Caitlin Clark and Courtney Williams (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
The WNBA has signed a massive national media rights deal unlike any it’s ever seen before.
The league has been receiving lots of extra attention lately, much of which is due to the arrival of Caitlin Clark. And it’s set to get paid handsomely for it.
According to a report from The Athletic, the WNBA is set to receive around $2.2 billion over the next 11 years, having negotiated deals with Disney, NBC, and Amazon.
“The NBA negotiated the WNBA’s new deals during its just-completed rights talks, where it reached an agreement with Disney, NBC, and Amazon on an 11-year, approximately $75 billion set of contracts. The WNBA’s national media rights agreements are with those companies as well; ESPN, NBC, and Amazon will all have their own WNBA packages.”
The NBA’s board of governors approved the deals this week, but they aren’t official yet because Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT’s parent company, claims to have matching rights for a package but has yet to decide whether to use them.
The WNBA Could Make Up To Six Times As Much As What They Make Currently, Thanks To Caitlin Clark
The WNBA’s current deals, set to expire after the 2025 season, are worth around $50 million a year. The new deals will pay around $200 million a year, but the league could make up to six times what it makes now as the new contracts allow them to bring in new partners, which is a huge possibility given Clark’s growing influence.
Two other rights packages are expected to be sold for an additional $60 million annually.
An agreement is also in place to revisit the rights deals in three years if interest in the WNBA continues to grow and the rights become undervalued.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said earlier this year that she hoped the league would at least double its rights fees. It appears expectations have been far exceeded.
WNBA Explains Why Caitlin Clark Was Not Included In Their Three-Point Contest For All-Star Weekend
Caitlin Clark (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The NBA has revealed why Caitlin Clark was not included in the lineup for Friday’s three-point contest.
The Indiana Fever rookie has the fourth-most made threes in the WNBA this season and is shooting 32.7 percent from distance. She was expected to be one of the first names drawn for said contest. However, neither she nor Sabrina Ionescu, another dangerous sharpshooter, will be competing.
The announcement naturally drew ire from fans online. However, it appears the decision was Caitlin’s, with Sabrina also declining an offer to participate.
Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press reported that both stars were invited to take part but turned down the offer. Ionescu is with Team USA preparing for the Olympics, but Clark’s reason for refusing is still unknown.
“The @WNBA confirmed that @sabrina_i20 and @CaitlinClark22 were invited for 3-point contest and declined participating. Ionescu is taking part in the Olympic camp which is getting ready for the Paris Games,” Feinberg tweeted.
Fans Back Down After WNBA Reveals Caitlin Clark Didn’t Want To Participate
Fans have changed their tune following the update, having initially lashed out at the league.
“CC has played non-stop basketball since October, Sabrina focusing on Paris, Makes sense for both of them,” one wrote.
“ppl having a go at Clark for this are absolutely wild, she’s playing in the all star game as it stands and she seems absolutely shattered at the moment,” another remarked.
“yall were pretending to be marketing experts when they simply didn’t wanna do it lmao,” someone else joked.
In any case, both Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu will be in the All-Star Game this Saturday, with the former named an All-Star amid her rookie season, while the latter will represent Team USA on the other end.
