Caitlin Clark, pictured autographing sneakers earlier than the WNBA draft final Monday, helps drive demand for the league’s ticket sales and TV protection.
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Adam Hunger/AP
Caitlin Clark, pictured autographing sneakers earlier than the WNBA draft final Monday, helps drive demand for the league’s ticket sales and TV protection.
Adam Hunger/AP
Caitlin Clark will not make her WNBA debut till May 3, when the Indiana Fever — which chosen her as the first overall draft pick final week — play their first preseason sport in Texas.
But Clark is already making an outsized impression on the league, which she joins as the all-time leading scorer in school basketball historical past.
Her dominance is credited with bringing more attention to the Iowa Hawkeyes and girls’s basketball writ giant — and the “Caitlin Clark Effect” appears poised to proceed at the skilled degree, if early numbers are any indication.
“When Caitlin Clark declared for the WNBA draft, we instantly saw the Indiana Fever’s average ticket price double,” Laura Correnti, founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, told Morning Edition earlier this month.
“We’re also hearing from some of the different teams across the WNBA that they are also seeing bumps in ticket sales and interest in terms of near sellout for when Caitlin Clark comes to town.”
Clark’s Fever jersey sold out in most sizes on the Fanatics web site inside an hour of her being chosen in Monday’s draft, in what the retailer says is now the top-selling jersey for any draft decide ever.
And the WNBA plans to show 36 of the Fever’s 40 common season video games on its nationwide broadcast and streaming companions, in comparison with 22 last year, when it completed 10th of 12 teams. It hasn’t had a profitable season since 2015.
Demand to see Clark in motion has despatched ticket prices skyrocketing and prompted groups in a number of cities to maneuver their video games to larger venues.
Last week, the Washington Mystics introduced that they are going to be relocating their June 7 sport towards the Indiana Fever from their 4,200-seat dwelling stadium in D.C. to the 20,000 plus-capacity Capital One Arena, citing “unprecedented demand.”
It’s the second crew to announce such a transfer in anticipation of Fever frenzy. The Las Vegas Aces have stated they are going to transfer their July 2 sport towards Indiana from Michelob Ultra Arena to T-Mobile Arena to accommodate some 8,000 further followers.
And in Chicago — the place the Sky picked up some excessive draft picks together with Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso — followers are petitioning the crew to relocate their June and August video games towards the Fever from the Wintrust Arena to the bigger United Center.
“Larger quantities of less expensive seats would allow both Caitlin Clark fans and Chicago Sky fans to enjoy a great game at the incredible United Center,” reads the on-line petition, which had over 700 signatures as of Monday morning.
The Indiana Fever crew retailer in Indianapolis shows Caitlin Clark merchandise. Her official jersey has offered out from many on-line retailers.
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Michael Conroy/AP
The Indiana Fever crew retailer in Indianapolis shows Caitlin Clark merchandise. Her official jersey has offered out from many on-line retailers.
Michael Conroy/AP
The Indiana Fever accounts for all of the WNBA’s high 10 most costly common season video games this 12 months, in keeping with knowledge from the ticket website Gametime reported by Forbes.
It says the most costly WNBA sport on the secondary market is Indiana’s July 14 sport towards the Minnesota Lynx, with a median ticket worth of $615. The Fever’s June video games towards the Chicago Sky ($600) and Washington Mystics ($530) additionally made the record.
Tickets to the Fever’s first preseason sport, towards the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, ranged from $110 to $1,100. CEO Greg Bibb told WFAA that the Wings scheduled that sport nicely earlier than the draft, anticipating Clark would enter and be picked first.
“We have seen incremental gains in business growth every year since 2020, and what’s happened in the NCAA has been an accelerant to that growth,” Bibb informed the outlet. “We structured our ticket sales accordingly and waited later in the calendar year to go on sale with them to create a pent-up demand post-draft.”
Resale prices for Fever tickets are going up too, with Vivid Seats reporting they’ve nearly tripled since final season.
Clark’s monetary enhance to the WNBA has amplified the highlight on its longstanding pay gap with the NBA. That hole is the results of the leagues’ variations in income, season size and union contracts, amongst different components.
As a rookie, Clark’s base salary shall be $76,535 this 12 months and simply over $338,000 for 4 years — far decrease than that of her male counterparts and not less than some NBA mascots.
In distinction, Victor Wembanyama, the 2023 first-round draft decide in the NBA, began on the San Antonio Spurs with a base wage of over $12 million, as a part of a four-year contract exceeding $55 million.
That disparity has drawn renewed attention and outrage from many viewers. Even President Biden weighed in, tweeting final week that “right now we’re seeing that even if you’re the best, women are not paid their fair share.”
But Clark — whose title, picture and likeness are valued at over $3 million — is predicted to make money in other ways, together with endorsement deals with firms together with State Farm and Gatorade. And The Athletic reported last week that Clark is nearing a take care of Nike value over $20 million that features a signature shoe.
Clark holds up her Fever jersey after a Wednesday press convention in Indianapolis.
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Clark holds up her Fever jersey after a Wednesday press convention in Indianapolis.
Darron Cummings/AP