Benzinga - by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Caitlin Clark, selected as the top pick by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Draft, is on the verge of signing a major shoe deal ahead of her professional debut, further establishing her presence in women’s basketball.
What Happened: Clark set many NCAA scoring records and helped set new heights for NCAA Women's Basketball while at Iowa.
The future WNBA player is now ready to break records with the largest shoe deal in women's basketball history.
Clark will sign a $28 million, eight-year deal with apparel and shoe company Nike, Inc (NYSE:NKE) according to the Associated Press, citing The Athletic. The deal will include a signature shoe line for Clark according to reports.
The deal with Nike averages out to $3.5 million per season and comes as Clark's recent announced WNBA salary has become a big topic of pay disparity between male and female athletes.
Dave Portnoy, president of Barstool Sports, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his view that Clark’s pending deal significantly undervalues her worth. He suggested that a fair valuation would be at least $80 million.
If people want to complain about Caitlin Clark getting screwed complain about this. 8 year 28 million deal is STEALING. 8 years 80 million min is her worth and that's still prob too cheap. I hope she has an early opt out if they don't pay up when she blows through this deal. https://t.co/VNyPg7wPpS— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 23, 2024
Clark will make $76,535 in her first WNBA season, with her next three season salaries listed as $78,066, $85,873 and $97,582 respectively. The salary for Clark pales in comparison to million dollar deals that male athletes get after being drafted.
The new Nike deal also means that Clark will earn 45.7x more from Nike in her first season than she will from her salary.
The women's basketball star has been with Nike since 2022 thanks to a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal while at Iowa. The deal expired after the 2023-2024 season and saw several apparel companies compete for her endorsement.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Clark was pursued by Puma, Adidas and Under Armour (NYSE:UA). The pitch from Under Armour also included their star endorsee and NBA star Steph Curry sitting in on the meeting according to Charania. Under Armour is said to have offered more money per year, but less overall years on a proposed deal.
The deal with Nike will see Clark as only the fourth current WNBA player to have their own signature shoe, joining Breanna Stewart (PUMA), Sabrina Ionescu (Nike) and Elena Delle Donne (Nike).
With Clark generating strong interest, Nike could see a boost in sales through her endorsement deal.
Related Link: Caitlin Clark’s $76K WNBA Salary Leaves Even President Biden Befuddled With Startling Gender Pay Gap: What Gives?
What's Next: Clark has yet to play a WNBA game, but is already having a large impact on the professional women's basketball league.
The Fever, along with their WNBA and media partners, are hoping to capitalize on the increased attention from Clark’s record-setting performance in the 2023-2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The 2023-2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship game, aired on ABC which is owned by The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), attracted an average of 18.9 million viewers. The viewership peaked at 24.1 million and surpassed the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game, which had an average viewership of 14.8 million.
In 2023, only 22 of the Fever’s 40 games were broadcast nationally. However, thanks to the highly anticipated debut season of Clark, this number will significantly increase to 36 of their 40 games in the 2024 season.
Media partners of the WNBA could benefit with Clark’s debut season and the likely strong viewership that comes with it.
Disney will air eight games across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, including the May 14 opening game. ESPN aired one Fever game last year. ABC didn't air any games.
Ion, owned by E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP), will air eight Fever games for the 2024 WNBA season.
CBS, which is a unit of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)(NASDAQ:PARAA), will air three Fever games during the season.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) owned Prime Video will air four Fever games during the season.
NBA-owned streaming platform, NBA TV, will air the Fever 13 times during the season.
NKE Price Action: Nike shares trade at $94.00 versus a 52-week trading range of $88.66 to $128.68. Shares of Nike are down 26% over the last year.
Read Next: Related Link: EXCLUSIVE: Caitlin Clark, Taylor Swift's Impact — More Women Bet On Sports, Women's Basketball, DraftKings CEO Says
Photo: Wikimedia
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