Much has been made of Caitlin Clark’s WNBA salary with the Indiana Fever.
It appears that Nike has her covered.
Per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Clark is finalizing an endorsement deal with Nike that will come with a signature shoe. The deal will also secure an eight-figure contract for Clark, per the report.
Specific numbers weren’t reported. But her anticipated contract with Nike will dwarf her WNBA contract that’s scheduled to pay her $338,056 over four years. Clark will earn a base salary of $76,535 as a rookie. It’s a number that was negotiated long before Clark turned pro as part of the WNBA’s collectively bargained rookie wage scale.
The salary numbers are jarring considering that Clark built a multi-million dollar brand as a superstar at the University of Iowa. Clark’s ascent as an elite playmaker and college basketball’s all-time leading scorer landed the Hawkeyes in back-to-back national championship games.
It also led to record-shattering ratings that saw Iowa’s title game against South Carolina draw 18.7 million viewers, roughly four million more than the men’s championship between UConn and Purdue drew. The ratings bonanza continued Monday at the WNBA draft, where Clark led a parade of rising stars as the No. 1 selection by the Fever.
Hers and her rookie counterparts’ salaries aren’t commensurate with the proven value many of them have already established as college players. While the WNBA figures out how to capitalize on that value and — presumably — ultimately return it to the players, Clark and others will look to endorsements for the bulk of their income.
For Clark, that means lucrative riches courtesy of a reported bidding war for her endorsement. Per Charania, Adidas and Under Armour also made “sizable offers” to Clark that she appears ready to turn down in favor of Nike. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry — who has his own signature shoe with Under Armour — sat in on negotiations with all three companies, according to the report.
The endorsement deal is one of several for Clark, who already has contracts with Panini, Gatorade and State Farm — as you’re surely aware if you’ve watched any basketball on TV this March.
Source Agencies
