Caitlin Clark's WNBA Salary News Sparks Outrage

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Angelo Guinhawa | Last updated Dec 5, 2024 7:18 AM ET

Caitlin Clark is one of the top 10 highest-paid female athletes in the world for 2024, but while that is good news, there's one part that fans are not happy about.

On Wednesday, Sportico released its list of 20 highest-paid female athletes for the year. Clark landed at No. 10, tied with Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, with $11.1 million in earnings.

According to the report, Clark made most of her money from her endorsements, including her NIL deals when she was still with Iowa. However, the disparity between her endorsement money and her WNBA salary really caught the attention of many.

The Indiana Fever star made just $100,000 from her salary and bonus in the WNBA, while the other $11 million were from her brand deals. She has partnerships with Nike, State Farm, Panini and Gatorade, among many others.

According to @indystar, Caitlin Clark singlehandedly generated 26.5% of the WNBA’s entire revenue last season (https://t.co/LQtDuCH4kG).

Clark also brought in over $36 million in economic impact to the city of Indianapolis.

Clark only made $76.5k on her rookie-scale contract. pic.twitter.com/SMn7WCJSa9
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) December 4, 2024

"The salary gap between male and female athletes is shameful. Clark it's a bigger TV draw than most NBA stars. I hope she gets parity," a commenter wrote.

"Told you her money is long as [expletive]," an angry fan added.

"Crazy!!! She is bigger than the WNBA and if they wanna keep her around they better figure a way to pay these woman more especially CC," a social media user further stated.

A fourth poster said, "Shameful. She deserves a bigger piece of the pie. FR."

"Are there caps for max salary for players in WNBA? If I'm Caitlin Clark I tell the league & Indiana Fever I won't play another contract out unless I'm getting 5+ million per season on my next contract lmao," a fan suggested.

Caitlin Clark has remained largely mum about her WNBA salary, likely because she has tons of endorsement deals that more than make up for the salary she gets from playing hoop. However, she did joke about their low pay before when talking about season tickets.

It remains to be seen if there will be any significant improvement in WNBA salaries moving forward, though it's worth noting that the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) opted out of the current CBA to negotiate a new deal. That being said, hopes are high that players will get better pay sooner rather than later.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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