OT Caitlin Clark's WNBA rookie contract breakdown released

[Wile E. Coyote]

Every player on a rookie contract is underpaid

That's the point of rookie contracts

Well, maybe not every player, but you get the point

If this is the parallel to Magic/Bird where she supercharges the sport's popularity, it seems likely that it won't be her that benefits, but the women who come into the league 10, 15 years from now. Which just is what it is. Well, it won't be just them, the people who will benefit the most will be the owners because they do none of the work yet will get most of the profit, but that's capitalism for you.

Bird made 650k as a rookie and 7.07 million in 1992. I'd say he got some benefit for his impact. Magic got paid a million a year for like a decade...after he stopped playing. No clue how all that worked.

Magic had a 25 year/$25 million dollar contract if I remember correctly.

[eyriq]

She's probably going to change the women's game

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?t=PSPkukNLhjbggjkEJSPYew&s=19

[inquisitive]

at least her shoe contract will be at least $10mil

[Meat]

if someone offered me 75k a year, i'd laugh in their face

But do you also make 3 million a year on top of that salary for being an amazing athlete and highly marketable; plus revered and known by millions?

Me thinks not.

Let the man brag about what a big baller he is lol. Oh and how he's also pretty much an ass. Laughing in their face for offering you a livable wage? Okay Billy Badass.

Livable wage? In what state is 75k livable? Is she supposed to live in a trailer park? Don’t they also have to pay taxes, membership/insurance dues and an agent?

[shrink]

Let the man brag about what a big baller he is lol. Oh and how he's also pretty much an ass. Laughing in their face for offering you a livable wage? Okay Billy Badass.

Livable wage? In what state is 75k livable?

47 states. The three that require more are California, Massachusetts, Hawaii. $60k or less for 36 states.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/poverty/4179830-this-is-how-much-singles-need-to-live-comfortably-in-every-state/

[MrBigShot]

But do you also make 3 million a year on top of that salary for being an amazing athlete and highly marketable; plus revered and known by millions?

Me thinks not.

Let the man brag about what a big baller he is lol. Oh and how he's also pretty much an ass. Laughing in their face for offering you a livable wage? Okay Billy Badass.

Livable wage? In what state is 75k livable? Is she supposed to live in a trailer park? Don’t they also have to pay taxes, membership/insurance dues and an agent?

Things are really damn expensive these days but 75k in Indiana goes leaps and bounds farther than 75k in a place like NY. 75k is plenty for a single person in most states.

[EmperorLocky]

I've got no doubt in my mind if Caitlyn lives up to the massive expectations and WNBA attendance, tv contracts and merchandise sales sky-rocket because of her I think wnba will be smart enough to adjust salaries across the league as it happens.

[Meat]

Let the man brag about what a big baller he is lol. Oh and how he's also pretty much an ass. Laughing in their face for offering you a livable wage? Okay Billy Badass.

Livable wage? In what state is 75k livable?

47 states. The three that require more are California, Massachusetts, Hawaii. $60k or less for 36 states.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/poverty/4179830-this-is-how-much-singles-need-to-live-comfortably-in-every-state/

im sure different data sets say different things, but the notion of needing less than 100k to live in nyc is a joke. Anecdotally this seems right, based on me living in nyc
https://smartasset.com/data-studies/salary-needed-live-comfortably-2024

[shrink]

Livable wage? In what state is 75k livable?

47 states. The three that require more are California, Massachusetts, Hawaii. $60k or less for 36 states.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/poverty/4179830-this-is-how-much-singles-need-to-live-comfortably-in-every-state/

im sure different data sets say different things, but the notion of needing less than 100k to live in nyc is a joke. Anecdotally this seems right, based on me living in nyc
https://smartasset.com/data-studies/salary-needed-live-comfortably-2024

You are aware that New York City is not a state?

[NoStatsGuy]

This can all be easily explained. For one, thats a pretty great paycheck for 4-5 months of work. But also, sports are an entertainment business. In entertainment, you make what you bring in.

If one musician plays for 20 people at a bar and another musician plays for 75,000 at an arena, should the one playing for 20 people at a bar be paid the 10 million per show Taylor Swift makes? They are doing the same job...

I think people just want to be outraged about stuff these days.

(This isn't directed at anyone here, just seen countless posts on Twitter with people outraged over this.)

people dont understand this concept unfortunately and also the salary cap and cba means, you have no "free market". even if clark is worth more right now, you cant pay her more. at least officially.

But also i think 75% of the people talking about this on the internet, dont have an actual interest in the topic, they just wanna meme around and get likes/retweets/whatever

[stuporman]

They say women make 80 cents for every dollar that men make...they lied.

[prophet_of_rage]

Did she ever address this? She honestly should've took that offer and ran!

It was never real.

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Watch on YouTube

Why would it not be real? It's a smart business move, and he could get the sponsors to pay the 5 million easily. It would bring more eyes to the Big 3.

The women's Championship just crushed the men's college Championship in ratings, that's never happened before. She is a star.

Why wasn't it real? Because one Big 3 players don't get paid hundreds of thousands and two Clark herself said Cube never reached out to her directly. It is mere puffery.

