Women’s Work
Everyone seemed to know the effect Caitlin Clark would have on women’s sports.
Everyone in college basketball saw the interest, the ratings, the ticket sales go up during her junior and senior years at Iowa.
Everyone took notice when Indiana Fever season ticket sales hit record levels even before the WNBA draft when the Fever got the #1 pick and Clark decided to come out for the draft.
Everyone knew the economic impact Clark would have on the league. Even here at Game Day, our “Caitlin Clark Effect” economic study showed she would bring millions of dollars into the economy, both in Indiana and around the league.
Everyone seemed to know the effect Caitlin Clark would have on women’s sports.
Everyone, except the WNBA.
That’s the premise, among others, that author Christine Brennan presents in her new book, “On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports.” Brennan gives us a spirited, accessible account of Caitlin Clark’s unprecedented rookie year and the seismic shift it represents not only in women’s basketball, but in women’s sports.
Brennan argues that Clark’s popularity has revealed deep structural shortcomings in how the WNBA handles media, race, and conflict, and how the WNBA seemed caught off guard with the attention the league was now getting.
For example: Teams in the WNBA historically flew commercial, with all the delays, transfers and baggage hassles we all face. It began to be a problem when in 2023 Brittney Griner, recently released from a Russian jail, tried to walk through Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and was harassed by a so-called YouTube personality. Then in the 2024 preseason, Clark and her teammates were swarmed repeatedly at baggage claims, with security becoming an issue with every game and every flight. Even after these events, the “W” seemed to think flying commercial was still OK. After Brennan chatted with a league official on a Friday, by Monday she was told that WNBA teams would start flying charter for the start of the season, and the next day, she broke the news.
The unpreparedness also shows, Brennan argues, in how some players have treated Clark, from verbal “mean girl” jabs to literal jabs, hip checks and hard fouls on the court. She quotes Dr. Harry Edwards, sociologist and civil rights leader, in saying that “the league failed the players. The WNBA not only missed an opportunity to prepare its players for this moment, they set the traps along the path that the league was going to travel.” His argument is that with education, players would realize that Clark’s success is their success—and her popularity would mean bigger paychecks and more perks for everyone.
Perhaps the biggest headscratching moment, Brennan says, is leaving Clark off the 2024 US Olympic Team. If USA Basketball wanted to grow the game, Brennan argues, then why not put the biggest US star on an international team, in international competition with the international press covering? “As we’ve known for years,” Brennan writes, “the last amateurs left in the Olympic Games are the people running them.”
Between the controversies, Brennan gives us a look at a young player who loves basketball, who grew up in basketball-mad Iowa and realizes her responsibility to the game and to the fans who come from around the country to see her play. In short, Brennan says, Caitlin Clark is the catalyst for a cultural moment—a star around whom the WNBA must evolve or risk falling behind. “On Her Game” is a fascinating look at the player, the league, and what Caitlin Clark means to the future of the WNBA.
– Betsy Ross