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Overview

Professional sports refers to sports in which athletes are paid for their performance. Opportunities for women to play professional sports vary by country. Some women's professional sports leagues are directly affiliated with a men's professional sports league like the WNBA. Others are independently owned and operated like the Professional Women's Hockey League.

While women today do have the opportunity to play professional sports, the pay for women's professional sports is significantly lower than it is in men's professional sports. An American feminist theory known as the gender pay gap in sports is an attempt to explain the causes behind these differences.

It is not uncommon for professional athletes hold second jobs in order to supplement their income due to low salary. Female professional athletes often play in smaller lower-quality facilities than male professional athletes due to low attendance. Women's professional sports are rarely broadcast regularly on live television. New developments in digital technology have created an opportunity for female leagues to live-stream competitions and events on social media platforms such as Twitter or Twitch instead.

Women face increasing challenges once they look to enter the business side of sports. Some research suggests that women occupy leadership positions in the sports industry at a lower rate than men however, the majority of these are positions are in men's professional sports rather than women's. When women do occupy the same positions as men, they may be paid less, although some research has shown revenue-specific variables may be more relevant than gender-specific variables when examining compensation levels.

Although several professional women's sports leagues have been established throughout the world in the post-Title IX era, they are generally behind in terms of exposure, funding, and attendance compared to the men's teams. However, there are notable exceptions. The 2015 Women's World Cup final was the most-watched soccer game ever in the United States. And in 2017, Portland Thorns FC of the NWSL had higher average attendance than several men's professional teams, including 15 NBA teams, 13 NHL teams, and 1 MLB team. The Thorns' 2019 season saw an even higher average attendance of 20,098. This was higher than all but one of the 30 NBA teams in the 2018–19 season, all but three of the 31 NHL teams in the 2018–19 season, 15 of the 24 MLS teams in the 2019 season, and 6 of the 30 MLB teams in the 2019 season.

On August 30, 2023, the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's volleyball team hosted the Omaha Mavericks in front of 92,003 spectators at Memorial Stadium, setting a new documented attendance record for a women's sporting event. The record for a professional women's sporting event–91,648 spectators at Camp Nou —was set in 2022 by FC Barcelona Femení during a UEFA Women's Champions League match.

In April 2024, the 2023–24 A-League Women season set the record for the most attended season of any women's sport in Australian history, with the season recording a total attendance of 284,551 on 15 April 2024, and finishing with a final total attendance of 312,199.