35 Pages Posted: 7 Nov 2018 Last revised: 30 Aug 2019

Date Written: August 28, 2019

Abstract

This research paper investigates the prominence of wage discrimination in the National Basketball Association (NBA) using free agent signings from 2011-2017 allowing us to better capture the determinants of player wages, a limitation in previous NBA wage discrimination literature. Using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and weighted linear regression models, we find that black athletes are paid significantly less than their counterparts. In addition, weighted quantile regressions show evidence of consumer discrimination presence in the league. This is observed through the result that black players with high audience visibility experience a larger racial wage gap; moreover, this gap is positively related to the share of white population of MSA where the player is employed.