The 2024 draft for the WNBA gained’t happen till 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday. However Caitlin Clark’s affect on the league is already being felt in a giant means.
Clark was inescapable throughout the NCAA match. With the draft, the phenomenally proficient Iowa Guard, who’s the all-time main scorer in faculty basketball, is a certain wager to be drafted by the Indiana Fever.
The knowledge of that draft choose is having huge ripple effects. Ticket costs for the crew, as an example, are surging. Whereas single sport ticket gross sales don’t begin till 4 p.m. this afternoon, the secondary market is already energetic. Ground seats on StubHub are going for as a lot as $515. And the typical resale worth for the 2024 season is triple what it was a yr in the past, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Clark’s arrival is benefitting different groups as effectively. Ticket gross sales for matchups with the Fever are prompting some adjustments. The Las Vegas Aces, as an example, are transferring their July 2 matchup towards Indiana to T-Cellular Area, which is able to open up one other 7,100 seats for followers to fill.
And although the Fever had the worst report within the Jap Convention final yr (coming in at an abysmal 13-27, giving them first choose on this yr’s draft), the crew goes to be in all places quickly. Some 36 of the 40 Fever video games can be broadcast nationally or carried on streaming companies this yr, greater than another crew.
ESPN is poised to learn from Caitlin Clark’s movie star as effectively. The channel (and its offshoots) will broadcast eight Fever video games this yr—and it’s additionally the tv dwelling of the WNBA Draft (additionally streaming on ESPN+, SlingTV, and FuboTV.) Final yr noticed a report viewership of 572,000 for that kickoff occasion and is more likely to hit a brand new excessive as we speak.
Amazon (with 4 Fever video games on its schedule), ABC and CBS may additionally see scores bumps.
The large winner, although, may very well be NBA TV, which is able to present a considerable variety of Fever video games, greater than another service. A League Move subscription starts at $15 per month (after a seven-day free trial). And Clark’s arrival may spur extra individuals to enroll.
Anticipate to see Caitlin Clark’s face in much more locations, as effectively, as she indicators extra sponsorship offers. Due to NCAA rule adjustments permitting athletes to revenue whereas nonetheless at school, she already has offers with Nike and State Farm Insurance coverage, giving her annual earnings of $818,000. Ought to her movie star proceed to develop as she performs within the league, that determine will solely develop.
Clark is the headliner of this yr’s draft, and maybe this season. She’s already a popular culture pressure, even displaying up on Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” this previous week to humble Michael Che for his jokes about girls’s basketball. Nonetheless, she’s hardly the one star who can be drafted this night.
LSU’s Angel Reese is a lock for a High 10 draft choose, with most forecasters expecting she’ll be picked up by the Chicago Sky. An extended-time rival of Clark, she led LSU to an NCAA championship final yr, due partially to her excellent rebound expertise. South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, in the meantime, is broadly anticipated to go to the Los Angeles Sparks because the quantity 4 choose.
What makes the draft so thrilling, although, whether or not it’s the WNBA or NFL, is issues don’t all the time go how the specialists are predicting. Whereas nobody is keen to wager on Clark being something however the instant first choose, the opponents she is going to face as soon as she strikes into the professional world won’t be those she expects.
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