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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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 Posted: 04/24/24 5:52 am ::: Caitlin Clark |
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Nike is reported to be giving Clark an 8 year shoe deal worth "up to" $28 million. That seems premature since she hasn't proven how successful she will be in the WNBA. But maybe the "up to" accounts for a lack of superstardom. They initially wanted her to be the face of the relaunched (2023) Kobe Bryant line, but then offered a signature shoe. The other WNBA players with signature shoes: Breanna Stewart (Puma), Elena Delle Donne (Nike) and Sabrina Ionescu (Nike).
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| There have only been 12 players in WNBA history to have their own signature shoes, going back to the original: Sheryl Swoopes with Nike in 1995. Other players who were part of the WNBA's first wave included Rebecca Lobo (Reebok), Lisa Leslie (Nike), Dawn Staley (Nike), Cynthia Cooper (Nike), Nikki McCray (Fila) and Chamique Holdsclaw (Nike). Active players who previously had a signature shoe: Diana Taurasi (Nike) and Candace Parker (Adidas). |
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2024/04/18/caitlin-clark-wnba-players-signature-shoes/73368536007/
After Clark broke the scoring record her agents informed Nike, Puma, Under Armour and Adidas that the minimum offer she would accept was $3 million a year. Don't understand why Clark can demand $3 million a year when Kelsey Plum didn't command anything like that when she set the scoring record seven years earlier.
But Ionescu looks to have signed a larger "up to" deal than Clark 4 years ago. Supposed to be worth "up to" $24 million for 6 years. But she won't get all of that due to, at a minimum, being hurt initially.
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| Like most shoe contracts, the potential value of Ionescu’s deal included numerous on-court incentives, along with bonuses for shoe sales. |
Country singer Tim McGraw wore a Caitlin Clark jersey at a Indianapolis concert:
https://youtube.com/shorts/7K1tdPD9QjA?si=ztbIkLeG3oow-puk
Should Caitlin Clark be on Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics?
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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Location: Where the action is
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| Posted: 04/24/24 10:33 am ::: |
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I was at the grocery store this morning and noticed one of those big, glossy magazines, the kind that are usually about mega-stars like Taylor Swift. This one was all about Caitlin Clark. It was dubbed the "Ultimate Fan Guide". If you're interested and you can't find it, check here:
https://magazineshop.us/products/caitlin-clark-the-future-of-basketball-fan-guide
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bcdawg04
Joined: 12 Apr 2016
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Location: Seattle
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| Posted: 04/24/24 3:44 pm ::: |
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Though the comparisons are inevitable, I can think of two factors contributing to Clark being a much bigger commodity than Plum coming out of college. One, playing on the west coast, Plum did not have the exposure that Clark had. Two, more importantly, Clark was by far the better college player. It's not even close. I believe in college Plum had one game with double figure assists.
Obviously I can't say with certainty anymore than anyone else how Clark will fare as a pro or how her transition into the W will go. No doubt this year the vets will "welcome" her into the league and show her how physical it is, like they did Plum. However, Clark gets a relatively soft landing - in addition to Boston, Indiana has another all star in the other Kelsey, and NaLyssa Smith is pretty good too. Those three will open things up for Clark. It's a tougher transition for guards and the expectations for Clark are sky-high. I just hope she can stay healthy to show what she can do. When the adversity hits (and it will), for her it'll be all about how she gets back up and how she uses it to get better.
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
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| Posted: 04/24/24 3:56 pm ::: Re: Caitlin Clark |
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| tfan wrote: |
| Don't understand why Clark can demand $3 million a year when Kelsey Plum didn't command anything like that when she set the scoring record seven years earlier. |
Yes you do. If you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention to everything that's been going on around Clark, of course you do.
18.7m people didn't tune in to watch Plum in a national championship game. 2.4m didn't tune in to watch Plum get drafted. Teams weren't selling out arenas to watch Plum in preseason games, or moving her games to bigger arenas due to demand, or seeing tickets for those games reach ridiculous numbers on the secondary market.
Plum and Clark might've both scored a lot of points, but the whole Caitlin Clark Experience has been a completely different animal. |
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goofy2
Joined: 11 Mar 2018
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| Posted: 04/24/24 5:00 pm ::: |
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| What will happen if she's a solid player, but not the superstar everyone thinks she'll be ?
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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: 04/24/24 6:14 pm ::: Re: Caitlin Clark |
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| Richyyy wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| Don't understand why Clark can demand $3 million a year when Kelsey Plum didn't command anything like that when she set the scoring record seven years earlier. |
Yes you do. If you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention to everything that's been going on around Clark, of course you do.
