Caitlin Clark's first WNBA contract - are you phucking kidding me?

[Enquiring_Mind]

Link to tweet

[Elessar Zappa]

1. Wow, that's way different than the NBA.

NBA minimum contract is like $1.1 million or something like that.

[Renew Deal]

3. Lots of factors

WNBA plays 40 games vs. 72 in the NBA and has one less playoff round (not counting play in). Also, the league's annual profits are less than the value of NBA player max contracts.

In theory, Clark and this new class will help raise the tide for the entire WNBA.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. Yes, I agree.

We should see a fairly substantial increase in ratings and merch sales, I would think.

[rsdsharp]

2. Hey, she gets a whole $1500 raise after one year!

[Sanity Claws]

5. That's what a female superstar gets?

At least she has the opportunity to earn more money through endorsements and appearances.
Hope she gets a good rep.

[Kaleva]

6. Far smaller fanbase and revenue

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236749/wnba-team-attendance/

There's probably some DUers who watch WNBA games on a regular basis but I suspect it's a small number.

[jalan48]

7. Watching the WNBA draft, one of the best things I've seen on television in years.

The sport is growing and the salaries will go up for the players.

[Zeitghost]

8. Her salary

Is set by the league's collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association. She would be worth much more in an open market, but then other players would be playing for very little.

She is already a millionaire and will continue to make tens of millions in endorsements.

[RubyRose]

24. I read that during her last year alone that she made

$3m from endorsements and NIL already. With the viewership increase that’s bound to follow Im sure wnba salaries will rise sooner than later.

[ripcord]

9. Maybe she can up the interest in the WNBA

At least enough that they don't need the NBA to subsidize them. I'm waiting for the people complaining about the WNBA salaries to buy season tickets to support them.

[NavyDem]

26. I think this years batch of WNBA Rookies will pull many new fans.

Clark, Brink, Cardoso, and Reese are some of the best of the best. Chicago picked up both Cardoso and Reese. In my opinion, these are the two best players not named Caitlin Clark.

I will come right out and say that I don't normally watch basketball AT ALL. Not since MJ retired. That being said, when the Nebraska Men's and Women's teams made the tournament, I decided to watch those games. From there I hear the buzz about Clark, and then proceeded to watch the entire Women's Sweet 16. After the Nebraska Men lost their game, I didn't watch any of the other Men's games except for the national Title Game.

I can say with certainty that I will be watching the WNBA this upcoming season, as I have become a fan!

With any luck, Clark and the others will pull in more people like me, and and the league will become profitable. The reason the WNBA players don't make the kind of money they deserve is that there is not enough interest in the league up until now, and the league has been subsidized heavily by the NBA (Which is not even worth watching these days).

I hope that if they can't pull millions in WNBA, that they will at least pull comparables in endorsements.

[ripcord]

27. I'm waiting for Audi Crooks to hit the WNBA in a couple of years

She is simply phenomenal, she scored 40 points against Maryland in the first round this year.

[shelshaw]

10. Plus endorsements

She’ll do well

[Celerity]

11. Clark's net worth is estimated to be around $3.1 million, according to her On3 NIL valuation, though it's tough to gauge

an exact figure with her popularity skyrocketing.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/wnba-caitlin-clark-nil-iowa-career-earnings-gatorade/21670add8b8577912cab7ca3

Her endorsements will only continue to explode.

How many uni students and/or amateur athletes of similar age to Clark have a non-inheritance-derived net worth of over 3 million usd already?

[Cuthbert Allgood]

32. There are a lot of athletes that are millionairs off NIL

Which I think is a good thing.

Though several of the highest paid ones are nepo babies, so that isn't great.

[sop]

12. Clark already made an estimated $3.4 million from NIL (name, image and likeness) deals this past season.

She's going to make a lot more than that as a pro.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. She'll make money in endorsement deals.

WNBA just isn’t popular and doesn’t make enough revenue to exist. The NBA really supports the WNBA and keeps it afloat though even though it loses money. Clark will bring in more fans though and could really help the league start turning a profit.

[H2O Man]

23. That is a huge point.

The NBA subsidizes the WNBA. The NBA gets larger income because far more people watch it.

Note: I've watched high school and college b-ball for many years. This has included when my sons and nephews played in high school. I also watched both daughters play in high school, and one in college. And I've gone to college games to watch friends' son and daughter. This season, I've gone to my sister's granddaughter's high school games.

[BannonsLiver]

14. That's the market at this point.

If more people bought tickets, merch and watched more of the games on TV it would be more.

[JI7]

15. I understand the WNBA makes less money

but this still seems really low. I don't watch sports but isn't she considered the best right now ?

[ripcord]

18. The league is doing so bad

That they rely on a subsidy from the NBA.

[former9thward]

16. She gets millions in endorsements.

Gates and Buffett don't get much in salaries either.

[Mordred]

17. Why do you think most WNBA players also play overseas?

Many of the players get paid more to play in Europe or Russia (pre-war).

In 2015, the year after Diana Taurasi had won the WNBA title, her Russian team paid her to sit out the WNBA season to get healthier.

[BlueTsunami2018]

19. What did you think she was going to get? Millions?

The league doesn’t make any money, no one watches or goes to games.

She’ll do just fine with endorsements. Wheaties box, sneakers, phones, soda.

[GenThePerservering]

22. "No one?"

Huh - I must be hallucinating the rising attendance and the crowded pubs on game day.

Gotta love those broad brushes.

[BlueTsunami2018]

28. In comparison to the major sports leagues, yes.

The ad revenue and ticket sales aren’t there to support large salaries for the players. The league doesn’t make money, they’re subsidized by the NBA. They also play far fewer games.

If people start watching and attending at the levels of the major sports, the salaries will increase to those levels. Until then, this is what it is.

[TheProle]

34. Avg attendance is just north of 6k spectators

They're pulling less than your average 'greatest hits' 80s band tour.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

20. She could choose to go to Europe.

Just sayin'. She's more famous here at present, and that plays for endorsements. Let the first contract run its course, or find a Euro club to purchase her contract from her WNBA club, and she may be better off financially over there. We'll have to watch and see.

[TwilightZone]

21. That's a standard rookie contract.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/wnba/news/wnba-highest-paid-average-salary-rookie-deals-2024/def661966f0f9625d5427326

[jmowreader]

25. She'll be making 20x that on endorsements, speaking fees and television ads

She's famous, a role model for Today's Impressionable Youth, pretty and has a nice voice - all things I could sell to an advertiser.

[Jacson6]

29. Actually she is getting most of her money from endorsements

[edhopper]

30. The WNBA has a 50-50 revenue split

similar to the NBA. This is the reality. The NBA makes about $10 billion last season. The WNBA around $70 million.

If stars like Clarke and Reese can get more people interested, they will benefit with higher salaries.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

31. Not surprising considering the WNBA is struggling to make money

Without the NBA fully backing them, the WNBA would have gone bankrupt years ago. In the leagues entire existence they have yet to turn a profit. Until that happens don't expect salaries to rise anywhere close to the NBA.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

33. Which is why a lot of female basketball players stay in college.

They make more off NIL than they will in the WNBA.