While We’re Young (Ideas) on Caitlin Clark and the WNBA
By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
BOSTON – Every decade or so, an issue comes down the pike, and it’s so complex it can only be played out on the sports pages – specifically the NBA section. The complexities have ranged from public health to race relations to geopolitical crisis to labor law. You name it, the NBA has played it.
The NBA countered with the first and most significant Anti-Drug Agreement in professional sports, and the concept was championed by NBA Players Association President Bob Lanier (RIP 1948-2022) and signed by Big Bob and then Commissioner Larry O’Brien.
Early 1980s? The NBA was embarrassed by having only a handful of games on national TV and the championship games being tape delayed, all while salaries were soaring with no end in sight.
Up stepped the NBA with a new concept in Collective Bargaining that placed player salaries in line with the overall (monetary) success of the league. The new ‘83 CBA introduced maximum (Salary Cap) and minimum team salaries along with an improved Anti-Drug Agreement. The deal was a first for pro sports, and it was lauded by New York Times labor writer A.H. Raskin as a model, not just for sports but for all of labor law. Over the years, the league and NBA Players Association worked on the CBA and improved its rules/agreements, which govern the league’s player movement to this day.
The 1990s came along, and so did the public health crisis of the HIV/AIDS virus, a decade-plus old and raging out of control around the world. Just how could the NBA intersect with such a medical crisis?
Instead of hiding or being shunned by the league, fellow players and society, Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard and NBA champion Earvin “Magic” Johnson stepped up to a podium at the Fabulous Forum in LA and announced to the world that he had tested positive with the HIV virus and would have to retire from the NBA. Johnson stated his intention to help educate the youth of the world, stressing healthy living and teaching literally everyone the intricacies of and how to live with the virus, stressing safe sex and calling for much-needed research dollars to perfect prescription drug cocktails that were life-saving.
Johnson’s message was front page news in every publication in the world and he furthered his teachings by participating in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game where he won MVP honors in a truly magical manner. Johnson went on to play on the one and only USA Basketball “Dream Team” that took the gold medal at the ‘92 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Fast forward to 2020, and another virus ran rampant throughout the globe. It wasn’t until NBA Commissioner Adam Silver abruptly stopped the league from playing games that the general public realized just how serious COVID-19 was going to be. Only the IVY League was exercising full caution ahead of the NBA, but no one was listening until the NBA made its decisive move.
Now that’s a long introduction – we call it background in the biz – to introduce the topic of the day – maybe of the 2024-2030s – and that is the impact of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, drafted this week into the WNBA by the Indiana Fever. In one season, Clark sold more Iowa jerseys than Jersey Mike sells subs. While doing so, and now officially licensed Indiana replica uniforms and WNBA orange hoodies are flying off the shelves, the issue of “women in sports” has been raised by every media outlet in the land, from CNBC business to an Indiana-based columnist inappropriately making a “heart-shaped” sign to Clark while she was in the middle of meeting the WNBA media for the very first time.
Clark, who handled the press conference incident with grace and dignity, has done more to advance women’s basketball in one season than the WNBA has done since its inception on Memorial Day weekend in 1997. Clark led her Iowa Hawkeyes to the NCAA women’s Final Four, losing to national champion South Carolina in the championship game just weeks ago.
The coolest thing about Clark is she made the difference with her “game,” as in “She’s Got Game.” Her impact made all her teammates better and helped drive television ratings to all-time highs (According to Nielsen: 18.88 million people watched South Carolina clinch their undefeated season by beating Iowa, 87-75). The game marked the third all-time TV ratings high for the women’s game, and a 289% increase over the previous year’s NCAA championship. Only the ‘96 USA Basketball women’s national team win at the Atlanta Olympics can claim a higher ratings number (19.7 viewers).
The men’s final drew 14.8 million viewers on Turner (cable) and with that, let the comparisons begin, as media watchers noted that Clark’s Iowa team rated higher than any basketball game (men’s or women’s and college or professional) since 2019, according to ESPN, and the most viewership ever for a women’s college basketball game, as the broadcast peaked at a stunning 24 million viewers.
