In a surprising turn of events, Caitlyn Clark, the standout guard from the University of lowa and a rising star in women’s basketball, has announced her refusal to participate in an upcoming WNBA game against the Atlanta Dream. Clark’s decision, which has sparked heated discussions among fans, analysts, and fellow athletes, stems from her concerns about the competitive integrity of the league, particularly regarding her opponent, Brittney Griner.

A Reflection on Competition

Caitlyn Clark, known for her exceptional skills on the court, has always been a fierce

competitor. However, in her recent statement, she expressed a profound

disappointment with the current state of women’s basketball. “I never thought I

would make such a decision, but after deep reflection, I realized that the

competitive spirit of this game has been compromised,” Clark stated. Her concerns

primarily revolve around Griner’s playing style, which she describes as aggressive

and often crossing the line into what she considers unsportsmanlike conduct.

Clark elaborated on her discomfort with Griner’s tactics, stating, “She constantly

relies on pushing, pulling, and even dirty fouls to gain an advantage while the

referees turn a blind eye. As a professional athlete, I find this behavior repulsive.”

This sentiment resonates with many players who value sportsmanship and fair play

as cornerstones of their athletic careers.

The Impact of Griner’s Presence

Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former WNBA champion, has

been a polarizing figure in women’s basketball, not only for her remarkable talent

but also for the controversies surrounding her. Clark’s remarks highlight a growing

divide in the league regarding how players perceive Griner’s style of play and her

impact on the game.

While some fans admire Griner for her physicality and dominant presence on the

court, others, like Clark, argue that such tactics detract from the essence of

basketball. “The WNBA should be a platform to showcase true basketball skills, not

a battlefield tainted by unfair tactics,” Clark asserted. This perspective raises

important questions about the direction of the league and the standards by which

players are judged.

Gender Identity and Controversy

Adding another layer to the controversy, Clark touched on the ongoing discussions

about gender identity in sports, particularly regarding Griner. “While Brittney has

publicly identified as female, there have been persistent rumors that she may have

been born with a Y chromosome or even as male,” Clark stated. This comment has

ignited a firestorm of debate, with many questioning the implications of such

statements on the inclusivity and fairness of women’s sports.

The issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports has become a contentious

topic in recent years, with differing opinions on how to ensure fair competition

while also respecting individuals’ rights to compete in accordance with their gender

identity. Clark’s comments reflect a concern among some players that the current

policies may not adequately address these complexities.

A Call for Accountability

Clark’s decision to withdraw from the game against the Dream may be seen as a

bold stand for accountability within the league. “I believe we need to hold each

other accountable for the way we play and represent the sport,” she explained. This

call for accountability resonates with many fans who feel that the integrity of

women’s basketball is at stake.

The WNBA has long been a beacon of progress in women’s sports, advocating for

equality and inclusion. However, as the league continues to evolve, it faces the

challenge of balancing competitive fairness with inclusivity. Clark’s stance may serve

as a catalyst for further discussions on how to navigate these issues moving

forward.

Reactions from the Basketball Community

The basketball community has been divided in its response to Clark’s

announcement. Some players and analysts have praised her courage to speak out

against perceived injustices, while others have criticized her comments as

disrespectful and damaging to the unity of the league. “We should be supporting

each other as women athletes, not tearing each other down,” commented one

WNBA player who wished to remain anonymous.

Fans have also expressed mixed feelings, with some supporting Clark’s decision and

others condemning it as a betrayal of the spirit of competition. Social media has

become a battleground for these discussions, with hashtags like #CaitlynClark and

#BrittneyGriner trending as supporters and detractors voice their opinions.

The Future of Women’s Basketball

As Caitlyn Clark prepares for what could be a pivotal moment in her career, the

future of women’s basketball hangs in the balance. Will her decision inspire other

players to take a stand against what they perceive as unfair practices, or will it lead

to further division within the league? The WNBA is at a crossroads, and how it

addresses these issues will shape the landscape of women’s sports for years to

come.

In conclusion, Caitlyn Clark’s refusal to compete against Brittney Griner highlights

significant concerns about competitive integrity, sportsmanship, and the

complexities of gender identity in sports. As the conversation continues, it remains

to be seen how the WNBA will respond and what implications this will have for the

future of women’s basketball. The league has always been a platform for

empowerment and progress, and it must now navigate these challenges with care

and consideration for all its players.

The impact of the Indiana Fever star goes well beyond the basketball court. In her

second season, Clark is also changing the league’s bottom line.

When the WNBA returned to action last week, Ryan Brewer, like many who follow

the league, was curious to see how Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark might top her

rookie-of-the-year season.

Yet the interest of Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University

Columbus and an expert at valuations, goes beyond Clark’s box-score averages.

After Clark’s phenomenal popularity spiked attendance and merchandise sales and

drew historic television ratings wherever the Fever played in 2024, Brewer was

asked by the Indianapolis Star to evaluate her economic impact on the WNBA. He

determined Clark was responsible for a staggering 26.5% of all WNBA economic

activity last season, including revenue from merchandise, ticket sales and television.

When Brewer crunched the numbers to analyze her potential impact in 2025, he

arrived at a valuation that “is quite impressive,” Brewer said.

“If things just go as they were, and we have an expanded season of 22 home games

with modest inflation, I’m looking at $875 [million],” Brewer told NBC News. “And I

could easily see that eclipsing a billion dollars on the economic impact of Caitlin

Clark this year.”

The WNBA’s 29th season opens at a time when its basketball is impossible to

untangle from its bottom line. And Clark has played a propulsive role in both.

