On Monday, Chicago Sky star Angel Reese quickly shut down a reporters question about her statement last year about Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark not being the only athlete driving the sudden popularity in the WNBA before the 2024 season.
“I’ll take the bad guy role, and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates,” Reese said. “I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too,’ and I want y’all to realize that.”
There might be three people.
Data from sportscasting.com shows Reese is having a tremendous impact on the popularity of the WNBA, but her value is vastly behind Clark and Dallas Wing rookie Paige Bueckers.
Clark is the main drive of ticket prices jumping by 125.7% when the Fever on the road to $106.32 compared to all other WNBA teams. Bueckers has made ticket prices jump 68.9% to $79.55 when Dallas in the road.
The Sky are third on the list at $56.32 to see Reese play on the road. That number represents a 19.56% increase over the average WNBA team, which isn’t close to the value Clark or Bueckers bring to the WNBA.
Reese has a larger reach for the league than tickets. She is the host a popular podcast “Unapologetically Angel” and has more social media followers than Clark. Reese uses her platform to promote the sport and advocate for better pay for female athletes.
And Reese will be a big draw at 2 p.m. Saturday on ABC when the Sky open their regular season on the road against the Fever.
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