To put this in perspective. The games topped…
- Every World Series game last year.
- Every NBA Finals game last year.
- Every Daytona 500 since 2013.
- Every Masters final round viewership since 2013.
- All but five College Football Bowl games in 2023.
As the WNBA Draft took place, the next (semi)-logical comparison was made as Clark’s WNBA rookie scale salary calls for her base salary to be:
- 2024: $76,535
- 2025: $78,066
- 2026: $85,873
- 2027: (option year) at $97,582
Quickly, the media pointed out that the NBA’s No. 1 draft choice, Victor Wembanyama signed a No. 1 pick NBA scale contract of $55,174,766 or some $13.7 million a year.
Knee jerk reactions were a combination of disbelief and horror by many who knew next to nothing of the NBA’s vast collective bargaining history since the maximum and minimum team salaries were introduced in 1983 and the number of years, ticket sales, and new global television deals it took to grow the NBA “pie” to its record levels of today.
For instance:
- The NBA will generate about $13B in revenues this year. The WNBA will not approach that number. For additional background, the NBA’s (USA/Canada-based) national media deals pay the NBA and its teams $2.8 billion with a “b” for 2023-24. The WNBA and its teams will net $65M total for media rights.
- The NBA is finishing its 78th season in business. The WNBA is enjoying its 28th season. The comparison in years would make it 1973 for the NBA.
- In 1973, NBA players were making $15,000 (minimum), the median was $25,000 and the average was $40,000. The “key salary” figure at time was $65,000. If you were making $65,000, you were pretty good.
- In ’73, the NBA had 45 players making $100,000, and keep in mind at the time there was a bidding war factor with ABA to sign and/or entice players between the years 1967 and ’76) – (Source: New York Times: Leonard Koppett).
- Remember, the NBA plays from October to April with an 82-game season with 30 clubs and for successful playoff teams it could be some 100+ games all the way to late June. WNBA players compete in a 40-game, four-month season with 12 teams.
- In addition to her base salary, Clark can make another $500,000 or more in WNBA-related earnings (coming from league activated marketing deals) this coming season.
- Without a doubt, the marketing strength and vast WNBA TV deals will help her gain significant income through new endorsements and via existing business partnerships. Recent reports have that dollar amount exceeding $3 million and potentially jumping to an eight-figure Nike shoe and apparel deal worth $20,000,000 itself. (Be Like Mike and take the stock options).
The differences far outweigh the similarities, so it’s quite disingenuous to compare Clark’s salary to Wembanyama’s. But, if Clark were to be drafted in the first round by an NBA team this June, which is within reason, she would be slotted into the NBA’s rookie pay scale. Period. There’s no gender issue in the NBA’s CBA. Rookies selected in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft will make roughly $2m (for the 30th selection) to $10,504,800 for the No. 1 pick in the draft.
If Clark were to be selected with, say, the 20th overall pick of the draft, she’d make $2,780,000 for her first season, with bump-ups to $2.9m and $3.05m for the following two years. A four-year option salary would come in at 54% of her salary in 2026-27.
Now, the question of the day: Is Clark good enough to command an NBA salary? And, play it out: is the most talented musician at the Berklee School of Music good enough to gross the $2 billion Taylor Swift made in 2023? Or, we can get real serious across the entire socio-economic chart and start comparing the salaries of school teachers, bus drivers, nurses, first responders and the like to entertainers and athletes.
The point is that it’s not a fair comparison to knee-jerk and compare salaries unless you’re putting it all in context. That is the attempt in this column.
One last point: In 2020, the likes of Sue Bird and the (WNBA/NBA) Players Association heads were lauding their new CBA, and rightfully so. Said Bird, a member of the WNBA Players Association executive committee: “The deal represents moving forward both from a WNBA perspective, but also in general, for women in sports and society. We continue to push forward and there’s a lot of aspects of this deal that mark that.
