Caitlin Clark. That name should stick in your memory, but you might not quite understand why…
Basketball doesn't dominate this side of the pond like it does in the United States, let alone women's college basketball. But Clark's name has crossed that line in recent months due to his unparalleled talent on the court and his rise through the American stratosphere.
Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever's No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, said her eyes lit up at the idea of playing with the best players in the world.
Her talent convinced the Indiana Fever to make her the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, with Nike willing to pay $28 million for an eight-year partnership and a record 18.9 million television viewers watching her. I watched the last university game. She played in the national championship game at Iowa State, and the average ticket price for last year's Fever game was $60, rising to about $300 in anticipation of her debut season.
And this may just be the beginning. Clark's impact on women's basketball and women's sports in general could be profound.
Caitlin Clark, the NCAA's all-time leading scorer, couldn't stop the Iowa Hawkeyes from losing 87-75 to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the national championship.
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Bailey Turner, Iowa Basketball Assistant Director of Strategic Communications: “She's the biggest sports icon this country has seen since Tiger Woods.
“Golf on TV wasn't doing very well before he came along, and Caitlin did just that.” [with women’s basketball]…No one was really watching it until Tiger or Caitlin showed up, and then boom!
“She has that 'it' factor, which means she turns around. When she has a basketball in her hand, it's really magical. She's different than everyone else. I'm playing a game.”
“We're thrilled to be able to support sports,” said Amy Bass, a professor of sports at Manhattanville College. “This is not just your typical ‘GOAT’ player.
“I live in New York, and when I walk into Times Square, Caitlin Clark towers over me representing Nike. He jousts well and is wearing the jacket everyone googled, the $600 stadium jacket, which everyone is desperately looking for right now.
“The word 'fan' comes from the word 'fanatic,' and we're seeing it infiltrating pockets of girl culture fandom right now. For example, there's the Taylor Swift effect.
“You have this one independent figure [in Clark]…It feels like when [Lionel] Messi plays. Messi tourism is currently popular in the United States, and we are witnessing the birth of a new star. ”
Inter Miami announced the signing of Lionel Messi in dramatic fashion.
Jeffrey Allman, associate professor of business analytics at the University of Iowa, said: “It’s not just women who are going to watch her, it’s people of all ages and genders who are interested in this generation of talent.
“She has that charisma on the court that is polarizing in a way…If you're not rooting for her, you're rooting for her.
“When it comes to baseball, you either love the New York Yankees or you hate them, and Caitlin Clark is no different.
“Obviously she has a lot of fans and is very popular, and for good reason. But there's also the fact that certainly no one feels indifferent to her.”
“Star Power Funding Museums” – The Caitlin Clark Effect
Until a few months ago, Clark's rise to global phenomenon had been gradual.
She was the leading scorer in women's college basketball as a freshman in 2020-21, a nod to her precocious talent, but it wasn't until she led Iowa State to its first championship that the entire sports world began to notice. That was two years later. She participated in consecutive national championships.
Iowa State's average attendance at home basketball games jumped from 5,148 in 2019, before Caitlin Clark took over, to 8,763 by her junior year. This past season, each Hawkeyes game was sold out to 14,988 people, an increase of 190% from 2019.
The Caitlin Clark effect is being felt at away games, too, with crowds at Iowa State's road games jumping from an average of 4,456 people to 13,747 last year.
Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes made contact after making a 3-pointer in this spectacular four-point play against UCONN.
“The huge increase in attendance is really surprising,” said Ben Murray, director of Iowa policy research at the Common Sense Institute.
“By her senior year, the only thing limiting Caitlin's ability to draw a crowd was the capacity of the arena she was playing in.
“She has had an incredible impact on the economy. Iowa's GDP growth is estimated at $14.4 million to $52.3 million.
“Anecdotally, the university recently opened a new Stanley Art Museum.Given the high end of the range in which we predict her economic impact, her impact would be more than enough to fully build and open that museum. It could have brought you plenty of rewards! That's a pretty big deal.
“She has created jobs and economic activity for our state. We are very proud of her. We are excited for her to go to Indiana and hope she will accomplish great things.” We know it will.”
Opportunities present for WNBA and women's sports
Despite a $5 million offer from hip-hop mogul Ice Cube and the temptation to instead join the BIG3 League, which Clark co-founded, the 22-year-old Clark left Indiana to head to the WNBA. is Clark's next destination.
Compare this to Clark's WNBA starting salary of about $76,000 and you can see why there was a temptation to take her tremendous talent elsewhere.
Clark's initial four-year contract is also in contention with Victor Wembaneyama, last year's No. 1 overall pick in the NBA, who signed a massive $55 million four-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
“I saw a statistic that she made less than Babe Ruth made in baseball in the 1930s,” Bass said. “WNBA salaries are low, but they manage their salaries very carefully because they don't want to go below that. They're playing the long game.
“There have been many moments of opportunity like this in women's sport, but the infrastructure of the sport has not necessarily followed suit.
“Fans are shouting out what they value in terms of their time, fandom, and viewership. We are now in a position where the value of women’s sports is being expressed. You need to see what's going on.
“You shouldn't invest in women's sports to wait for results; you should invest in women's sports to get results.”
As previously mentioned, Clark's modest WNBA salary will at least be significantly enhanced by commercial deals with Nike, Gatorade, Xfinity, and others that recognize her immense marketability.
The deal with Nike also includes the release of a signature shoe reminiscent of the one Michael Jordan signed in 1984, fresh out of college, for five years and $2.5 million. A year later, the Air Jordan 1 was released, and by the end of 1985 the company's revenues exceeded $100 million.
As for his NBA career, he continued to perform well, winning six NBA championships and five league MVPs.
“I hope the WNBA can take advantage of this,” Allman said. “It all depends on whether she plays well or not.
“No one doubts that she can do it, but it's not necessarily a given. I wouldn't bet against her.
“She's a generational talent. I liken it to when I was growing up and you had Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The NBA was actually really struggling before those guys came in. league…but their dynamic caught a lot of people’s attention.”
Bass also believes what Clark can do for the women's game is similar to the impact players like Johnson, Bird and, more recently, Jordan have had on the men's game.
“Some of the younger female athletes are on very different trajectories than they are now because they have different goals,” Bass said.
“It’s about keeping the talent in the country, developing the league and ultimately paying them what they’re worth – as soon as we can.
“This is a very hopeful moment for the WNBA, women's basketball and women's sports as a whole.”
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