reality for many women athletes still looks far more like Wambach’s than we might expect.

Financial *Instability* Is Still the Norm

In 2024, Parity surveyed 500 professional women athletes to better understand their financial realities. The results revealed just how fragile that foundation remains. More than half of athletes reported that their sponsorship and endorsement income is unpredictable, and 40% said the same about their salaries and other non-sponsorship earnings. Nearly all respondents – a staggering 93% – said they experience at least some level of financial stress, while more than half do not have a retirement plan. Perhaps most concerning, nearly half said they lack the knowledge and resources needed to effectively plan for their financial future.

It’s hard to see those numbers and think “women’s sports have arrived.” Yes – the progress has been incredible – but growth at the industry level has not yet translated into financial security at the individual level.

Financial Stability Is a Business Imperative

These findings from Parity underscore why the WNBA’s new CBA matters so much – not just because of the headline-grabbing supermax million-dollar deals, but because of the new minimum salary benchmark. The new deal increases the league’s minimum salary to $270K – up from $66K. For the first time, every player in the WNBA is earning a truly livable wage.

I realize “maximum salaries” are typically more newsworthy than “minimum salaries,” but the increase in the league’s minimum salary represents a structural shift that prioritizes the full player base (not just the stars) and ensures that athletes across the league have the ability to focus on basketball without relying on supplemental income.

That kind of investment doesn’t just benefit individual players – it strengthens the entire league. When athletes are able to fully commit to their sport, performance improves, competition deepens, and the overall quality of the league rises. In other words, financial stability isn’t just a player issue – it’s good for business.

Yet, across the broader women’s sports ecosystem, that level of stability is still the exception, not the norm. I still see athletes being asked to exclusively accept “in-kind” deals – product gifting, unpaid partnerships, opportunities framed around exposure. While visibility is important, it is not a substitute for income. Product gifts don’t equal rent and they don’t fund retirement accounts. Flava Flav perhaps said it best after the 2026 Winter Olympics when he tweeted in response to the outpouring of brand support for the women’s hockey team.

“So impressed and blessed for all the brands reaching out to support. thousand and more companies offered to donate product and my team gunna get to it.

BUT if you a billion dollar company,,, we don’t want a product donation. We want you to sponsor these women + athletes.”

Building a Foundation for the Future

April is National Financial Literacy Month in the U.S., and every year it brings a wave of conversations around education, planning, and empowerment. Those things are essential – but in women’s sports, I think we sometimes over-index on financial literacy as a solution, without fully acknowledging the structural reality athletes are operating within.

The truth is, financial literacy is incredibly difficult to apply without financial stability. It’s hard to plan for retirement when your income is unpredictable. It’s hard to build long-term wealth when your earnings fluctuate year-to-year.

That’s why this moment matters so much. The women’s sports industry is growing fast, but growth alone doesn’t guarantee equity. For this industry to truly mature, the bar has to be raised. That means investing in the athletes driving the growth so they have the financial stability to go all-in on their sports. When that happens, the impact compounds: athletes perform at a higher level, careers last longer, and the business itself becomes stronger.

For brands, leagues, and investors, the opportunity is clear: investing in athlete financial stability isn’t just the right thing to do – it can be a strategic advantage. Organizations like Parity are already helping lead that shift, building partnerships that prioritize both impact and income for women athletes while delivering measurable ROI.

At the end of the day, the future of women’s sports shouldn’t look like women athletes – like Abby Wambach – wondering what comes next. It should look like a system where winning on the field translates into financial security off of it.