Caitlin Clark’s received no scarcity of low season choices, so if the Unequalled league goes to land the face of the game their provide should match the title.
As Entrance Workplace Sports activities reported Wednesday, it is going to.
The brand new 3-on-3 ladies’s basketball league—co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and gearing up for its inaugural season — is getting ready to supply Clark a contract exceeding $1 million with different incentives for the three-month league.
FOS described it a “Lionel Messi-like” provide.
A “Messi-like” deal references the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink provide Main League Soccer prolonged to court docket the seven-time Ballon d’Or Winner in 2023, and will doable embody a good-looking contract, partial possession, beneficiant monetary incentives and even a stake in broadcast income.
For the Unequalled league, which can tip off in Miami in January and run all through the WNBA’s offseason, Clark’s involvement can be nothing wanting revelatory.
Different feminine basketball gamers together with Chelsea Grey and Angel Reese have already pledged their participation, however none carry a following like Clark.
The WNBA Rookie of the Yr is the fourth-most marketable athlete on the globe, in response to SportsPro — one notch behind LeBron James and one in entrance of the aforementioned Argentinian.
If Messi’s influences on the enterprise and repute of American soccer are any indication, Clark is properly definitely worth the value.
Within the season previous his arrival, Inter Miami FC generated income between $50-$60 million.
In 2023, that determine climbed to $120-$130 million, per ESPN. This yr, the membership is projecting to earn greater than $200 million.
A rising tide lifts all boats— not simply the tremendous yachts in Miami. As MLS reported Tuesday, extra persons are watching American soccer than ever earlier than— each on tv and in particular person. Solely England’s Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga recorded greater attendance numbers.
The league additionally set new sponsorship, retail, social media and digital media information throughout the 2024 common season.
The expectation is that Clark, like Messi, would deliver followers into the world, drive rankings for broadcast companion TNT Sports activities and develop promoting income.
Provided that Unequalled has pledged to supply “the highest average salary in professional women’s sports league history,” per the league’s spokeswoman who chatted with Entrance Workplace Sports activities, these earnings would go a good distance — for Clark and for the league’s different 29 gamers too.
