Caitlin Clark’s worth to the WNBA is greater than the league will ever have the ability to pay her, the ladies’s hoops celebrity’s agent mentioned in a current interview.
Talking with ESPN, Erin Kane, Clark’s agent, referred to as for greater salaries for WNBA gamers whereas suggesting that the league is able to “spin off” from the NBA in the case of media rights.
Kane, an agent with Excel Sports activities Administration, additionally addressed Clark’s worth to the WNBA.
“Will Caitlin Clark ever be paid by the WNBA what she’s really worth to that league? I don’t think that’s possible,” Kane mentioned to ESPN.
And Kane has a case to be made backed up by one financial knowledgeable at Indiana College Columbus, who spoke with the Indy Star in December.
Dr. Ryan Brewer calculated that Clark had accounted for 26.5 % of the league’s financial exercise through the 2024 WNBA season, which included merchandise gross sales, TV and attendance.
Brewer calculated that Clark had an financial affect of $36 million on the town of Indianapolis.
“Now, let’s take a breath for a minute and think about this,” Brewer advised the Indy Star in December. “That’s for one year. We’re talking about one player.”
Whereas everybody round Clark feels the optimistic financial affect of her presence within the league, she’s solely anticipated to rake in a little bit greater than $78,000 in 2025 from her on-court work.
Kane argued that WNBA gamers as a complete must be incomes extra and added that she’s “very, very hopeful for this CBA negotiation that it will be progressive and move the line forward a lot.”
The WNBA and the WNBA Gamers Affiliation must work out a brand new collective bargaining settlement after the gamers’ union opted out of the present one final October.
A part of the intention is to see participant salaries improve with the subsequent CBA – at present, salaries vary from $64,154 to $241,984.
Regardless of a brand new media rights deal that’s valued at $2.2 billion – $200 million per 12 months – WNBAPA government director Terri Jackson felt final July that the league was being undervalued and Kane appeared to agree.
“I think we’re ready for a spin-off [from the NBA],” Kane mentioned. “I just think that the NBA is incentivized to make decisions that are good for the NBA, and those are not always aligned with what’s good for the WNBA. And so, for the sake of the league that I work in, I want women and women’s basketball to be able to make clean, clear choices that are in their own best interest.”
The WNBA’s worth and participant salaries have been a subject of dialog round basketball circles, and the supply of criticism from girls’s hoopers.
In October, WNBA star Angel Reese mentioned throughout an Instagram Reside that “the WNBA don’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think it pays one of my bills. Literally.”
