Equal Pay: An Open Letter to Stephen Curry
“I want our girls to grow up knowing that there are no boundaries that can be placed on their futures, period. I want them to grow up in a world where their gender does not feel like a rulebook for what they should think, or be, or do. And I want them to grow up believing that they can dream big, and strive for careers where they’ll be treated fairly.” — Steph Curry “This Is Personal”
Dear Steph,
On August 26th, 2018; you published a piece for Women’s Equality Day called “This is Personal.” In the article, you made several points about your daughter Riley and described the vision you have for the future. Her future. A vision that from the tone of the article, and the arc of the stories within it, seems like it has taken full shape with you and Ayesha’s daughter, proclaiming the idea that she wants to do what both her father and mother do for a living.
Ironically, you do both already. . . Chef Curry.
Riley’s proclamation that she could be both a basketball player and a cook, seems like it was part of an awakening for you. A realization that at this young age, her mind is free to jump from one possibility to the next, without the politics of the world extinguishing her imagination.
I’m with you Steph.
Let’s address this issue, and look at the facts.
Steph, if you love your daughter, and want her to have a bright future. Here’s what you have to do . . . stop playing in the NBA.
I’m kidding, I don’t mean literally.
But as my brother put it, “The WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association), is a byproduct of the NBA (which we know and recognize as the men’s division). They’re marketed as an entirely different league from the NBA, when they are actually a part of the same body. A men’s and women’s division of the NBA makes more sense.”
To get your daughter to be able to call herself a basketball player cook, who would potentially play in the WNBA down the line, it’s worth asking the question: What is the NBA?
Because the NBA logo inherently says that women playing professional basketball in the U.S. aren’t on the same level. Take a look.
It says, the NBA belongs to men, and this logo. . .
says that women can have a piece of what the men’s league has built. Research into the history of the NBA and how the WNBA came about just 23 years ago seems to confirm this observation.
April 26, 1998 The NBA Board of Governors approves the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) concept. — The Formation of the WNBA
If the NBA is the “men’s league”, how will they ever be seen as equal?
lack of clarity into the NBA’s business organizational structure, seems to be causing all sorts of problems in resolving the issue of equal pay. Not just the semantics behind having an NBA, and a WNBA.
I’ll be honest, I’m 24 years old, and I have been a die hard basketball fan since I was little. I used to pretend I was dunking on my brothers, jumping and slapping the ceiling, screaming like I just got an AND-ONE!
We’ve all done it. It didn’t look exactly like the above, but you catch my drift.
I wanted to play in the NBA when I was in high school. Things happened, we lost the championship game in football at my high school, so I started focusing on Track and Field (yada, yada, yada) I found my true talents, and became an Accountant.
So believe me, I’m not claiming to know more about the NBA than you. You’re one of the most popular athletes in the sport, and one of the best in the world.
But I thought I would look at this from a business perspective. Since that is at the crux of the conversation about equal pay, which you discuss in your article.
“I want our girls to grow up knowing that there are no boundaries that can be placed on their futures, period. I want them to grow up in a world where their gender does not feel like a rulebook for what they should think, or be, or do. And I want them to grow up believing that they can dream big, and strive for careers where they’ll be treated fairly.
And of course: paid equally.
And I think it’s important that we all come together to figure out how we can make that possible, as soon as possible. Not just as “fathers of daughters,” or for those sorts of reasons. And not just on Women’s Equality Day. Every day — that’s when we need to be working to close the pay gap in this country.
Because every day is when the pay gap is affecting women. And every day is when the pay gap is sending the wrong message to women about who they are, and how they’re valued, and what they can or cannot become.” — Steph Curry “This Is Personal”
So let’s start with a video . . . it’s good trust me
The NBA was founded in 1946, yet the WNBA is 23 years old. To anyone familiar with history, as I am sure you are, this will not come as a surprise, with things like the women’s suffrage movement, and the rights of African American’s we’ve been historically horrible at getting people what they deserve.
