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The WNBA and Caitlin Clark’s Civil Rights
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Aug. 3, 2025 | Sean McLean

Posted on 08/04/2025 8:59:50 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Caitlin Clark has done for the Women’s National Basketball Association what Michael Jordan once did for the NBA—made it more valuable, watchable and marketable. Instead of protecting its transformative star, the league’s leadership ignores the relentless targeting of Ms. Clark, treating its greatest asset as if she were a PR headache. That approach could turn into a legal liability for the WNBA.

Since she joined the league last year, Ms. Clark’s impact has been seismic: Merchandise sales soared 601%, Indiana Fever viewership jumped 170%, the team’s value tripled, League Pass subscriptions climbed 366%, app engagement rose 613%, and her endorsements topped $11 million. She’s the economic engine driving the league forward.

Yet she routinely faces intentional hits, excessive fouling and uncalled abuse while referees look away. Teammate Sophie Cunningham said what fans already know: “The star player of the league is not being protected.” Ms. Clark herself noted: “Everybody is physical with me. They get away with things others don’t.” Three injuries have sidelined her for 10 games and the All-Star Game, with ratings plummeting 55% without her.

Is it because Ms. Clark is white? A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, a three-time league most valuable player, thinks so. She has said that race is a “huge thing” and that “it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.” Under civil-rights law, race-motivated patterns trigger scrutiny even without explicit discriminatory intent.

Systemic missed calls include viral replays of Ms. Clark being fouled multiple times in a single possession. “Every single one of them is a foul,” analyst Rebecca Lobo said. Ms. Clark absorbed 17% of flagrant fouls last season—double her peers’ rate. This isn’t merely bad officiating—it’s dangerous and unequal. She endures blindside checks and midair collisions—plays that trigger reviews in other leagues.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: morecaitlinnews
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To: Secret Agent Man

“Its never going to be profitable and make money on its own.”

The NBA has poisoned the public by playing to one type of fan. And they have changed the game to match the needs and identity of the bonding. They have replaced the talented players with goons. And the violence continued to match up closer to what fans understood and that was just like the street ball played in every court in the US. Violence and dunk with an occasional long shot. And the league assisted with a three point line, a restricted area under the basket, and removing rules like hand checking while being more aggressive called illegal defenses while the shooters wer allowed to “make space” for their mid range jump shots by knocking defenders out of the way. So scoring and violence could continue.

The along comes women with graceful running of the floor and eye makeup and hair additions. The public wanted it like the men so the “beauty” of the game was cringed at. Soon the women got less womanly and going bigger and meaner to meet the standards of the men. But they couldn’t at first dunk, or get into enough fights to get it done. And the quality of their game could not compete. Now they have transitioned into a morphed kind of game still trying for the hair pieces but hitting more often.

Clark is the George Mikan or Bill Russel of the early stages and later Larry Bird and Magic Johnson till it reached Michael Jordon. And they were all targeted.

So until the women get rid of their reputation of being the gentler, softer sex, they will continue to fail. They have nothing to sell but controversy. Welcome Caitlan Clark. And who ever is next. The public doesn’t care who it is. Just as long as it looks like the game they play at outdoor high school courts across America. That they can identify with...and pay for. Welcome to the NBA/MMA.

wy69


21 posted on 08/04/2025 10:54:19 PM PDT by whitney69
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To: whitney69

The sports issues you bring uphad notthing to do with it. Those are separate issues, and I agree those are problems with the sport.

I am talking about it from a business perspective. The mens leagues were built from the ground up. The men playing in them made peanuts for decades. They were not massive salaries. There were no retirement packages, no shares, no nuttin. For a very long time. They had to go out and get spomsors and build these endeavors from nothing to something, and there were losses along the way, not everything worked out. Most did not make fortunes.

The womens leagues are incredibly coddled and entitled and given tens of millions of dollars a year for decades to lose money. They didnt build anything from the ground up with their own money. They think they deserve nba salaries.

This is why they will never be profitable. Its all being given to them, they feel entitled to it and actually feel they deserve more. What have they done for it? The men fund them every losing year they are inexistence and they think they deserve nba salaries.


22 posted on 08/04/2025 11:04:58 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: pepsionice
The chief problem, over the past 20 years...they’ve sold themselves as the LGTBQ-league

No one watched the league primarily due to that.

Relatability is an important factor that tends to be overlooked.

