Women’s sports are lucrative, but when will pay catch up with performance?

It’s no yearner tidings that women’s sports is seemly an progressively remunerative industry. 

There is more investment, better coverage, and bigger audiences than ever before. As a result, players' unions across the board are pushing for higher pay, as well as improved benefits and working conditions. 

Following the WNBA’s newest collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed in March, players now have access to paid maternity leave, childcare support, and monthly housing stipends. The salary cap for the 2026 season is $7 million US, almost five times more than the $1.5 million cap in 2025. 

The NWSL’s CBA, which runs through 2030, includes salary cap increases up to $5.1 million, along with paid pregnancy and parental leave.

Meanwhile, the PWHL guarantees minimum base salaries for all players, monthly housing stipends, and no maximum salaries for players. Each team must meet an average annual salary number.

When the league’s players’ association released its salaries, however, many were quick to point out the disparity between the league’s top earners compared to the highest paid players in the NHL. 

For instance, Montreal Victoire star Marie-Philip Poulin's salary was $110,216 during the 2025-26 season. Auston Matthews, conversely, is entering the third of a four-year, $53 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

But it’s important to point out that the PWHL doesn’t have a major U.S. TV deal. The league has expanded quickly - up to 12 teams - with the hope of securing that deal, and eventually, turning a profit. 

NHL owners share billions from the TV deals they signed with ESPN, TNT and Rogers. The revenue from those contracts are put into the league’s Hockey Related Revenue (HRR), which the players and owners divide 50/50 under their CBA.

The CBA between PWHL players and the league, which runs through July 31, 2031, doesn't include a provision for sharing any revenue the league makes. 

The figures also showed that 65 per cent of PWHL players earn less than $60,000 annually last season. 

Donkin added that Poulin and her Victoire teammates Laura Stacey and Renée Desbiens took a salary cut in order for general manager Danièle Sauvageau to acquire more players. 

“The goal was to win a Cup, which obviously they succeeded in doing,” Donkin said.

Women's sports are booming, but are athletes getting paid enough?

When Canadian soccer star Olivia Smith signed a four-year contract with Arsenal soccer club in July 2025, she made history. 

With a world-record transfer fee of $1.84 million Cdn, Smith became the most expensive women’s soccer player in history at the time

Moments like these turn heads because historically, women’s labour has not been valued the same as men. Still, in 2025, women aged 25 to 54 earn 89 cents for every dollar earned by men in the same age group, according to Statistics Canada.

While the pay gap within women’s sports is prevalent, Donkin said, it's important to note one particular factor in striving for equitable pay: time.

“The PWHL and the NHL are not in the same place,” Donkin said. €œThe NHL has been around a lot longer. It's taken a long time to get to this point, and I think it's important to remember that the PWHL just finished year three. It’s a startup essentially.”

When the NHL first began in 1917, Harry Cameron – the highest paid player in the league – was reportedly earning $900 per season.

Today, Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov’s yearly average is $17 million US and is currently the highest-paid player in the league.

It took years to build out the business of hockey on the men’s side, suggesting it will likely take time for the PWHL.

Analyzing Olivia Smith's record move to Arsenal, plus breaking down the NSL's hot topics

One of the most heated tension points between the WNBA and the players’ union in the two-month long CBA negotiation this year was over revenue.

“When the arguments came out for the WNBA wanting more money, everybody said ‘well your league doesn't make money or you shouldn't have that kind of money,’” said Ann Pegoraro, Lang Chair in sport management and professor at the University of Guelph.

 “They weren't asking for sheer dollar amounts, they were asking for a percentage of revenue.” 

The players argued that as revenues grew thanks to the league’s success and viewership numbers, their pay should change to reflect that progress.

The union fought for roughly 26 per cent to 30 per cent of gross league revenue, while the league believed players should receive 70 per cent of revenue after business expenses were subtracted. 

The two sides ultimately reached an agreement: players will receive 20 per cent of shared basketball revenue, which is made up of the league and team revenues from the previous year. 

Now, there are more million-dollar contracts in the league's history than ever before.

Like the WNBA, most professional sports leagues operate under revenue-sharing systems that determine how league earnings are divided between owners and players.

“There's no league without the players,” Pegoraro said. €œWe need to properly compensate the players and not just in salary, but also making sure they have everything they need to be successful.”

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

Get up to speed on what's happening in sports. Delivered weekdays.

---

---