Text / Li Jiajun
Edited by Li Luyuan
Fortune magazine once published an article entitled "Jordan Effect", which means that since entering the NBA in 1984, Jordan has contributed more than $10 billion to the global economic development, and at the same time brought the international influence of the NBA and basketball to an unprecedented height.
And for women's basketball and the WNBA, Caitlin Clark, a post-00s female player who has not played a professional game, is already doing something similar.
Caitlin Clark Source: ESPN
The "Clark Effect" is here!
Although she failed to win the championship in her senior season, it did not delay Clark from becoming one of the most legendary college basketball players in history: the NCAA D1 overall scoring champion, the NCAA D1 all-time three-point champion, the all-time assist champion in the Big Ten Division, plus the Player of the Year award every year, this post-00s girl has set one record after another set by her predecessors, and continues to raise people's expectations for her.
Some media have compared Clark to "Thanos". Even after South Carolina State defeated the University of Iowa to lift the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship this year, South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Stanley praised the opponent for the first time: "I want to thank Caitlin Clarke on the public platform for her epoch-making contributions to women's basketball. 」
In addition to Clark, the "Avengers" composed of Peggy Bakers, Angel Reese, Carmela Cardoso, Juju Watkins and Cameron Brink, etc., also showed good strength in the NCAA - many people, including the media, believe that the American women's basketball team has ushered in another golden age, which also makes Clark's success and king posture even more golden.
From left to right: Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink Source: GQ
On the evening of April 15, local time, as a group of women successfully took over the jerseys of various teams in the 2024 WNBA draft, their influence also shifted directly from the original college basketball to the professional league. Among them, the most talked about is still the champion Caitlin Clark.
According to statistics from the data website Vivid Seats, as early as when Clark announced his candidacy, the average ticket price of the Indiana Fever team with the top pick in the new season has doubled, and according to a second-hand ticket platform, the 10 most expensive regular season games in the WNBA this year are all games with the Indiana Fever, and the team's total ticket sales in the same period have exceeded 13 times.
This growth isn't limited to the Fever — the Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky, and Atlanta Dreamers and Dallas Wings, who also have high draft picks, have all seen significant increases in ticket prices for the new season, reaching 97 percent, 119 percent, 129 percent, and 135 percent, respectively.
At the same time, the WNBA is also ready for Clark's arrival. According to the latest broadcast schedule, 36 of the Fever's 40 games in the new season will be broadcast live in the United States, compared with only one last season, which is still stained by the opponent New York Liberty.
Clark will make his WNBA debut on May 16 EST Source: @Indianafever
Even if it hasn't been unveiled yet, the "Clark Effect" has taken the game by storm, bringing real money to the Fever and the WNBA, and the subsequent explosive growth is almost a certainty.
But at the same time, Clark's annual salary of $76,535 in his rookie contract has also caused many fans to marvel - as a comparison, the average annual salary of an American carpenter in 2023 is $73,118.
Is the WNBA really squeezing players?
In the 2023/24 season, the average annual salary of WNBA players is $116,580, and the highest-paid player earns only $242,000 per year. Compared with the NBA's tens of millions of dollars in contracts, the inconspicuous salary level of female players has always been a topic of concern and heated discussion in the industry.
Clark's arrival has further amplified this attention.
Especially when she herself has brought visible growth to the WNBA, and the BIG3 league has also offered her a contract of $5 million, this "full-time" annual salary of more than $70,000 really seems a bit abrupt.
So, is the WNBA's salary level reasonable?
NBA vs. WNBA rookie salaries and league earnings
Let's try to calculate the revenue data given by NBC: the NBA earned about $4.5 billion in the 2022/23 season, and the average player salary in the season was $10.27 million, accounting for 0.23% of the total revenue, while the WNBA earned $180 million in the 2022/23 season, and the average player salary was $117,000, about 0.06% of the total revenue.
The league's overall income determines the upper limit of employee salaries, so judging from the above salary ratio, WNBA players' incomes do have some room for improvement, but not as big as the hundred-fold gap that many people are calling for.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the revenue figure of 180 million is the result that the WNBA has only achieved in the past two years. According to Sportskeeda, the WNBA league has discussed player salaries, but it will take some time for that shift to happen before the stars are given the percentage they deserve.
On the bright side, the overall rapid growth brought about by the "Clark effect" is likely to accelerate this process as well.
Clark has now started training with the team
Back to Clark. The reason why she rejected a series of options to make quick money and decided to compete in the WNBA is also out of a longer-term consideration. For her, who has a top influence in the North American basketball world, the top sponsors who want to seek cooperation have long been waiting in front of her.
Recently, Shams revealed that Clark rejected the offers of Under Armour and Adidas, and is about to sign a contract of more than 8 years and $28 million with Nike, which has been working together since college - not to mention whether Nike will actually give her signed shoes in the future, which is already the largest sponsorship contract in the history of professional women's basketball so far.
Whether in terms of amount, length of time or form, this contract is full of sincerity for a rookie in women's basketball who has not yet entered the professional arena. Coupled with the cooperation of other brands such as Gatorade, Panini, State Farm, BOSE and so on, Clarke's commercial value has long been among the top WNBA players.
To sum it up in a simple sentence, "Money is never an issue. 」
What we can expect now is whether she can really drive the value and attention of the entire team or the WNBA league after her debut on the professional stage, show the influence of Jordan, James, Curry and others in the NBA, let women's basketball enter the field of vision of more markets and investors, and tap new development opportunities.
Source: Nike