“When you look at things like what we’re able to do with maternity leave and family planning … We’re going to be looked at as – I think – pioneers in the sports world.”
The players called the deal “historic,” due to its potential to change the financial landscape of women’s professional sports. “We’re betting on ourselves,” they said. “We’re betting on our ability as a league to bring to our American culture what people say they want.”
Just like Julius “Doctor J” Erving, Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the new member of the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark, can be the game changer and put the WNBA on a path to incredible heights.
And guess what? Someday soon, while Clark and her 2024 Draft Class join up with the incredibly talented veteran stars of the league – A’ja Wilson and the entire Vegas Aces roster for one, Sabrina Ionescu and the NY Liberty, along with Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year and Clark’s new teammate Aliyah Boston, and all the other fabulous players in the W – they’ll all marvel when yet another unique, amazing, hard-working and game-changing athlete comes along, Just Like Mike came along to build on the foundation set by Doc, Larry and Magic, and Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and George Mikan before him.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: On a personal note: Some of my media brethren are trying to manufacture a “Bird vs Magic” style rivalry in the WNBA between Clark and former LSU star Angel Reese, drafted by the Chicago Sky. Let’s see what happens if the rivalry manifests itself or not in the years to come, but, putting that aside, this columnist thinks the proper comparison for Clark is the great Doctor J.
While playing for UMass, the Virginia Squires, New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, Doc did things that we’d never seen before, and he did it pretty much every game he played. Yes, Erving operated far above the rim and had mitts the size of Montana, while Clark “operates” from the center court logo zone, a zip code away from the rim, and makes every player on her team better. She does something we haven’t seen before almost every night, sometimes astonishing Golden State’s Steph Curry. Again, it’s tough – maybe impossible – to make the comparisons.
WAYBACK: Looking in the wayback machine for the NYT story cited above, it also quoted the great Pat Williams (former GM at Orlando and Philadelphia) and noted his P.O.V. on the late Commissioner David Stern’s ability to “sell” the NBA. Said Williams: “Now, the 47-year-old Mr. Stern is embarking on his next big gambit: peddling the sport abroad. And he likes nothing better than hustling. ”We had people in this league who would have trouble selling Blue Cross to Humpty Dumpty,” said Pat Williams, the general manager of the Orlando Magic. ”David Stern can sell an anvil to a drowning man. He can sell a pogo stick to a kangaroo. You ready for this? David Stern could sell a stethoscope to a tree surgeon.
“That’s the ultimate tribute I can pay the man,” said Williams.
NUGGETS AND TIDBITS: This might come as a shock, but the Boston Red Sox rank No. 2 in MLB with 28 Home Runs, trailing only the Baltimore Orioles with 30. This fast April start for the Sox in the HR Dept. is their most through 21 games since 2002 (30) and it ties for fifth most in franchise history. … The Red Sox 17 HRs on the road ties the San Francisco Giants for most in MLB (as of April 20-AM). … Heading into Saturday’s games, OF Tyler O’Neill ranked second in the American League with seven HRs while 1B Triston Casas is tied for third with six dingers.
SURPRISE, SUPRISE: Scottie Scheffler is atop the PGA leaderboard at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Course in South Carolina. Scheffler shot an acceptable two-under (69) on Thursday but amped it up to go 69-65-63 heading into the Sunday (April 21) finale. Five golfers are within three strokes.
SAD NOTE: It was very sad to get a text message from former St John’s coach Fran Fraschilla with the terrible news of (former St. John’s classmate) Howie Schwab passing away on the morning of April 20. Known to many sports fans as the “Stump the Schwab” ESPN personality, his friends knew him as the sports editor of “The Torch” at St. John’s and the kindest and most thoughtful guy you’d ever want to know. The WWYI column will delve deeper into “The Schwab” next week, but please say a prayer for Howie, his wife and family. Simply put, he was a very good man and the most loyal (to St. John’s and his ESPN employer) that you’d ever meet.