2024's Highest-Paid Athletes List Includes One Glaring Omission

Forbes released its annual Highest-Paid Athletes list on Thursday, and the top athletes made more than ever in 2024. The 50 highest-paid athletes in the world made a combined record of $3.88 billion, setting a record for the fourth consecutive year in a row.

However, while female athletes on the list are typically few and far between, this year's list didn't include a single woman.

Serena Williams was the sole woman who made last year's list, which marked her sixth appearance. But now that she's retired, Williams is no longer eligible. Since 2012, only three other woman have appeared on the list: fellow tennis players Maria Sharapova, Li Na, and Naomi Osaka. (Osaka was likewise absent following an injury and giving birth to her first child last year.)

Although, particularly with rising WNBA stars such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink—not to mention a number of bankable female golf and up and coming tennis stars—experts think that will soon be changing.

Despite Clark, in particular, helping to smash television ratings during her run through the NCAA Tournament and giving the Connecticut Sun its first sellout home opener since 2003 in her WNBA debut, the 22-year-old will earn just under $77,000 in her first season. Compare that to Victor Wembanyama, the NBA's top draft pick in 2023, who earned $12.2 million in his first season.

In fact, WNBA salaries max out at just under a quarter-million while their male counterparts typically earn a base salary of $1 million.

Still, the 20 top-earning female athletes rose from $7.3 million in 2022 to $8.5 million in 2023. Likewise, eight earned an estimated $10 million or more, which is double from just three years ago.

"This year and last year have been phenomenal for women in sports," Anjali Bal, associate professor of marketing at Babson College, told Forbes. “It's just going to take time for the market to catch up with the fans."

"It's so unfair for people to say things like, 'Well, women's sports will never be viewed like men's sports' because we've never tried to give them equity in terms of distribution, in terms of pay, in terms of other things," Bal continued. "Sponsors are driven by things like viewers. There's no question about it."