18.7m people didn't tune in to watch Plum in a national championship game. 2.4m didn't tune in to watch Plum get drafted. Teams weren't selling out arenas to watch Plum in preseason games, or moving her games to bigger arenas due to demand, or seeing tickets for those games reach ridiculous numbers on the secondary market.
Plum and Clark might've both scored a lot of points, but the whole Caitlin Clark Experience has been a completely different animal. |
Those ratings happened after Clark's agents put $3 million as her shoe deal minimum which was back when she broke Plum's record.
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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: 04/24/24 6:28 pm ::: |
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| goofy2 wrote: |
| What will happen if she's a solid player, but not the superstar everyone thinks she'll be ? |
WNBA teams, particularly Indiana are going to be sad to see their ticket sales come back to earth. The TV networks will also be disappointed and Fever coverage will return to normal. That is, unless Clark is still very popular as just a solid player. But Nike should just keep rolling along paying millions to players regardless. They gave Ionescu, a player some here called a "generational player" four years ago, a huge sneaker deal, and don't seem to mind that Ionescu just ended up being an all-star. That is because they turned around and did the same thing with Clark before she proved herself as a WNBA player. Although they probably are disappointed. But the shoe company bidding process is such that they are all making offers before the player proves themselves and hoping it happens but knowing full well it might not.
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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: 04/24/24 6:49 pm ::: |
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| bcdawg04 wrote: |
| Though the comparisons are inevitable, I can think of two factors contributing to Clark being a much bigger commodity than Plum coming out of college. One, playing on the west coast, Plum did not have the exposure that Clark had. Two, more importantly, Clark was by far the better college player. It's not even close. I believe in college Plum had one game with double figure assists. |
Good points. Clark always had the ball in her hands and really pushes the pace and can make highlight passes, unlike Plum. And I think her starting to occasionally hit "logo threes" gave her extra notoriety. Also her 4-feet-off-the-line threes that she does each game. And the Big 10 gets much better wbb crowds than the Pac-12 which adds to watching Clark highlight clips or games. Clark also broke Maravich's record. My recollection is that the excitement significantly increased as she broke that (and Lynette Woodard's record).
Last edited by tfan on 04/26/24 10:46 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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jmvcity
Joined: 21 Jun 2013
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| Posted: 04/24/24 9:40 pm ::: |
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| For Sabrina, I’m sure playing CBB in Nike’s backyard helped her case.
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hyperetic
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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Location: Fayetteville
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| Posted: 04/25/24 12:52 pm ::: |
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| I guess Caitlan is the newest/current "It Girl" in WBB. Guess her challenge going forward will be how to sustain it. |
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tfan
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tfan
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| Posted: 05/04/24 5:35 am ::: |
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| <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PxYpEZBWyyg?si=m5slzCigyxLYW-Nn" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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tfan
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mercfan3
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 05/04/24 6:36 am ::: Re: Caitlin Clark |
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| tfan wrote: |
| Richyyy wrote: |
| tfan wrote: |
| Don't understand why Clark can demand $3 million a year when Kelsey Plum didn't command anything like that when she set the scoring record seven years earlier. |
Yes you do. If you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention to everything that's been going on around Clark, of course you do.
18.7m people didn't tune in to watch Plum in a national championship game. 2.4m didn't tune in to watch Plum get drafted. Teams weren't selling out arenas to watch Plum in preseason games, or moving her games to bigger arenas due to demand, or seeing tickets for those games reach ridiculous numbers on the secondary market.
Plum and Clark might've both scored a lot of points, but the whole Caitlin Clark Experience has been a completely different animal. |
Those ratings happened after Clark's agents put $3 million as her shoe deal minimum which was back when she broke Plum's record. |
Come on, Clark (and Reese) exploded in last year’s March Madness, and momentum has been building for CC ever since.
The current rookies and CB had the NIl, which means they could build their brand at peak popularity, and used parasocial marketing allowing for engagement with the right audience.
One fair criticism of the WNBA was that women didn’t support the league..but the league was never marketed to women. Not ever.
Parasocial marketing does. For the first time. And as it turns out, when you market the whole person and actually engage with women - women are interested.
Hopefully Caitlin (and to a lesser extent Reese, Cam and Paige’s) popularity has a positive impact on finances and marketing across the league.
Sophie Cunningham was getting very little engagement initially, but recently it’s blown up - so hopefully that’s a positive sign.
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coffy73
Joined: 24 Sep 2009
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| Posted: 05/04/24 12:40 pm ::: |
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| hyperetic wrote: |
| I guess Caitlan is the newest/current "It Girl" in WBB. Guess her challenge going forward will be how to sustain it. |
Yep and that's all the W is gonna be about this year.
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