Is Caitlin Clark’s star power strong enough to spike WNBA fandom?

The Athletic has stay protection of the 2024 WNBA draft.

Simply eight days after enjoying for an NCAA nationwide championship, Caitlin Clark is poised to grow to be the No. 1 choose within the WNBA Draft and burst into the skilled ranks with the star energy to jolt the league at a pivotal second in its trajectory.

Throngs of followers are anticipated to tune in for Monday night time’s nationwide broadcast when the Iowa star is all however sure to be chosen by the Indiana Fever. From the second her identify is known as and Clark takes middle stage, she is going to grow to be the WNBA’s most anticipated rookie in years. A reputation increase just like the impact she had in ladies’s school basketball might observe her with each brand 3-pointer she makes and every pin-point cross she throws.

At Iowa, Clark’s affect was even better than her resumé, which itself was excellent with three convention match titles, two nationwide championship appearances, and dozens of damaged information, together with the NCAA Division I all-time scoring mark. When Clark performed, each recreation was appointment-viewing. Arenas offered out and tv rankings information shattered.

The WNBA has already been on an ascent over the previous couple of seasons with will increase in nationally broadcast video games, better attendance and extra media protection. However Clark, who even South Carolina coach Daybreak Staley described as “one of many GOATs of our recreation” after beating Iowa within the championship, is predicted to catalyze a surge in fandom, tv viewership, attendance and media protection like no participant earlier than. Clark doubtless must proceed to carry out effectively and transfer the Fever out of their bottom-dweller standing (Indiana hasn’t made the postseason since 2016) to additional juice the WNBA economic system. However the early returns point out she may have an outsized affect.

“I might commerce my entire crew for her,” stated one normal supervisor, granted anonymity by The Athletic to talk freely about Clark. “Partly as a result of our proprietor would do it to promote tickets. However on prime of that, that’s such an awesome piece to begin to construct round. She’s (like Diana) Taurasi popping out, and look what Taurasi’s finished.”

Clark will debut within the WNBA at simply the appropriate time. The league, getting into its twenty eighth season, is on the cusp of a two-year window that would decide its long-term well being and future. It introduced the addition of a thirteenth crew final fall and intends to develop to 16 groups, in keeping with sources with information of the league’s plans. Charlotte, Toronto and Denver are among the many front-runners, and stakeholders from Nashville, Philadelphia, Portland and South Florida have expressed curiosity to the league about including a crew.

A brand new media rights deal looms after the 2025 season. Negotiations on a brand new collective bargaining settlement are doubtless coming quickly, too, and with it, talks about adjustments to league journey, roster measurement and salaries — together with how gamers and the league break up income. If the league’s economics enhance — which Clark might affect by her doubtlessly important draw for sponsors — gamers may gain advantage from that, too, within the type of playoff bonuses and extra journey lodging.

The success of the 2024 draft class, led by Clark but in addition together with school stars like Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, will assist form the WNBA for years to come back. Partnerships and media offers stay the league’s largest sources of income, and Clark has been a magnet for sponsors and a driver of file rankings in current seasons.

That, coupled along with her on-court prowess, is why acquiring the No. 1 choose on this yr’s draft was so consequential.

“Caitlin goes to be Caitlin Clark,” stated Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, who additionally performed within the WNBA and coached within the NBA. “She is an unbelievable expertise, going to do wonderful issues within the WNBA. And it does an unbelievable factor for us, for the WNBA due to the fan base that follows alongside along with her.”

The frenzy surrounding Clark in school is already carrying over to the WNBA. Thirty-six Fever video games — 90 p.c of its schedule — will likely be on nationwide tv this upcoming season, yet another than the back-to-back champion Las Vegas Aces. In response to ticket market Vivid Seats, as of Wednesday, the typical offered value for Indiana Fever tickets elevated 190 p.c since final season. The typical listing value on Vivid Seats for Indiana’s season-opener towards the Connecticut Solar was up 91 p.c since Clark declared for the WNBA Draft in late February.

Even earlier than Clark formally joins the Fever, opposing franchises have scheduled round her anticipated presence. The Aces moved their July 2 dwelling recreation towards Indiana from their normal stadium into the bigger T-Cellular Area, which may accommodate 6,000 extra folks. The Minnesota Lynx are holding Maya Moore’s jersey retirement on the identical night time they host the Fever on the finish of August. The Phoenix Mercury are already selling their first contest towards Indiana as The GOAT (Taurasi) vs. The Rook (Clark).

In response to StubHub, gross sales for the Indiana Fever are up greater than 13 occasions as of Thursday in comparison with this similar time final yr. “Caitlin Clark is already having a big impact on the WNBA,” StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli stated in an announcement.

That is nothing new to Clark, who offered out all however two video games as a senior and drew 55,000 followers for an exhibition recreation inside Iowa’s soccer stadium. Clark doesn’t simply get followers to spend cash on tickets, although, she additionally pulls in sponsors. She has a rising listing of endorsements from blue chip firms — Gatorade and State Farm, as an illustration — and is on the cusp of a brand new sneaker deal. A number of sources with information of the sneaker business stated Clark is ready to signal a deal for greater than $1 million yearly, which might be one of many richest amongst WNBA gamers.

