First, I reject that women's gymnastics needs help to push interest of the fans. Certainly in Olympic years, many fans are interested in gymnastics. I think Americans at least, have shown that they are very supportive of the young ladies on the gymnastics' team.
Olivia Dunne is gorgeous and she's been a great ambassador for her college, LSU and there's been fan interest wherever the LSU team traveled these past few seasons. She has millions of followers on social media. She is not however, an elite gymnast. She's athletic and graceful, but she does not have anything close to the routines that would make your jaw drop. I think she would fairly admit that; to my knowledge, she's never expressed any resentment that she was somehow overlooked. She's not even considered the best gymnast for LSU, much less in the Top 10 US gymnasts.
Caitlyn Clark was the all-time leader in points scored in women's college basketball. She likely holds other records as well. She WAS women's college basketball for the past couple seasons while playing at Iowa.
Clark now plays for the Indiana Fever, one of 12 WNBA teams. Arenas are at capacity wherever she plays, She's a great ambassador to the sport, she's well-spoken and single-handedly carrying the WNBA right now. She has multiple millions in sponsorship deals, worth far more than the paltry $90,000 or so that she receives in salary. It's not that the Fever are stingy, but there are league maximums that they can pay her as a rookie. Because there is typically little interest in the WNBA as a whole, the league doesn't make a profit. They're subsidized by the NBA, so they can't pay their WNBA players anywhere near their NBA counterparts.
But Caitlyn Clark is a rising tide, lifting all boats in the league. Because of a few words from her mouth about team travel, instead of commercial air travel, teams are now chartering jets for their players.
No one knows how long the Caitlyn Clark "effect" will be around the WNBA. Does she have upside, will she continue to improve and become one of the greatest players of all time at the professional level? No one knows. She is drawing attention now however and if the stats I've seen are accurate, she has better season stats than others who've made the Olympic team.
While we don't know what her upside is, she is playing well (for a rookie), and she IS the WNBA right now. She has a huge following. Diana Taurasi, Chennedy Carter, Angel Reese and most other WNBA players do not. Honestly, few people care if the Liberty are playing the Sparks, or the Mercury are playing the Dream. Those teams don't have Caitlyn Clark on them. This year, the US Olympic team won't have Clark on it. It will have Britney Griner on it.
Time will tell if that was a good choice or not. Winning a gold medal will not be the measure of whether or not it was a good choice. Whether or not the WNBA has more fans or fewer fans is the better measure. Leaving Caitlyn Clark off the team may not be the same as "killing the golden goose," but they're sure trying to strangle it.
She's happy with her NIL money.
Yep