I can’t speak to everything that happened in the country at the time, that led to the delay of the women’s league, nor can I give details on all of the nuances, but the structure of the NBA says a lot.
It helps if we just look at how things are today:
Business Structure
For those reading this article who are not named Steph curry — Adam Silver, this guy . . .
is commissioner of the NBA, it’s chief executive. But the WNBA does not have a commissioner it has a president (Lisa Michelle Borders)
I’m familiar with a business normally structured as CEO -> President -> Vice President -> Middle Management -> Staff
Adam Silver, Chief executive of the NBA, Lisa Borders, President of the WNBA says something about the way in which both “entities” operate. I say entity in quotes because no one knows what the NBA actually is. Is it a joint venture? A Partnership? A corporation?
My knowledge of business structure isn’t complete. I’m 24. I’m still learning, and in this letter I point to those with more experience, to explain how to understand it.
But despite my age, I know the structure of an entity has implications on the finances of that entity. As well as how it is treated on the state and federal level.
I’m trying to understand the NBA’s business structure, because, depending on this structure, and whether or not it is a subsidiary of the NBA, has certain consequences.
In “What Is The NBA?” written by Nadelle Grossman, she makes this statement after conducting research into the organizational structure of the NBA, and analyzing it from a business law perspective:
“It is odd that the NBA’s organizational structure remains shrouded in mystery given the NBA’s outsized role in our society and economy.” — Nadelle Grossman “What is The NBA?”
A mystery that cannot be solved by just looking at the titles of league management, and since I am not an expert in business law, I turned to Nadelle Grossman’s paper on the subject, “What Is The NBA?.”
She makes important points about what the NBA is, with regards to its organizational structure, and this is a key hurdle that we have to get over, if equality is to be reached. Note she dives into the conversation about the NBA structure as a part of the conversation with the events surrounding Donald Sterling. But her conclusions are important for the WNBA as it relates to equal pay, because as Commissioner Adam Silver said…
“Ultimately, this isn’t a Title IX issue; it’s a business issue. We still have a number of teams losing money.” — Adam Silver
I do want to note that in her paper, Nadelle mentions:
“It is beyond the scope of this paper to analyze the intricacies of how these fiduciary duties would apply to the NBA’s members. That analysis might be especially tricky given that the members also seek to maximize profits from their individually-owned teams.
But I think it’s a can of worms that has to be opened in order to resolve the issue. And even more so, her research into the organizations structure is helpful.
I won’t be able to fully open the can of worms, but I’ll settle for opening it partially.
Note the below is from “II. NBA Structure” in the piece “What is the NBA?” by Nadelle Grossman.
“ The NBA is the national body organized to “operate a league consisting of professional basketball teams . . . .”21
The NBA league currently consists of thirty teams.22
The NBA has not been incorporated, formed as a limited partnership or limited liability company, or organized through any other organizational form by making a filing with a Secretary of State. Rather, it is constituted through two private agreements — its Constitution and Bylaws.23
By and large, the NBA Constitution sets out the governance structure of the NBA, including the rights and responsibilities of the team owners, the board of governors, and the Commissioner.24
The NBA is using private agreements. Agreements that speak to the governance structure (control structure) of the NBA, and in turn the actual structure of the business that is the NBA. Which would determine how the profit of the NBA is divided amongst members (team owners). I don’t know all the details, but research seems to show that Collective Bargaining Agreements conclude on things such as revenue shares. But if Nadelle’s train of thought from a state organizational perspective is correct — which I believe it is — and the NBA is indeed a partnership, then from my preparation for the CPA exam, I believe profit and loss would be allocated to each member of the partnership (owners). So the statements Adam Silver is making, mentioning that because teams are not making money, that they can not pay WNBA players more, seems to be benefiting the individual owners.
If operating teams so that they do not make money, creates a loss, which would provide a benefit to members for tax purposes, then this means that members would not be acting in the best interest of the partnership.
