OT Caitlin Clark's WNBA rookie contract breakdown released

[dhsilv2]

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.

[GSWFan1994]

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

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

IIRC she recently said an actual offer never really happened. I remember reading that somewhere in this thread.

[DOT]

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.

I didn't realize it went up that much within Bird's career

But to be fair, he made $16.5 million total between 1980 and 1991, as a comparison Shaq mad 17.4 million on his rookie deal from 1992-1996

That's what I mean when I say the next generation who'll see more of the benefit if she's able to catapult the WNBA into national popularity, it's possible she's the first million dollar player, but also I'd say we might see players in the 2040s making more in a year than she'll make in her career, if that makes sense.

[dhsilv2]

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.

I didn't realize it went up that much within Bird's career

But to be fair, he made $16.5 million total between 1980 and 1991, as a comparison Shaq mad 17.4 million on his rookie deal from 1992-1996

That's what I mean when I say the next generation who'll see more of the benefit if she's able to catapult the WNBA into national popularity, it's possible she's the first million dollar player, but also I'd say we might see players in the 2040s making more in a year than she'll make in her career, if that makes sense.

To be fair, Bird got injured young. Had he gotten another deal he could have gotten his big pay out.

The other issue in that era was guys would sign 7+ year deals which killed them because the league blew up. Look at Pippen.

[dc]

The other issue in that era was guys would sign 7+ year deals which killed them because the league blew up. Look at Pippen.

Yeah, I remember Shawn Kemp signing some long term, team friendly deal with the Sonics. Then there was a spike in the cap and the Sonics signed Jim Mcilvaine to a deal that paid more per year than Kemp, and then Kemp started sulking.

That ruined Kemp and he was never quite the same player. The guy just fell off in what should've been his prime years.

[dc]

Magic got paid a million a year for like a decade...after he stopped playing. No clue how all that worked.

Maybe Bobby Bonilla can explain.

[docholliday99]

What rates have they set for advertisers for her broadcast games compared to any past WNBA games? Just from that they will know exactly what extra dollars she is bringing in.

Rates have not been set yet though the League was looking to increase their media deals from 60m annually to 80-100m - though that was before Caitlin and the rest of the stacked 2024 class ripped through March Madness. I believe now they are looking to try and double their current rate to 120m - which will set the next 3-5 years. Will that change the league's pay scale this season? Probably not, as the League will first need to see a profit before it trickles down to the players - something which has not occurred for the league since Stern created it back in 1997.

You're likely right and it's probably the TV networks that will be raising the ad rates for the individual games they will broadcast of hers, so they will be taking the profits more so than the league.

I still think if she were less selfless, she'd have found a way to hold out and strike a deal with either the league or the broadcasters to somehow get a slice of the pie her brand is bringing. She's white hot now, sadly we don't know if that will still be the case in 3-4 years when she renegotiates her contract.

Unfortunately she can't go direct to broadcasters and her deal is locked in with the WNBA. You do make an excellent point though about being white hot and striking and if her agent is smart (and probably is), then the endorsement deals could have incentives added or even an out clause that's in her control, where she could renegotiate those deals into a more equitable market share.

Still, I think many posters don't release what a massive task some are expecting Caitlin to simply will into existence by her presence. She will certainly save the Indiana Fever and bring some notoriety to the WNBA, but honestly, the WNBA has seriously dropped the ball and are suffering from a massive identity and branding crisis. The NCAA on the other had, has done something seriously right and we're assuming Caitlin is the sole cause when she's really the pinnacle culmination of what the NCAA has created.
It's not that fans don't want to watch women basketball, they just don't want to watch the WNBA. Take this excerpt from an article that sums it up neatly and why she's going to be paid what she is:

The WNBA is facing a big issue. The collegiate game is outpacing the professional game by a long-shot. Last weekend during Clark’s record breaking performance, viewership for the game surpassed any men’s college or NBA game that weekend. This is not isolated. According to Fox broadcasting data, more people are tuning in to women's college basketball than men's.

Last year's WNBA finals average a viewership of 728,000 falling well short of the viewership of this year's regular season women's college games on Fox. Last year's women's March Madness final held a radically higher viewership of 9.9 million viewers.

https://www.si.com/fannation/name-image-likeness/news/caitlin-clark-nil-paycut-misinformation-highlights-wnba-shortcomings-noah9

[Black Jack]

I wonder why the WNBA wouldn't just merge with college sports. Just create pro franchises in the same city as the top 100 college programs and players graduate to those teams. same schedule, tourney format shared mascots maybe. more women could get a career as a pro hooper.

[og15]

You can definitely say Caitlin Clark is underpaid while simultaneously saying WNBA players as a whole are not. They aren’t conflicting opinions. There’s no logic at all behind Caitlin specifically being worth seven figures to drink Gatorade for a couple commercials and being worth 5 figures to the league. She should get a commissioners exemption from collective bargaining because of the degree of an outlier she is. It’s way more than even LeBron or MJ

This shouldn't need to be said but there's a system for determining player's contracts in professional sports leagues and it's not intended to be some reflection of fair market value.

Yeah obviously, and these systems weren’t designed to handle one singular player coming in and being worth more to the league than every other player combined x10. It was stupid and not defensible when MJ was making 3 mil or a year or whatever and it’s even more ridiculous with Caitlin.

Standing behind collective bargaining is dumb pandering to bureaucracy. Caitlin didn’t get to collectively bargain anything, she’s coming into a system where she specifically and she alone is getting taken massive advantage of to a degree we haven’t seen in sports probably ever.

