Just a few days after former Iowa guard Caitlin Clark was drafted first by the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, watched by more than two million people, the 22-year-old is nearing an eight-figure endorsement deal with Nike, according to The Athletic.
It is unclear the exact value of the deal or how long it would be for.
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The deal would come with her own signature shoe, per the report. When the college season ended, so did Clark’s NIL deal with Nike, which made her a free agent in the apparel endorsement market. Clark wore the Nike Sabrina 1s in her first official photo in a Fever uniform.
Under Armour and Adidas also made “sizable” offers to Clark, according to The Athletic, but it is unclear how those offers stood up against Nike’s. Nike has an established relationship with the WNBA and made an equity investment in the league in 2022.
Iowa was a Nike-sponsored school, and Clark regularly wore shoes from Kobe Bryant’s sneaker line. She was known to autograph and give the game-worn shoes to fans as she exited the court.
Her four years at Iowa were spent rewriting college basketball’s history book as she ended her career scoring 3,951 points, the most in men’s and women’s college basketball after passing “Pistol” Pete Maravich. She ended the 2023-24 season with 1,234 points, the most scored in a women’s single season. The first commercial shown after she broke Maravich’s record was a Nike ad congratulating her.
The demand for Clark memorabilia is already skyrocketing with her WNBA debut less than a month away. Indiana Fever No. 22 jerseys, made by Nike, were sold out on Fanatics’ website two days after the pick was announced. If fans want to get a Clark jersey, they may have to wait until August for it to ship as Nike ramps up manufacturing to meet the demand.
Now that Clark is in the WNBA, more sponsors will flock to her as they hope to get a piece of the league’s biggest young star. She said on draft night that how she handles endorsements remains business as usual.
“I feel like it doesn’t change a ton from how I lived my life over the course of the last year,” Clark said. “Sponsorships stay the same. The people around me, agents and whatnot, have been able to help me and guide me through the course of the last year.”
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