By Mylee Dubin
(Photo of ESPN-WBNA draft from my television)
This year, the face of women’s sports has belonged to Caitlin Clark. As record after record fell, Caitlin Clark led the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team all the way to the national championship. The Hawkeyes unfortunately lost to their worthy opponents, the South Carolina Gamecocks, who concluded their year as an undefeated team.
After four years as a collegiate athlete, Caitlin Clark has become one of the biggest names in women’s basketball and basketball in general.
Her impact on women’s sports has been tremendous, rocketing viewership to record numbers. On Monday, April 15, 2024, the WNBA draft had a 307% increase in viewership, numbering 2.446 million viewers throughout the event.
The night started off with Caitlin Clark when she was drafted as the first overall pick to the Indiana Fever. Her pick started an impressive draft list, including South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, Stanford’s Cameron Brink, LSU’s Angel Reese, and many other noteworthy athletes.
TV viewership was not the only record Caitlin and the other athletes brought to the show. This year was the first year ever that the WNBA sold tickets to the public to attend the draft. Upon the release of the tickets, they were gone in 15 minutes.
The publicity surrounding Clark has proven to inspire hundreds of thousands of young athletes, boy or girl.
I chatted with Ella Turner, a junior on the varsity girls’ basketball team, to ask how Clark has inspired her and if she has been following her as closely as everyone else has.
“I’ve watched a couple games,” Ella said. “I watched when they played LSU because [she] and Angel Reese have major beef and I thought it would be funny.” I’m not familiar with the “beef” between Clark and Reese, another very influential player from the past two years of women’s college basketball, but I can only assume it has been ‘squashed’ as they were seen interacting in a friendly manner at the WNBA draft (or perhaps it was one of those healthy on-court rivalries).
Ella agrees with the rest of the country: Caitlin has finally brought the deserved recognition to women’s basketball. “I feel like before her really no one cared about watching, especially women’s college basketball and professional,” she said. “I think that especially when she is going to play pro next year along with Angel Reese, that there’ll be a lot more people who are engaged watching professional basketball, especially for women.”
Ella also noted that this diminishes the contrast between men’s and women’s basketball. “I think for basketball in general, she just showed that there’s no limitations that anyone is capable of doing anything and that, especially for basketball and other sports… you’re not defined by your gender,” she said.
It’s safe to say that Clark has become one of the best and most influential players of all time. During her collegiate career, she racked up 106 records and/or achievements, including but certainly not limited to: Iowa’s all-time leading scorer, Iowa’s all-time leader in assists, Big Ten all-time scoring record, the most 30-point games by any man or woman in Division I in the past 25 seasons, all-time NCAA Division I men and women’s scoring leader, and most points in single season in Division I women’s history.
“I think that her achievements [have just] shown that, again, women are not limited to doing specific things and that we have really no bar,” Ella said. “Especially her achieving all these records for March Madness in general…having all these records [and] beating out her male competitors just showed and further emphasized that people can do what they put their mind to, and if they work hard, they can achieve whatever [they want too].”
Clark has also served as an inspiration for young female athletes because she’s just “relatable.” While she shines in the spotlight, she also comes across as a normal student-athlete, which enables athletes like Ella to see themselves in her.
Looking forward, Ella is optimistic that Clark will bring the coverage of women’s basketball to her next chapter in the WNBA. “At some point, people remember you because of how you make them feel, and she’s made a lot of people feel a certain way,” she said. “I think that that’s going to carry over and give her success [in the WNBA].”
Most recently, there has been much discussion (and controversy) over the arranged salary for Clark’s 4-year contract with the Fever. Clark will be signing a $338,000 deal, averaging out to $76,535 per year. This has sparked some outrage in some of her fans, considering that last year’s No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft signed a 4-year $55 million contract.
This was certainly not a snub to Clark; in fact, this was likely the most money the WNBA was able to offer her at the moment. Unfortunately, with the past low viewership of women’s basketball, the WNBA has not been able to generate as much revenue as the NBA. Hopefully, with Clark’s residency in the WNBA, she will boost viewership to the point where the WNBA is able to sign bigger contracts.
Don’t worry, though; this does not mean this is all the money Clark will attain from her career. She has already been featured in an array of advertisements and features, including a cameo on Saturday Night Live, and a commercial or two for State Farm. She is also reportedly very close to signing an 8-year $28 million contract with Nike, including a signature shoe, so she is getting her bag. Does this mean Clark will be the female Jordan? We’ll have to wait and see.
