This is 'the Caitlin Clark effect" in action. CNN's Clare Duffy and Allison Morrow recently shed light on this new era of stars in women's sport and how "Clark-onomics" has impacted not just the state of Iowa (she generated around $70 million for the state during her college career), but the wider industry of women's sports.
Other poignant examples of the Clark effect:
> The WNBA have recently partner with TNT sports to broadcast their regular season games and play offs in the UK and Ireland (happy days! No more missing out when I'm home for the summer!)
> The Indiana Fever, who picked no. 1 draftee Clark, have announced that 36 of their 40 games will be broadcast on national TV.
> The Indiana Fever's first season game against Las Vegas Aces has moved to a larger venue to accommodate fan attendance.
Alot to unpack here (I'm fascinated by the celebritization of athletes and the power this holds from a marketing, media, and fan engagement perspective). And, of course, Clark is not alone in her star power. This year has seen a number of prolific players in NCCA womens basketball whose personalities and stories have captured the nation in ways that haven't on the men's side.
One thing these data and new business deals tell us = women's basketball - college and/or pro - has always been a valuable product to consume, to invest in, to build, to celebrate.
What an exciting time to be talking about and studying sport critically, particularly from a gender, media, marketing, and race lens! My students and I have had fun developing our undersganding of class concepts/ideas by applying them to these real life sociocultural moments and patterns in sport.
The moment Caitlin Clark was drafted, her Indiana Fever jersey went on sale.
In less than an hour, it was almost entirely sold out 🤯
Sr. Paralegal
7moI am so sad to see this. I'm very sorry for such a loss.