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There’s been loads of dialogue about WNBA wages since Caitlin Clark was chosen by the Indiana Fever with the primary general choose, and commissioner Cathy Engelbert emerged as a much-needed voice of purpose whereas discussing the renewed debate.
Caitlin Clark knew what she was signing up for when she declined to reap the benefits of her last season of eligibility on the College of Iowa and as an alternative opted to take her abilities to the WNBA.
Darren Rovell has been essentially the most vocal member of the group of people that’ve argued she took a pay reduce by exchanging her NIL offers for the $76,535 she’ll make due to her rookie contract, though that quantity is a drop within the bucket in comparison with the endorsements that include being the largest identify in ladies’s basketball.
Nike didn’t waste a lot time welcoming Clark to its steady {of professional} athletes with a contract that’s reportedly value greater than $20 million, so it looks as if she’s going to be simply effective—a sentiment WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert confused whereas addressing the matter on Thursday.
Throughout a dialogue on the 2024 CNBC Changemakers Summit in New York Metropolis, Engelbert shut down the notion Clark’s compensation is definitely capped at her base wage whereas noting she has the potential to earn upwards of $500,000 from the WNBA due to agreements that permit the Fever and the league to compensate her instantly for her means to market.
She additionally countered the group that’s asserted she would’ve made more cash by remaining in faculty by noting “as a result of she declared to change into professional, her endorsements are increased in greenback worth. She has a worldwide platform now, not only a U.S. platform, so she’s going to do exactly effective.”
Clark’s state of affairs has additionally led to the newest spherical of dialogue in regards to the pay hole between the WNBA and the NBA, and Engelbert was fast to level out one of many many apparent variations between the 2 organizations whereas acknowledging the disparity, saying, “Males’s leagues are 75 to 120 years outdated. We’re tipping off our twenty eighth season. I’d say if you happen to checked out them 28 seasons in, we’re additional forward. I understand we nonetheless have loads of work to do.”
Effectively mentioned.
