Uncomfortable Truths Behind the Caitlin Clark Phenomenon: Race, Sexuality, and Endorsements
It is hardly unexpected that businesses are waiting in line to sign autographs with Caitlin Clark, much like fans do along arena railings. The former Iowa standout is a phenomenal talent who has shown she can break ratings just as easily as she can score points. She has packed houses both at home and away, pulling 17,000 fans to an open practice during Final Four weekend. After she was selected by the Indiana Fever with the first overall pick, her WNBA jersey sold out in a matter of hours, and several teams have rescheduled their forthcoming games to bigger locations to meet the “record demand” for Fever games.
It makes perfect sense, then, that she has been employed to promote anything from trading cards to supermarket chains, from cars to financial investing organizations, and from house and vehicle insurance to performance drinks. According to The Athletic, she is not only worthy of every chance that has come her way but has also earned every endorsement contract that has been offered to her. This includes a $28 million agreement with Nike that includes her own line of trademark shoes.
Having said that, we should not fool ourselves into thinking that her popularity as an influencer stems exclusively from basketball. It would be disrespectful to history and reality to argue differently. The fact that Clark is a White woman who has excelled in a sport that is perceived as predominantly Black, a straight woman joining a league with a significant LBGTQ+ player population, and a native of America’s heartland—a region where people frequently feel their values and beliefs are disregarded or ignored by the country’s periphery—all contribute to her appeal to both local businesses and large national corporations.
It is absurd to claim as though basketball is the only thing causing The Caitlin Clark Effect because sport and society are inextricably linked and cannot be separated. the most important thing? Indeed. Not the only thing, though.
In the end, the bidding war for Caitlin Clark was not even close.
• Nike: 8-years/$28 million
• Adidas: 4-years/$6 million
• Under Armour: 4-years/$16 million
• Puma: *dropped out after hearing $3 million*Nike showing out in the competition photo.wsuwiHEn1m on twitter
— Morning Brew (@MorningBrew) April 24, 2024
Some people will try to twist these remarks to belittle Clark or her achievements. They are not. She is a fantastic player and, from all accounts, a good person. However, more than one item might be true at the same time, especially when talking about the reasons behind why a certain player is thought to be a stronger brand ambassador than another. Looking for a different viewpoint on the subject reminded me of an interview I conducted with ESPN vice president of research Flora Kelly last month.
An intriguing topic on the eve of the women’s Final Four is: is a great team or a great player better for television attention? While Kelly emphasized that other factors can propel viewing far beyond the roof and into the stratosphere, she also acknowledged the significance of a generational talent like Clark and how her presence alone can push viewership figures to new heights. Rivals between a team or players, the history of a franchise or program, and societal or cultural components are examples of factors that can produce viral moments.
“We’re in kind of a unique moment where social media can really spin and kind of create a hyper-awareness around these athletes, causing a moment that goes beyond sport,” Kelly said at the time. “But there are so many other factors that people are just downright ignoring and just making it Caitlin Clark. There are a lot of storylines surrounding her that are lifting it. Maybe it’s not the chicken or the egg. Maybe it’s both.”
Although talking about the racial aspect of brand ambassadors may make some uncomfortable, it is a topic worth considering. One of the greats of women’s basketball, Sue Bird, is White, homosexual, and addressed this issue in 2020 while talking about the league’s failure to get national attention at the time in the same manner that the U.S. women’s national soccer team had.
“Even though we’re female athletes playing at a high level, our worlds, you know, the soccer world and the basketball world are just totally different,” she said. “And to be blunt it’s the demographic of who’s playing. Women’s soccer players generally are cute little white girls while WNBA players — we are all shapes and sizes … a lot of Black, gay, tall women. … There is maybe an intimidation factor and people are quick to judge it and put it down.”
When accepting the ESPY for top college athlete in women’s sports the next year, Paige Bueckers, a standout guard for the University of Connecticut, had similar feelings. She claimed that although Black players won 80% of the WNBA postseason honors that season, they only received half as much media attention as White athletes.
“With the light that I have now as a White woman who leads a Black-led sport and celebrated here, I want to shed a light on Black women,” she said. “They don’t get the media coverage that they deserve. They’ve given so much to the sport, the community and society as a whole and their value is undeniable.”
Her comments were especially relevant in 2023, when Sabrina Ionescu, a White reserve guard, was chosen to be the cover player for NBA2K24, despite the fact that nine out of the ten starters in the WNBA All-Star Game were Black. Despite setting the NCAA record for triple-doubles while attending Oregon, Ionescu was not yet a professional icon. Thus, it was especially noteworthy that NBA2K24 chose to ignore a number of outstanding Black players, such as A’Ja Wilson and Jonquel Jones, two front-line players who were awarded league MVPs in 2020, 2021, and 2023. But as a heterosexual, White player, she, like Clark, checked certain boxes that the others did not.
Given that a significant portion of WNBA players identify as LBGTQ+, the subject of sexual orientation and identity has been for as long as the league itself. The truth is that during the league’s early years, it was difficult to strike the correct balance between encouraging diversity and avoiding alienating the larger community.
Even though many of its players were non-heterosexual, at first it frequently used married players with kids in its promoting advertisements. Sue Wicks, who was selected in the first round of the WNBA draft and went on to become the first out gay player to play in the league in 2002, has expressed that she felt constrained while the league attempted to establish the appropriate message.
“It would always chafe against me, someone saying, ‘You can’t say that you are gay,’” she told The Athletic in 2020.
Even though society as a whole has not changed since then, the league—which is currently the most inclusive in professional sports—has advanced significantly. Justice Clarence Thomas listed three more decisions that paved the way for the eventual reversal of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court decision that overturned the precedent. All three decisions were crucial in paving the way for the eventual national legalization of same-sex marriage. Some people still have concerns about the subject of sexual orientation and identity, which is one reason why Clark’s influence may be even more favorable.
That is not meant as an insult to her exceptional basketball abilities or to her personally. It is a recognition of the fact that, at her level, being a brand ambassador is more than just praising someone for their physical prowess. It also reflects the influence of society on the distribution of large purses.
(Photo: Roy Rochlin / Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust)