By The Women's Sports Foundation
Tennis (ATP and WTA Tour) 1996 – 2000 Average Earnings of Top 10 Athletes
Male: $2,118,815
Female: $1,434,632
Mean Index: For every dollar a man earned, a woman earned 68 cents.
1996 – 2000 Average Total Purse Available
Male: $63,031,000
Female: $41,000,000
Bowling (PBA and WPBA Tour)1996 – 2000 Average Earnings of Top 10 Athletes
Male: $130,969
Female: $92,123
Mean Index: For every dollar a man earned, a woman earned 70 cents.
1996 – 2000 Average Total Purse Available
Male: $7,433,000
Female: $2,278,000
Golf (PGA and LPGA Tour)1996 – 2000 Average Earnings of Top 10 Athletes
Male: $2,196,000
Female: $781,056
Index: For every dollar a man earned, a woman earned 36 cents.
1996 – 2000 Average Total Purse Available
Male: $108,572,200
Female: $32,817,400
Alpine Skiing (FIS World Cup)1996 – 2000 Average Earnings of Top 10 Athletes
Male: N/A
Female: N/A
1996 – 2000 Average Total Purse Available
Male: $2,336,338
Female: $1,907,864
The Current Gap in Dollars
Over the five year period, the average prize earnings of the top ten male and female athletes' were closest in bowling (1.42:1.0), followed by tennis (1.7:1.0), and golf (2.81:1.0).
The total prize purse available over the same five years was most evenly distributed between the sexes in tennis (1.54:1.0) with larger disparities in bowling (3.26:1.0) and golf (3.31:1.0).
The average salary in the NBA 1999-2000 season rose 20.5% from $2.63 million in 1998-99 to $3.17 million per player in the 1999-2000 season. The average pay raise for the WNBA for the same seasons was 5%.
As a group, NBA players are “taking in” $1.3 billion in combined salaries and benefits last season, up 11% from $1.17 billion a year ago.
Rookie salaries for the WNBA ranged from $27,000 to $50,000 last year.