Breanna Stewart won this year's WNBA MVP award. She plays for New York, the largest market in sports. Her huge payout in her new MVP contract...$190,000 per year. The average attendance at her New York team's home games in the nation's largest city playing for the WNBA's best team...7,700 people. Average television coverage? None. And again, this is for the star of the league.
How could anyone in the Hawkeye media (most of them are doing it) argue Clark should bolt to the WNBA with another eligibility remaining? They clearly don't understand the best player in that entire league makes $190,000 playing in empty arenas and no one's ever heard of her? What endorsement deals does that generate?
Compare Stewart with Caitlin's situation at Iowa. She's in her home state where she's treated like a god. Her parents drive 90 mins to attend all of her games. Her friends come to the games. She plays in front of 15,500 Hawk fans every week. Even her road games and the Big 10 tourney are sold out. She's good friends with her teammates and loves her coaches. Because Iowa plays on national tv (unlike any WNBA teams), Caitlin has been able to score HUGE NIL deals. She dominates enough to score 30+ and 10 assists per game which won't likely happen in the pros. And best of all, she makes over $1,000,000 per year doing what she's doing right in her home of Iowa City.
No athlete has ever had a better situation in college sports than Clark. It would be foolish to think the grass is greener in the WNBA wasteland where all stars quickly fade into irrelevance. Just look at how last year's women's college basketball star turned out. Ailya Boston played in the Final 4 and was the #1 overall draft pick. Her #1 pick contract was for just $75,000 this year. She played for the last place team in the league in front of just 4,000 fans per game! Were her games televised? Of course not. No one's watching that.
Clark's situation would be similar. Clark will be drafted #1 and go to the league's worst team. Like with Boston, her rookie contract would be in the $75,000 range and her games will not be televised. Without TV, her appeal wanes and her NIL deals dry up. She also has zero built in fans who rabidly follow her team like Caitlin gets with wearing the black and gold. Hawkeye fans were rabid before Clark and they'll be rabid after Clark. You can't say the same about any WNBA team. I guarantee the vast majority of Hawk fans who tune into Clark do it because she has Iowa on her Jersey. Most aren't going to give a second thought to a WNBA regular season game.
If Clark sits down with her family and really thinks it through, the decision to stay is a no-brainer. Will next year's team have a shot at a title? Probably not, as most of the starters graduate and Clark's coach already proved incapable of recruiting out of the transfer portal to add stars to compliment Clark on the roster. But Clark can be a mentor to incoming freshmen and leave a lasting legacy with the next generation of Hawkeye stars.
How could anyone in the Hawkeye media (most of them are doing it) argue Clark should bolt to the WNBA with another eligibility remaining? They clearly don't understand the best player in that entire league makes $190,000 playing in empty arenas and no one's ever heard of her? What endorsement deals does that generate?
Compare Stewart with Caitlin's situation at Iowa. She's in her home state where she's treated like a god. Her parents drive 90 mins to attend all of her games. Her friends come to the games. She plays in front of 15,500 Hawk fans every week. Even her road games and the Big 10 tourney are sold out. She's good friends with her teammates and loves her coaches. Because Iowa plays on national tv (unlike any WNBA teams), Caitlin has been able to score HUGE NIL deals. She dominates enough to score 30+ and 10 assists per game which won't likely happen in the pros. And best of all, she makes over $1,000,000 per year doing what she's doing right in her home of Iowa City.
No athlete has ever had a better situation in college sports than Clark. It would be foolish to think the grass is greener in the WNBA wasteland where all stars quickly fade into irrelevance. Just look at how last year's women's college basketball star turned out. Ailya Boston played in the Final 4 and was the #1 overall draft pick. Her #1 pick contract was for just $75,000 this year. She played for the last place team in the league in front of just 4,000 fans per game! Were her games televised? Of course not. No one's watching that.
Clark's situation would be similar. Clark will be drafted #1 and go to the league's worst team. Like with Boston, her rookie contract would be in the $75,000 range and her games will not be televised. Without TV, her appeal wanes and her NIL deals dry up. She also has zero built in fans who rabidly follow her team like Caitlin gets with wearing the black and gold. Hawkeye fans were rabid before Clark and they'll be rabid after Clark. You can't say the same about any WNBA team. I guarantee the vast majority of Hawk fans who tune into Clark do it because she has Iowa on her Jersey. Most aren't going to give a second thought to a WNBA regular season game.
If Clark sits down with her family and really thinks it through, the decision to stay is a no-brainer. Will next year's team have a shot at a title? Probably not, as most of the starters graduate and Clark's coach already proved incapable of recruiting out of the transfer portal to add stars to compliment Clark on the roster. But Clark can be a mentor to incoming freshmen and leave a lasting legacy with the next generation of Hawkeye stars.
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