In this year’s WNBA draft, Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark was taken No. 1 by the Indiana Fever. It was a no-brainer that Clark was going to be drafted first and she has shown no signs of slowing down. She is already in the works with Nike in signing a deal that would launch a shoe of her own and has already sold out of most jersey’s on the Fanatics website.
Within two hours after being drafted, Clark jerseys sold out on the Fanatics website in all sizes but small. She became Fanatics’ top selling draft pick in draft-night history, beating out names such as Trevor Lawrence. She has also sold out season tickets to the Fever games and created a major following with the organization, boosting followers and awareness to their accounts. Other teams that the Indiana Fever are playing this next season have moved their games to bigger arenas to accommodate for the demand of tickets being sold due to Clark.
On top of all that, she is in the works of signing a deal with Nike that would be worth up to $28 million. This is something that has caused a lot of controversy when it comes to her salary compared to her Nike deal. Her rookie deal is worth $338,056, which would average anywhere between $76,000 and $97,000 within her four year contract. Unfortunately the WNBA is much smaller than the NBA, with only 12 teams compared to an NBA 32 teams, this causes for lesser pay for players.
Many of these players have to rely solely on endorsements and brand deals with companies in order to make a healthy compensation for themselves. Someone who is the first pick in the NBA Draft is to average about $10 million in their rookie year with tons of room for it to grow after that. There has been talks about potential expansion within the WNBA going from anywhere to 16-18 teams and that hopes to be the case in the upcoming years as they are trying to finalize places to franchise to.
On the brighter side of things, Clark as well as her fellow draftees were a part of the most viewed WNBA Draft, ringing in 2.5 million viewers, peaking at 3.09 million. It broke the previous record from 2004 with 601,000 viewers. The Indiana Fever Instagram gained more followers the week of the WNBA Draft than they had in the last three years. From April 2021 to April 2024 they gained just 67,000 followers and the week leading up to the draft they gained 75,000 followers.
At this rate, Clark is on track to make a difference within the entire WNBA, as she has already proven thus far. She is already taking shape without even having played her first game for the Fever. Money is not the only thing that matters when it comes to this and does not take top priority as she is just happy to be given the chance to continue to play the game that she loves.
Of course, as a young girl growing up playing basketball, your ultimate goal is to go and play in the WNBA regardless of what you are being paid. You just want to keep doing something that you love and have been doing for all of your life. It is just hard sometimes seeing all the work these players have put in to get drafted and then not get the fair compensation that they deserve when the time comes.