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[Meat]

47 states. The three that require more are California, Massachusetts, Hawaii. $60k or less for 36 states.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/poverty/4179830-this-is-how-much-singles-need-to-live-comfortably-in-every-state/

im sure different data sets say different things, but the notion of needing less than 100k to live in nyc is a joke. Anecdotally this seems right, based on me living in nyc
https://smartasset.com/data-studies/salary-needed-live-comfortably-2024

You are aware that New York City is not a state?

It might as well be, but you’re right it’s more a nation

[LeBronSpaghetti]

I’m not sure what people expect for a business that generates absolutely no money. Many of them have complained that they want revenue sharing - well if there’s no revenue how does that work? Do they have to pay to play like I do in my men’s league?

I think it would be great if the WNBA started generating some money from Clark’s popularity. But I cannot stand the entitlement of “I do nothing to generate any money but I deserve a massive salary”. Clark will be very wealthy due to endorsements and sponsorships regardless of her salary, which she of course deserves because she generates a lot of money.

[KembaWalker]

I’m not sure what people expect for a business that generates absolutely no money. Many of them have complained that they want revenue sharing - well if there’s no revenue how does that work? Do they have to pay to play like I do in my men’s league?

I think it would be great if the WNBA started generating some money from Clark’s popularity. But I cannot stand the entitlement of “I do nothing to generate any money but I deserve a massive salary”. Clark will be very wealthy due to endorsements and sponsorships regardless of her salary, which she of course deserves because she generates a lot of money.

If you’re a failing business and there’s a star salesman on the market that is going to immediately increase your revenue by a factor of 100 you don’t go to them with an offer of $15 an hour because “well heck sorry bro we’re a failing business why would you expect more? Just get a side hustle!”

Unfortunately society will basically force her to go along with this exploitation under the guise of “lifting up women’s basketball for the future! Collective bargaining!” While the suits sit in the boardroom laughing their asses off. But don’t expect everyone to just be like “yeah this is okay because this is how it’s always been done”, not everyone is going to go along with that in your life


In an ideal world she would come out and say hey, this isn’t the 70s anymore, things are moving at much faster pace than your antiquated systems are capable of handling and it’s taking advantage of me. I’d rather negotiate my compensation outside the framework of collective bargaining of which I had no part in, meet me at the table if you’d like or I’ll go do something else with my time

[Doctor MJ]

at least her shoe contract will be at least $10mil

So I think this is a thing to reflect on:

Clark had a Nike NIL deal before this one. She and Nike have been partners all through the discussion we’ve been having.

This then to say: If Nike thought Clark going to the WNBA was going to hurt her brand, they probably push her in another direction before they give her big money. They didn’t.

I would suggest to folks that the Nike money was always going to be a bigger paycheck than Big3 or anything else, and that Nike was expecting Clark to play for the WNBA. Hence all this fuss about Clark making more money elsewhere was just a misunderstanding of the situation.

I’ll add: Some bro here was bragging about his investments making him more money than his salary and arguing that wasn’t a reason for him to be satisfied with his company paying less.

That’s true, but investments are not the same thing as endorsements. The former is a side-hustle, the latter is intended to build on top of what the person is doing that makes them worth promoting to the company paying the endorsement.

In Clark’s case she matters not because she’d be excellent at basketball in all leagues, but because of what she represents to women’s basketball. Hence taking her out of women’s basketball kills her brand value.

None of this means WNBA salaries are exactly where they should be, but that’s more relevant to all the players who don’t get mega Nike deals than it is to Clark.

For someone like Clark the big money was always going to be the endorsements, and so it wasn’t a question of which basketball league would pay her the most directly, but which would allow her to gain the best endorsements in the long-term.

And since the NBA created the WNBA to control women’s pro basketball in the US, and they succeeded in killing competition, the WNBA is literally the only American game in town.

Clark may well play internationally in the off-season too to be clear, but 1) it’s not an either/or situation and 2) Nike will care a lot less about play in foreign leagues than they will about the American League when considering how to max out value around an America’s Sweetheart type of female athlete.


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[D.Brasco]

Read on Twitter

[Meat]

I’m not sure what people expect for a business that generates absolutely no money. Many of them have complained that they want revenue sharing - well if there’s no revenue how does that work? Do they have to pay to play like I do in my men’s league?

I think it would be great if the WNBA started generating some money from Clark’s popularity. But I cannot stand the entitlement of “I do nothing to generate any money but I deserve a massive salary”. Clark will be very wealthy due to endorsements and sponsorships regardless of her salary, which she of course deserves because she generates a lot of money.

you've never worked for a tech company have you? didnt both besos and musk become the world's richest men before their company made any money

[mastermixer]

Read on Twitter

Jokes on you. I’m gonna get everyone I know to watch all the games and buy as much merchandise as possible in order to get the league to pay their players less!

[Quattro]

Man if I were her I would have gone to the Big 3 for 5 million.

I read she's about to sign an 8 figure contract with Nike. She's gonna be alright. The rest of the women in that league though? Hopefully the influx of interest from March Madness this year and Clark herself can elevate interest and eventually revenue and salaries