The WNBA, which depends on its partnerships as a big income, might see an inflow of recent firms taken with working with the league to be tied to Clark, and the Fever might see a growth. Clark’s impact on tv rankings might have much more important implications for the way forward for the WNBA. Rankings for the WNBA elevated final season. The finals averaged 728,000 viewers throughout ABC and ESPN — the very best in 20 years. But Clark’s presence is prone to make the league extra bullish because it enters these discussions.

South Carolina’s win over Iowa within the title recreation was seen on ABC by 18.9 million viewers, with a peak viewers of 24.1 million — a 90 p.c enhance from the 2023 title recreation and a 289 p.c enhance from 2022. ESPN stated it was the most-watched non-football or Olympics sporting occasion (males’s or ladies’s, school or professional) since 2019. The sport broke viewership information that have been simply set days earlier than within the nationwide semifinal and Iowa’s Elite Eight matchup towards LSU. All advised, ladies’s school basketball viewership information have been shattered throughout seven totally different networks in 2023-24, with Iowa participating in every recreation.

The WNBA’s present TV offers will run via the 2025 season when its partnerships with ESPN, Amazon, CBS and Ion are set to run out. Its subsequent media rights deal is prone to embody each linear tv and streaming broadcasts and might be a hybrid of a few of the NBA’s present rights companions and rights companions distinctive to the WNBA, simply because it’s structured now.

The NBA is in the course of its unique negotiating window with Disney, which owns ESPN, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns TNT Sports activities. It’s parceling collectively the WNBA rights with the NBA because it goes to market, and representing the WNBA in these talks (the NBA owns a 42.5 p.c stake within the league, and several other folks personal groups in each leagues).

Warner Bros. Discovery has proven curiosity in buying WNBA rights within the U.S., in keeping with one particular person with information of the talks. It simply purchased the appropriate to broadcast the league in the UK and Eire.

The subsequent media deal will include rising rights charges for ladies’s sports activities. The Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League agreed to offers that may pay the soccer league $60 million yearly. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert advised CNBC she hopes to “at the very least double” the WNBA’s present charges, reportedly about $60 million yearly, on its subsequent deal.

“There’s little question, I feel, particularly over monumental curiosity, most just lately round ladies’s school basketball and the expansion within the WNBA over the previous couple of years that the curiosity is heightened from the place it was,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated when discussing the subsequent media deal.

Clark’s reputation additionally has impacted the sports activities playing market, which might be a manner to herald viewers and customers. The Iowa-South Carolina championship recreation was the largest ladies’s single betting occasion of all time on FanDuel, breaking the deal with file set in Iowa’s Last 4 matchup towards UConn. The title recreation additionally featured a 155 p.c enhance in deal with on FanDuel over the 2023 Iowa-LSU championship recreation, the corporate stated.

Sorry, @FDSportsbook does not agree

Presently, you may wager on the next props:

Caitlin Clark to guide the Indiana Fever in scoring -280
Clark to common 22+ factors per recreation within the WNBA reg season (should play 28+ reg season video games) -135
To file 130+ made 3s within the 2024 WNBA… pic.twitter.com/ETz0bTj759

— SportsGridTV (@SportsGridTV) April 9, 2024

Bettors already appear to be following Clark to the professionals, the place FanDuel stated that 76 p.c of 2024 WNBA MVP bets, as of April 10, have been positioned on the long run Fever guard. If additionally they flip into viewers, it’s a potential extra manner for the league to elevate rankings and attendance.

Central to Clark’s attraction is her greatness on the court docket. Earlier than the nationwide championship, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder expressed concern about how fatigue would possibly have an effect on Clark’s debut season — there’s solely a few month between her ultimate school recreation and her first WNBA regular-season contest. Taurasi, the No. 1 choose within the 2004 WNBA Draft, stated that Clark, like different rookies, will want time to regulate.

“There’s a interval of grace that it’s important to give rookies once they get to the league,” Taurasi stated. “We’ve had a few of the greats to ever play basketball, and it takes two or three years to get used to a unique recreation (towards) the very best gamers on the planet. So long as everybody has expectations which are lifelike, they need to be tremendous.”

But, Indiana will look to arrange Clark for achievement in each the short- and long-term. She may have a perfect pick-and-roll accomplice in reigning, unanimous Rookie of the Yr Aliyah Boston, and he or she’ll play in a backcourt alongside 2023 All-Star Kelsey Mitchell. WNBA opponents — larger, sooner and stronger than what she confronted in school — will assault Clark defensively. Nonetheless, some — even these tasked with limiting her success this season — are already bullish about her potential affect.

“Her recreation goes to translate,” Aces coach Becky Hammon stated. “You’ll be able to see her work ethic, her professionalism already proper now, at Iowa, in how she approaches her craft.”

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Visible knowledge: John Bradford / The Athletic, Amy Cavenaile / The Athletic; Photographs of Fever brand and Caitlin Clark: M. Anthony Nesmith / Icon Sportswire / Getty, Thien-An Truong / ISI Photographs)