23 posted on 08/04/2025 11:22:49 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: Laslo Fripp

Let’s not start making unrealistic comparisons, not to rip you, Caitlin Clark is an outstanding women’s basketball player but she not only can’t make any NBA team, she couldn’t compete on any men’s college basketball team and would have a real problem making a high men’s high school team

Let’s remember the US Women’s National Soccer team that is a favorite to win any World Championship level competition they compete in, routinely gets destroyed by teenage boys soccer teams

Two factors that are driving the hatred of Caitlin Clark are she’s white and straight, women in the WNBA are involved in lesbian relationships with each other while on different teams, which I think raises questions about the legitimacy of the games in terms of fixing the outcomes


24 posted on 08/05/2025 1:12:50 AM PDT by srmanuel
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To: MinorityRepublican
No one on her team has her back except for Sophia Cunningham

Exactly. And if Clark is abused, her teammates should target the other team's star player. That raises the stakes.

25 posted on 08/05/2025 1:13:23 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: Ronaldus Magnus III
Whether it is her college videos, or with the WNBA, I just love watching her get nothing but net from waaaay downtown!

She wouldn't be getting all those opportunities in the NBA. She would be defended by men.

For the same reason, Caitlan Clark did not break Pete Maravich’s record; they did not play the same sport.

26 posted on 08/05/2025 1:18:36 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: whitney69
dunk with an occasional long shot

When was the last time you watched an NBA game?

27 posted on 08/05/2025 1:20:08 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

I was thinking the same thing, routinely NBA teams are putting up 30-40 3-point attempts per game or a total of 60 or more combined 3-pointers per game, NBA like college teams are using analytics which says 3-point shots are in the long term better than midrange 2-point shots unless you can dunk or layup the ball, the midrange game has all but disappeared in the modern NBA game


28 posted on 08/05/2025 1:43:17 AM PDT by srmanuel
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To: srmanuel

Also, I understand the refs no longer allow rough play. Hand checks have become fouls.


29 posted on 08/05/2025 2:06:30 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: Bullish

NFN but that is what the NBA has become. A three-point shot contest.


30 posted on 08/05/2025 2:31:48 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: MinorityRepublican

Clark is targeted and hated by the other players because blacks see basketball as THEIR game and resent that a WHITE girl is better at it than they are and receives most of the attention. How dare this white interloper take what belongs to them.


31 posted on 08/05/2025 2:32:35 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (The DemocRATic party is a treasonous America hating cult.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

“This is why they will never be profitable. Its all being given to them, they feel entitled to it...”

A league of Stephen Colberts.


32 posted on 08/05/2025 2:37:05 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

Agreed. And Clark is not just white, she has a real girl appearance (as real as a tall skinny basketball professional can be lol). What I mean is that she doesn’t wear a wig and doll herself up with tons of high maintenance appearance like the black players. The other women try to appeal not just to black women but also to sensationalism. Clark on the other hand appeals to women who look for someone they can relate to.


33 posted on 08/05/2025 2:53:32 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

CC agreed that she has “white privilege”. (I’m done.) She has a degree in Marketing and you’d think she could read a room. My gdaughters play AAU


34 posted on 08/05/2025 3:06:03 AM PDT by griswold3 (Truth Beauty and Goodness)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Having watched a number of games, I’m aware that the officials are generally awful, and the players have no qualms about taking personal grudges against each other on the court.


35 posted on 08/05/2025 3:11:59 AM PDT by popdonnelly (All the enormous crimes in history have been committed by governments.)
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To: nickcarraway

The XFL was 25 years ago? Wow! Remembering the 3-game network run. I believe they had 13 million viewers the first Saturday night broadcast and 3 million the second.


36 posted on 08/05/2025 3:39:34 AM PDT by jimfree (My 22 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than Joe Biden.)
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To: nickcarraway

Just curious. Did you watch the games? And to be clear, I mean dropped your spring weekends to tune in to a team each weeend.

Roger is trying to create the minor leagues for the fall game. If you watch and spend money that is a bonus in his mind.


37 posted on 08/05/2025 3:41:50 AM PDT by vg0va3
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To: vg0va3

Clark better realize that she can’t give up and show these thugs an ounce of weakness. A stray elbow to the nose can do wonders to convince them she means business.


38 posted on 08/05/2025 3:53:20 AM PDT by sgt_lau (Reject islam. They really do want to kill you.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
“it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.”

Well, she SAYS it is so it must be.

What BS. If a Serena Williams-esque player came on the scene like Clark with the same level of talent you'd welcome her. Look at your own racism, cupcake.

39 posted on 08/05/2025 4:41:02 AM PDT by Lizavetta
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To: Brooklyn Attitude
Mr. Naismith invented a gentleman's game , blacks have appropriated it and turned it into a thuggery contest.
40 posted on 08/05/2025 6:53:12 AM PDT by ABN 505 (+)
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