And by the way this isn’t meant to throw owners under the bus, there are plenty of quality owners in the NBA. But clarity into what the NBA is, is important.
“There are numerous consequences that would flow from the NBA’s categorization as a partnership. Importantly, each member would owe a fiduciary duty to the other members. That means each member would have a duty to act with the requisite degree of care in making partnership decisions.192
Moreover, each member would have a duty to act loyally, in the best interest of the NBA, and not in the member’s own self-interest.193”
— Nadelle Grossman, “What is the NBA?”
Because the financials of the WNBA are not public, we can’t see the details, because we can’t see the details I’m wondering what the conclusion that the NBA could be a partnership, has not only on NBA members, but on its players, in both leagues.
According to its Constitution, the NBA is not operated for profit.29
— Nadelle Grossman “What is the NBA?”
. . . But remember what Katie Nolan said about the idea of profit and its impact on fair pay?
Here it is again if you didn’t catch it the first time. Because ESPN reported that nearly half of NBA teams are losing money.
Knowledge of a businesses income statement (which shows profit or loss) notes that net income is a result of inflows — outflows. Income — expenses.
Money received minus money paid. Because salaries are expenses, it’s not hard to tell that even if we don’t have all of the specific numbers for the NBA or the WNBA, that you don’t get paid after net income, but expenses result in calculation of net income. The money the NBA brings in, on a periodic basis, is paid on a periodic basis, to the players (refer to the below income statement for the reason this point made by Adam Silver doesn’t make sense).
The salary quoted is in annual numbers.
“We don’t really know the financials of the WNBA except be happy, if the economics were better we could pay you more.” — Chiney Ogwumike Vice President of the WNBA’s player association on Outside the Lines
Steph, I’ve never heard on ESPN of your 37 M check bouncing.
That’s because we both know it’s about cash flow. But the public misses that point, at times.
The numbers quoted for Steph Curry note the salary he makes. That is, the money he makes over the year.
So 37 M sounds like a lot, and I’m not downplaying it, it is a lot, but it’s worth noting that all of that cash couldn’t possibly be up front!
Especially with the amount of superstars your team *cough* Monstars *cough* has.
If NBA teams aren’t making money, how would they pay for things?
Have the lights ever cut out on a basketball game? Of course not, that’s because it’s more nuanced than that.
What WNBA players are arguing for is a bigger piece of the pie. Katie Nolan articulates it well in the above video.
. . . the NBA Constitution’s principles of organization, . . . state that “[t]his Association is organized to operate a league consisting of professional basketball teams, each of which shall be operated by a Member of the Association.”30
In other words, the NBA Constitution declares a non-commercial purpose. Despite this, the NBA is not tax-exempt.31
Potentially, the NBA has not elected to be treated as a tax-exempt organization because it actually earns a profit. However, the NBA could have chosen to not be treated as a tax-exempt entity for reasons not tied to its generation of profits, such as the fact that as a for-profit, it need not publicly file tax reports.32
— Nadelle Grossman “What is the NBA?”
So why is all of this important?
“Even where a team does not generate significant annual profits for its owners, owning a NBA team is a profitable enterprise. This is apparent from the Sterlings’ sale of the L.A. Clippers. Since 2006, the Clippers have not generated an annual operating income of more than $15 million.48
Yet the Sterlings made a hefty sum when they sold the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014. 49”
I wish you and your family nothing but the best. If anyone could be “A basketball player cook” it’s the daughter of Chef Curry.
You’re right, this is personal, because personally, I think you can help resolve this issue of equal pay, that is happening now, in the WNBA, before your daughter becomes old enough to play in it, by asking Adam Silver. . . What Is The NBA?
Because, if you wan’t equal pay for your daughter, it might mean that you’ll have to help get rid of the WNBA, because the NBA belongs to women, just as much as it does to men.
Here’s to a step in the right direction for equal pay.
Sincerely,
Lance
