Interesting interview with Dan Patrick. Not sure if she would take a pay cut to go to WNBA.
Clark considering staying two more years
- Thread starter tweeterhawk
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A function of low WNBA salary opportunities, NIL deals for the top college players and loving being a Hawkeye.
If this comes to fruition and she stays healthy, she will shatter every NCAA BB scoring and assist record.
Do you think her NIL deal is better than any of those on the men's team? Just wondering.
No one knows for sure what she's making in total from Nike, Hy Vee, H&R Block, etc.
However, by heading to the WNBA, she would likely make at least $1,100,000 a year (WNBA salary + bonuses + sponsorships + at least $400,000 overseas). And when China opens back up that number would increase to $1,500,000. How did I come up with $1,100,000 & $1,500,000? Read on.
The best WNBA players (before considering any income overseas) can make up to $700,000 a year through bonuses and sponsorships, according to the WNBA.
Last year, Rhyne Howard was the #1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. She earned $72,141 in her first season (before bonuses & sponsorships). This season she will earn $73,584 (before bonuses & sponsorships).
For 2023, the top WNBA salary will be $234,936 (before bonuses & sponsorships).
From a couple stories linked below:
The lucrative off-season for women’s professional basketball players, when they make the bulk of their income, has dried up this year due to a mix of geopolitical tensions, currency fluctuation and Covid lockdowns.
Russia is no longer an option for most players of course, but top players (Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Jonquel Jones) were earning more than $1 million in Russia — nearly 4 times what they can make as a base salary in the WNBA. The 31-year-old Griner had played in Russia since 2014. China and South Korea are currently closed to WNBA players. The result? It is driving down the remaining European salaries, which are already being battered down by inflation and secondary effects from the war in Ukraine.
China, which had paid mid- and top-tiered players $50,000 to $200,000 a month for around 4 months, is banning its women’s leagues from using American players for a third-straight year.
“The moment China ceased to be an option the market immediately depressed,” said Allison Galer, founder and president of Disrupt the Game, a talent agency.
Mike Cound, president and owner of Cound Group Global, said China is closed to American players due to Covid restrictions. Heated Sino-American relations also make it hard for the players to get work visas in time to compete there.
South Korea is similarly closed to Americans due to Covid restrictions and lower demand for foreign talent, Cound said.
Turkey has emerged as the leading destination for players looking to train in the off-season. The Turkish league’s Fenerbahçe team will host a number of top-tier players this year, including Breanna Stewart, runner-up for the WNBA’s most valuable player last season. The Atlanta Dream’s Tiffany Hayes will play again for Mersin, along with Las Vegas Aces star Chelsea Gray, who just led her team to the WNBA championship, and the Connecticut Sun’s DeWanna Bonner.
While Hayes said top players can still make a “high six figures,” most of the salaries being paid by Turkish teams are a fraction of what they used to be.
A women’s salary in Turkey a few years ago could top out at around $800,000. Now, that number is closer to $350,000 or $400,000. Boris Lelchitski, chief executive officer of Sports International Group, another talent agency, has seen a 30% to 40% reduction in overseas salaries from previous years.
Now that many teams with the deepest pockets -- Russia’s Ekaterinburg and the Chinese teams -- are off the table, the next best teams don’t have to haggle as hard for premier players.
“This is driving the market down because the top teams outside of Russia don’t have to pay as much to get the best player or a good player,” Lelchitski said. “They don’t want to negotiate against themselves.”
“There’s so many things coming out of Ukraine that people all over Europe are getting hit with,” Cound said. “That includes Spain, France, Turkey. So all these teams are having economic problems to pay their salaries.”
The Turkish lira has also depreciated around 28% against the dollar this year as of Tuesday, making it tougher for the teams to pay up.
