Preface
I realize that many are tired of hearing about Caitlin Clark. Non-Fever fans think someone like me is giving her too much attention. Fever fans are apt to express they don’t want to hear about any drama. This past week I had an opportunity to read Howard Megdal’s Becoming Caitlin Clark, the Sophie Cunningham Podcast came out, and listened to a couple podcasts on WNBA finances. So while what I am going to write may seem like old news, I hope I am sharing some new twists to the old story.
Over the last three years as numbers for the Women’s NCAA Tourney and then the WNBA exploded. Many have drawn a parallel between the impact of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the NBA vs Caitlin Clark in the WNBA. To make this comparison, does not do Caitlin Clark justice.
In Becoming Caitlin Clark by Howard Megdal, he points out while Bird and Magic’s 1979 NCAA Championship game drew a TV audience of 35 million viewers, the impact they had on the NBA was not shown immediately. The NBA Championship games in the early ‘80’s remained on tape-delay. And as of 1984, the NBA had only 8 national TV games. There is no doubt Larry and Magic helped changed the NBA, but it took awhile to elevate the NBA.
Caitlin Clark’s impact was immediate and huge to the WNBA. More national TV games, and more sold out arenas. In 2024, the Mystics moved 4 games to larger arenas. Chicago Sky and Angel Reese drew 10,000, Phoenix Mercury and Diana Taurasi drew 12,586, and Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark drew 20,333 and 20,711.
According to Megdal, since 2008, 24 WNBA TV games have drawn over 1 million viewers. All 24 of those games have been Caitlin Clark games. The 2024 women’s NCAA championship game produced an audience of 18.9 million viewers, while the men’s NCAA championship game produced an audience of 14.8 million viewers.
My point is to say that anyone who doubts there is such a thing as a Caitlin Clark Effect, is not looking at the numbers. And anyone who says, Clark is just like Magic and Larry is not giving Clark the credit for her immediate and huge impact. Whether Caitlin Clark eventually becomes the all-time best player in the WNBA or not is irrelevant. For now, the Caitlin Clark Effect is the most impactful thing to ever happen with any rookie athlete in any professional sport.
The Attention is Good- Celebrate
Last year when Caitlin Clark was selected Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year, it was a recogniton of what Clark had done for women’s basketball and women’s sports. It was not an award based on some MVP acknowledgment by Time.
According to Megdal, after hearing that Time had given Clark the award as Athlete of the Year, the co-owner of the Mystics, Sheila Johnson responded on CNN by saying, “Why couldnn’t they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and have said the WNBA is the League of the Year because of all the talent that we have?”
Think about it, Johnson’s Mystics drew of 40,000 fans in two Clark games in 2024. That is 50% of the Mystics total attendance in 2023. Acknowledge and celebrate the impact.
Sue Bird Too Much Attention?
Throughout time in sports, some players get more attention than others get. Sue Bird is considered by many as the greatest point guard in WNBA history. In all likelihood, Bird received more media attention than any other WNBA player in history. That doesn’t mean that she is the all-time best player necessarily, she was popular and people wanted to read about her.
There was not anyone during the Sue Bird era who was clamoring for the media to cover Sue Bird less. They may have felt that the media should be shining more light on other players but there was not push to reduce Bird. The tide will lift all boats.
In the NBA, Oscar Robertson was not upset with the attention that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson received. And Magic and Larry never expressed that Michael Jordan was getting to many endorsements.
Show Me Something
Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever has jumped into the world of Podcasts. Cunningham is in her 7th year in the WNBA after playing at Missouri (“Show Me”).
In her first episode Cunningham addressed the Clark critics.
“It literally pisses me off when people are like, “She not the face of the league.” What? There’s some really good, well-known people in our league. I’m not discounting them. We have a lot of bad assets in our league, hell yeah to that. I’m all for that. But when people try to argue that she’s not the face of our league or that our league would be where we’re at without her, you’re as dumb as s_ _ _.”
“This is what we always wanted as a league, who cares who gets the credit.”
Econ 101
The WNBA players and owners don’t appear closer to a settlement.
Many would say it comes down to what percent of revenue (not profit) that the players would get. Presently they get 9%, some in ownership would say they should get 21%. 21% would be half of the WNBA owners 42% ownership. Players would say they should be like the NBA and get 50% of revenue.
What makes it even more complicated is that all owners of any business and shuffle the books to reduce and manipulate their revenue. With the league owned by WNBA groups, NBA groups, and an equity group it gets more complicated.
An example- if a WNBA team plays in a NBA owned arena, if the NBA team keeps the concessions, does that concession revenue count for the total revenue? Even though the NBA owns 42% of the WNBA, the NBA would claim that the concessions are not WNBA revenues but belong to the NBA.
The equity group that owns 16% of the WNBA was promised to receive a 5% return annually on their investment. So the owners say that the 5% should not be counted a revenue.
My point is that you can see how quickly the BRI (basketball related income) can be dissolved by the ownership.
Bonner Revenge
The Fever got a big win vs. the Mercury. The win for now seems to put the Fever into a tier with Phoenix (16-10), Seattle (16-11), Atlanta (16-11), and Indiana (15-12).
To maintain, the Fever MUST keep beating teams below them- Las Vegas, Washington, Golden State, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Conn. The good news is that there is a stretch where the majority of their games are vs. this lower tier. A big game will be this Sunday at Seattle.
I am sure that the game vs Phoenix was a game circled by Dawanda Bonner. So the win for the Fever was special, whether the Fever would admit it or not. In a position face off- Bonner had 4 points, 1 rebound, and 0 assists. Sophie Cunningham 12 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist. Lexie Hull 2 points and 5 rebounds.
One factor I believe that worked in Caitlin Clark's favor is all the media exposure that wasn't available when Bird and Magic started their NBA careers. We didn't have the internet, we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have texting, and social media. For instance, look how You Tube exposes anyone who is clever enough to post and who has talent which generates tremendous publicity. All that publicity enabled people to hear about Caitlin Clark and once word got out the crowds started showing up. We also didn't have ESPN, TNT, TBS and other means to watch new talent. I am not discounting Caitlin Clark by any means, and I think what she has done for the women's game and inspiring young girls to play is fantastic and inspirational. She deserves all the accolades she has gotten. Few remember that Iowa's girls' basketball back in the sixties and I believe into the early seventies played half court where only three girls played offense and three only played defense. We have come a long way from that and hopefully on the professional level there is more parity particularly if large crowds are coming to WNBA games.
ReplyDeleteMany of your points are what are made in Becoming Caitlin Clark. The author does a good job of looking at the historical perspective and development of girls basketball in Iowa that is unique in the U.S. The Clark phenomenon is the result of many factors, and it is at a level not seen by a rookie.
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