For the first time since 2008, the WNBA expanded this season to add a 13th team,

the Golden State Valkyries. Next season, two more will debut in Toronto and

Portland. As the WNBA’s footprint grows, so do its coffers. In 2026, the league will

enter the first year of an 11-year media-rights deal worth a reported $2.2 billion

overall that is expected to triple its current media-rights revenues. (One of the

media partners is NBC, which shares a parent company with NBC News.)

Iпdiaпa Fever’s Caitliп Clark agaiпst the New York Liberty oп Jυly 6, 2024, iп Iпdiaпapolis.Darroп Cυmmiпgs / AP file

Anticipating the arrival of the new media revenue, the players union opted out of its

collective bargaining agreement with the league last October and will spend the

upcoming months negotiating a new deal that the union hopes will lead to higher

salaries.

Clark earned $76,535 as a rookie and this season will receive a slight pay raise,

amounts dwarfed by her endorsement portfolio that reportedly includes an

eight-year, $28 million deal with Nike. It would be “impossible” to pay Clark what

she is worth to the league, her agent told ESPN in February. That could be because

although viewership across women’s sports was already on the rise by the time

Clark emerged as a superstar at the University of Iowa, her popularity has

supercharged the WNBA’s own.

While an average of 17,035 fans attended the Fever’s 20 home games – more than

the city’s NBA team, which shares the same arena, averaged over 41 games –

overall WNBA attendance increased from an average of 6,615 in 2023 to 9,807. Last

season, as Fever games produced the most-watched WNBA games ever on ESPN,

ESPN2, ABC, CBS and NBA TV, leaguewide viewership also broke records, including

an average of 1.2 million per ESPN broadcast.

The WNBA, as a private company, does not disclose revenue figures, a league

spokesperson said. Yet the league reported last year that its merchandise sales

through Dick’s Sporting Goods had increased by 233% over the previous season. A

spokesperson for Fanatics, the WNBA’s official e-commerce partner, said that Clark

ranks in the top 20 of its top-selling athletes across all sports, and sixth among all

basketball players, including the NBA.

The rising tide associated with Clark continued to lift other boats: All WNBA

merchandise sold by Fanatics increased by more than 500% last season versus 2023,

the spokesperson added.

Clark’s effect shows few signs of abating in 2025. Earlier this month, 1.3 million

viewers tuned in on ESPN to watch an Indiana preseason game played at Clark’s

alma mater, lowa — an audience that was bigger than all but two NBA preseason

games on ESPN since 2010 (and both of those games included LeBron

James), per Sports Business Journal.

Of this season’s 10 bestselling WNBA games on StubHub, all 10 involve the Fever,

according to a spokesperson for the online ticket retailer. When the Fever are the

visiting team, the average price of tickets sold jumps by 140%. And the average

price of a ticket to catch Clark and Indiana on the road this year is $312, according

to the company.

Clark is “not just driving demand for the Fever, she’s elevating interest across the

entire league,” Adam Budelli, a StubHub spokesperson, said in a statement.

Last year, Sportico pegged the value of the Fever franchise at $90 million, slightly

less than the estimated league average. Yet in Brewer’s analysis, the net effect of

Clark’s presence drove his valuation of the Fever to closer to $340 million. Brewer

also calculated that Clark’s presence, should the interest in her performances be

maintained, would result in an economic impact of approximately $41 million to the

city of Indianapolis.

Clark wasn’t the only rookie last season to draw significant interest to the league.

Her rivalry with Chicago’s Angel Reese, dating to college, led an average of 2.5

million viewers to watch their May 17 matchup, the most ever for a WNBA game on

ESPN. Yet as Brewer analyzed attendance and viewership figures from the 2024

season, these indicated that Clark’s influence was singularly responsible for the

surge of new interest in the WNBA.

Of the 24 WNBA-related broadcasts that drew at least 1 million television viewers

last season, 21 involved her, according to an analysis by Sports Media Watch that

included the league’s draft and All-Star Game. All three WNBA games that drew

more than 20,000 fans included the Fever.

“It’s important to recognize that there is this rival and there are other rivals, but

Caitlin Clark is illuminating the sport,” Brewer said. “She particularly is the one who’s

driving in a new kind of demographic that is reaching new kinds of people from the

traditional WNBA fan base that is causing this growth rate and also accelerating

interest in corporate sponsorships.”

To analyze her economic impact, Brewer in part created models that projected the

WNBA’s attendance for last season based on the league’s growth in the years

pre-Clark. He then compared it to the actual attendance change and found about

60% of that increase is attributable to Clark.

“Her ability to fill up stadiums is amazing,” he said.

And that interest has been felt strongly in Indianapolis, where a $78 million practice

facility solely for the Fever is under construction.

In 2024, after Indiana drafted Clark No. 1, Visit Indy, a nonprofit that promotes

tourism to the city, sprung into action. It placed paid advertising throughout lowa,

including on social media, to test whether Clark’s die-hard collegiate fans might

have an appetite to make the trip to Indiana to watch her as a pro. Soon, visits to

pages on Visit Indy’s website dedicated to the Fever increased by 501%, said Chris

Gahl, Visit Indy’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Fever home

games also corresponded with a bump in booked hotel rooms in the city, he said.

Part of Gahl’s job is to persuade those in charge of booking large, corporate

meetings and conventions to host them in Indianapolis. Last year, he found a new

way to entice nearly 50 planners to check out the city for the first time: Taking them

to a Fever game.

The planners, who were predominantly women, “would not have traveled here and

visited here were it not for the invitation for them to come see a home Fever game,”

Gahl said.

“An Indiana Fever home game is a very hot ticket.”