Sources:
Rhyne Howard | WNBA Contracts & Salaries | Spotrac.com
Rhyne Howard signed a 3 year, $226,668 contract with the Atlanta Dream, including an average annual salary of $75,556. In 2025, Howard will earn a base salary of $91,981, while carrying a cap hit of $91,981 and a dead cap value of $91,981.
WNBA Rankings
Listing the top salaries, cap-hits, contracts, bonuses, and more for all active WNBA players.
EXPLAINER: Why WNBA players go overseas to play in offseason
Russia has been a popular destination for WNBA players like Brittney Griner over the past two decades because of the money they can make playing there in the winter.
apnews.com
The deals she has with Nike, Hy Vee, H&R Block, etc. put her way ahead of any male athlete in Iowa City, imo.
It's absolutely wild to me that I made more money waiting tables than the #1 pick in the WNBA draft made playing basketball. There has to be a way to make the WNBA more profitable.
Howard made $72,141 in her first season (before bonuses & sponsorships).
It would be interesting to see what her total income ended up being when adding in bonuses & sponsorships/endorsements.
Is that what they're doing overseas? If that's what it takes to get a dork like you to spend money on women's basketball instead of their OnlyFans subscription it might be worth a shot. I have my doubts.
Yep DanP asked her if she would take a pay cut. She has some really good sponsors and she might have other NIL money.
As someone said she could make $1 mill a year with wnba and overseas but who the hell wants to go overseas after the Griner episode. Besides Russia, I would leave turkey, china, hungary and some other eastern european countries on the do not visit list. Some of those countries are ok right now but they can change pretty quickly.
Not sure if Australia has womens pro bball but Italy and france might
That's exactly what I'm thinking. And i think sponsorship money won't compare to her nil deals she has now. She's obviously the most watched female basketball player in the country including wnba. She loves Bluder, her teammates, and Iowas so no reason for her not to stay. It's obvious she loves it and the fans love her back.
Most of the time, those Eastern European teams are sponsored by an individual, which is why they pay better than the Western European teams, and why American players go there. The obvious downside, besides a Griner situation, is that these individuals decide they no longer want to pay for a high end women's basketball team. This is why it's such a free-for-all for these players.
Not watching the WNBA makes me a dork? Man there's a lot dorks then because there's not a lot of people watching the WNBA.
She doesn't have to go overseas for another $400,000 or more because she likely would carry over her lucrative current sponsorships to the WNBA. I mean, is Nike, Hy-Vee, etc going to drop her when she turns pro? Unlikely.
And she'd make an additional $73,000 in salary by going to the WNBA
So, I can see why she said she wouldn't be taking a pay cut by going to the WNBA.
But what seems to matter to her most is being happy. And she's very happy in Iowa City.
I’ve watched women’s college basketball for a long time and Never have I watched a WNBA game. I couldn’t even tell you what channel covers them. But that may change when CC gets there.😁
If Caitlin Clark stays at Iowa for six years, it will have nothing to do with money. She is already a bankable star and will make money wherever she is.
Someone asked what it would take to make the WNBA profitable. The answer could be Caitlin Clark. She is easily the most entertaining player the women's game has ever produced.
Someone asked what it would take to make the WNBA profitable. The answer could be Caitlin Clark. She is easily the most entertaining player the women's game has ever produced.
I think the bolded does make for a couple interesting questions.
Will CC be worth as much to Hy-Vee, a very regional company, playing in some out of state location in a league today that gets very little exposure vs. as a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes?
Is her value the same to Nike if she's in the WNBA given the amount of national exposure she's getting in college basketball (front page ESPN, etc.)? You might be able to say she would greatly increase WNBA viewership & exposure, certainly possible but we don't know that as fact.
With so many unknowns, I am just going by what literally came out of CC's mouth.
She said she wouldn't necessarily be taking a pay cut by moving on to the WNBA. In order for her to say that, I think it's safe to say that she and her parents have gathered all the financial numbers based on talking to who they need to talk to (Nike, Hy-Vee, etc).Similar threads