It’s a problem, just saying “well that’s just the way we do things, this shouldn’t have to be said” is a pretty lame place to stand but you do you

Does anyone truly know what she's actually going to be worth to the WNBA in their setting though? Should they pre-emptively make wild exemptions without actually knowing? Hype doesn't always result in sustained hype and success in different settings. Now I'm not saying she won't generate a lot, but you're asking them to go against the agreement they made with all their players for one player without truly knowing what she will actually bring in their setting.

The WNBA is not women's college basketball, we have to understand that it's not only Iowa who had been drawing crowds in NCAA women's basketball. Top NCAA women's basketball in general has been drawing crowds.

In terms of Caitlyn, her main source of income will be endorsements, the WNBA will primarily just be an avenue to allow her to get and maximize those endorsements. So you can't look at the value of playing in the league as just her contract because there is the opportunity value too. If she isn't playing professional basketball in the US and on tv, she won't be able to capitalize on endorsements, so she also understands that.

If she played for more money in Europe and had no US playing presence, she wouldn't be able to continue to generate the endorsement income.

[Revived]

Man. I’m a struggling self-employed musician and I make half that much. I did not realize how low WNBA salaries are.

You make half that much in a year or 3 months? Cause she makes that in 3 months.

[Harry Garris]

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.

I mean that's not how it functions in the NBA anymore, the players now receive 51% of basketball related income. Plus they don't have to pay for the expenses of running the league so to them it's straight "profit" after taxes.

I know that if the majority owners of teams chose to sell their stakes they would end up with more overall dollars in their bank accounts than even the highest paid NBA players but the point being is as these leagues become more successful it's not just the owners benefiting, the players will progressively receive a larger percentage of the cut as well. WNBA players only make 20% of BRI at the moment but that percentage will increase and become more favorable for the players as the league generates more revenue.

[Texas Chuck]

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.

[SlovenianDragon]

Theres no rule that a women cant play in the NBA right? So technically if she was good enough she could make that NBA money right?

[KembaWalker]

i hate the endorsements argument more than anything

I make more money outside my career with investments than my yearly salary too, doesnt mean i'm gonna be okay with you underpaying me by 1000x my worth while your revenue can increase by a factor of 100 overnight. collective bargaining pretty sure she didn't collectively bargain anything and the WNBA wants and needs her a lot more than she needs them. her and Bueckers could start an offshoot league bigger than the WNBA tomorrow. this isn't some historic league where prestige of the Indiana Fever is multiplying her earning potential. but she's going to be pressured by everyone to be this WNBA savior

[sikma42]

i hate the endorsements argument more than anything

I make more money outside my career with investments than my yearly salary too, doesnt mean i'm gonna be okay with you underpaying me by 1000x my worth while your revenue can increase by a factor of 100 overnight. collective bargaining pretty sure she didn't collectively bargain anything and the WNBA wants and needs her a lot more than she needs them. her and Bueckers could start an offshoot league bigger than the WNBA tomorrow. this isn't some historic league where prestige of the Indiana Fever is multiplying her earning potential. but she's going to be pressured by everyone to be this WNBA savior

The way you are fighting for CC is admirable. Little silly if you are familiar with collective bargaining but admirable, at least.


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[KembaWalker]

i hate the endorsements argument more than anything

I make more money outside my career with investments than my yearly salary too, doesnt mean i'm gonna be okay with you underpaying me by 1000x my worth while your revenue can increase by a factor of 100 overnight. collective bargaining pretty sure she didn't collectively bargain anything and the WNBA wants and needs her a lot more than she needs them. her and Bueckers could start an offshoot league bigger than the WNBA tomorrow. this isn't some historic league where prestige of the Indiana Fever is multiplying her earning potential. but she's going to be pressured by everyone to be this WNBA savior

The way you are fighting for CC is admirable. Little silly if you are familiar with collective bargaining but admirable, at least.


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not as silly as thinking you can just say "collective bargaining" and pat yourself on the back like you won some internet argument. If Caitlin felt like it she could simply play overseas for 100x this salary and the WNBA and players would immediately "collectively bargain" her the exemption she's worth lol. she won't because society will pressure her into being taken advantage of for a bunch of suits

it took a hundred years for people to wake up to the NCAA taking advantage of them and do something about it so I don't have a lot of hope

[sikma42]

i hate the endorsements argument more than anything

I make more money outside my career with investments than my yearly salary too, doesnt mean i'm gonna be okay with you underpaying me by 1000x my worth while your revenue can increase by a factor of 100 overnight. collective bargaining pretty sure she didn't collectively bargain anything and the WNBA wants and needs her a lot more than she needs them. her and Bueckers could start an offshoot league bigger than the WNBA tomorrow. this isn't some historic league where prestige of the Indiana Fever is multiplying her earning potential. but she's going to be pressured by everyone to be this WNBA savior

The way you are fighting for CC is admirable. Little silly if you are familiar with collective bargaining but admirable, at least.


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not as silly as thinking you can just say "collective bargaining" and pat yourself on the back like you won some internet argument. If Caitlin felt like it she could simply play overseas for 100x this salary and the WNBA and players would immediately "collectively bargain" her the exemption she's worth lol. she won't because society will pressure her into being taken advantage of for a bunch of suits

it took a hundred years for people to wake up to the NCAA taking advantage of them and do something about it so I don't have a lot of hope

I’m honestly trying to understand what’s causing you to argue this hard for CC’s salary.


These are legal agreements made between sophisticated parties. She would need to lawyer up (hint she has no argument). The WNBA can’t just disregard their collective bargaining agreement. These situations are also always baked into the clauses.


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[Loaded_Hollows]

Theres no rule that a women cant play in the NBA right? So technically if she was good enough she could make that NBA money right?

Correct. While the WNBA is openly sexist, the NBA welcomes anyone that is good enough to play in their league.

[prophet_of_rage]

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

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

It was never real.

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[ChipotleWest]

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

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.