The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The Nuggets mascot earns three times the highest paid basketball player in the US

2022-10-06T16:40:07.349Z


The 'lion' of the Denver NBA team receives 625,000 dollars a year compared to 228,094 for Diana Taurasi, WNBA star, and her league partner Angel McCoughtry explodes at the disproportion of salaries


The salary of the Denver Nuggets mascot has sparked a stir in the United States in recent hours.

The

Sports Business Journal

has revealed that Rocky, the mountain 'lion' who entertains his team's home games, earns $625,000 a year.

This figure is triple what Diana Taurasi, the highest paid player in the American Women's Basketball League (WNBA), earns.

Taurasi's salary is $228,094 a year, despite being one of the league's biggest stars.

The Phoenix Mercury player has won the WNBA three times and has five Olympic gold medals, but her salary is far from that of a male sports mascot.

The salary comparison has outraged players like Angel McCoughtry, power forward for the Minnesota Lynx and a five-time All Star in the WNBA.

The player tweeted an ironic message: "I can learn to be a pet."

I can learn to be a pet ✋🏾 pic.twitter.com/8wZlQNbJqP

– McCoughtry (@angel_35) October 5, 2022

The American podcast

Goals Sports,

dedicated to women's sports, was one of the first media outlets to echo the comparison.

Caroline Fitzgerald, its founder, also gave her opinion via Twitter: "The pay gap between mascots and elite athletes tells you everything you need to know about how the sports industry values ​​women."

The median salary for a WNBA player is $102,751, while in the NBA it is $8.5 million.

The five highest-paid men in the US league (Stephen Curry, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Kevin Durant) multiply Taurasi's salary by more than 200.

Meanwhile, in the WNBA, as many as eight players earn less than $10,000.

Not all NBA mascots move in the same numbers.

The average salary is 60,000 dollars a year, but there are some that pocket considerably more money.

'The bull' Benny (Chicago Bulls) is the third highest earner with $400,000, while second place goes to Harry 'the eagle' of the Atlanta Haws, with $600,000.

He falls just €25,000 shy of Rocky, the highest-paid mascot in the league, who exemplifies the gender gap that still exists in professional sport.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on

Facebook

and

Twitter

, or sign up here to receive

our weekly newsletter

.

Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-10-06

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.