Caitlin Clark is the WNBA’s latest sensation, and there’s no denying that. From massive hikes in viewership records to an undying ability to make the audience follow her every move, Clark has taken over the world of women’s basketball by storm. However, multiple industry insiders and economists feel that the monetary compensation she receives falls short of the contributions she made to the sport and team.
Caitlin Clark’s rookie contract with the Indiana Fever totals $338,000. (Photo by Matt Krohn / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)(Getty Images via AFP)
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What is Clark’s current compensation?
Considering how Clark is still under her rookie contract with the Indiana Fever, the deal will award her with $338,000 across four years. This season, in particular, she will be making $78,000, as per Athlon Sports. As revealed by The Athletic, Clark would have to wrap up this contract before being eligible to receive the WNBA supermax contract value of $249,244. Clarke also enjoys multiple sponsorship agreements with brands like Gatorade, State Farm, Nike, and others, which totalled up to $11 million as of 2024, according to Sportico.
Many find this value to fall way short of what Clarke deserves owing to her contributions. “It’s hard to believe she’s not worth close to a billion to the league,” said an anonymous industry source to The Athletic. Judd Cramer, an economics lecturer at Harvard, added, “The idea that she (is) maybe worth 1,000 times her salary in franchise value is not inconceivable.”
Clark’s contributions to the sport
Ever since Clark joined the league as 2024’s top draft pick, her impact on popularizing the sport among previous non-watchers is backed by sufficient stats. Boardroom revealed that sales of NBA merchandise, in particular Clark’s jersey, witnessed a significant uptick last season and topped all charts.
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“Since the start of the regular season, sales of @WNBA merchandise are up over 500% vs. the same period last year — with fan gear sales over the first half of the season at the highest in league history,” the post read.
Her skipping out on five games over three weeks due to a quad injury resulted in a drop in viewership and interest levels among the audience. “Two games on NBA TV had viewership drop by 40 percent compared to the Fever’s first game on the network with Clark, though one still ranked in the channel’s top-10 broadcasts. Although the Fever’s game against the Chicago Sky reached 1.9 million viewers – the third most for a WNBA game on CBS — it was 30 percent fewer than watched the Sky-Fever game with Clark on ABC. The resale tickets for the game at the United Center also dropped about 70 percent after Clark’s injury was announced, yet it still drew a Sky-record 19,496 fans,” reports The Athletic.
By Stuti Gupta