In the women’s March Madness final, the Iowa Hawkeyes took on the South Carolina Gamecocks in a match that clocked in approximately 18.7 million views, blowing the men’s 14.8 million views out of the water. Caitlin Clark, the 2020-2024 Iowa Hawkeyes point guard, trailblazes in brand deals and media support for the Women’s Basketball National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) while inspiring the next generation of female athletes.
The final’s numbers align with the consistently high viewership of this season’s women’s March Madness; however, this final became the first time in the history of basketball in which the women’s viewership beat the men’s. The standout athlete this season, grabbing the attention of these millions of fans on the court—and on social media—was Caitlin Clark.
With millions of viewers and sold out arenas following Clark and her team, the term “The Caitlin Clark Effect” caught on. Many people were immediately captured by her insane three point shots, her attack mentality and overall accuracy in the sport. Clark has broken numerous records this season with sports analysts naming her the best guard in decades. Most notably, Clark is NCAA’s Division I all-time scorer (men’s and women’s) and recently the first draft pick in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), joining the Indiana Fever, Indianapolis’ professional women’s basketball team. The effect has held true with ticket sales growing 13 times over compared to last year for the Indiana Fever.
The fan following for Clark on the court and online where she has 2.2 million followers on Instagram goes further than just her skill. “People like watching her, she hypes up her fans and the crowd. She’s very good as a media personality, she humanizes herself in all of the interviews and you get the effect as a viewer that she’s a fun person to be around,” said Emmie Hou ’24, a captain of the Lick-Wilmerding High School women’s basketball team and fan of the women’s March Madness.
With 63% of women in the WNBA identifying as Black and 30-50% identifying as LGBTQ+, fans have also criticized who the media chooses to put in the spotlight. As Clark is white and straight, her fame on social media has come to come off to some viewers as another lack of representation for these groups.
That said, though Caitlin Clark is leading the media swarm and partnerships, other hot names in women’s college basketball follow close behind. These include Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Paige Bueckers, Kamilla Cardoso and many more, giving a wide range for representation in the media and young female athletes people to look up to. “Representation is really important, especially when you’re younger, to be able to shoot in the gym and hitting threes and feel like you’re Caitlin Clark and not Stephen Curry,” said Natasha Smith, the head coach of the women’s basketball team at San Francisco State University.
The ability for college athletes to earn money is based on name, image and likeness (NIL) which comes from brand partnerships. Clark has also dominated this field with eleven partners from State Farm to Nike. Overall, she earned 3.1 million dollars from NIL deals while she played college basketball, putting her at a higher earning than any other female basketball player and significantly higher then most of NCAA men’s NIL pay.
Clark enters the WNBA as the number one draft to the Indiana Fever at a starting salary of just over $76,000 for the first year and $338,000 for the four year contract. Comparatively, the men’s number one draft in 2023 starting salary was $12.2 million for a combined $55.2 million for the four year contract.
These numbers portray a standout factor for the inequality between men’s and women’s sports. “I think it’s ridiculous, honestly. As a woman athlete, you get paid more in college from your NIL deals than your contract in the WNBA,” Jerrieza Enriquez, the Body Mind Education teacher at LWHS and The Bay School of San Francisco Basketball Coach said.
The pay difference highlights the progress that still needs to be made as well as the changes that could come in the future. “[This season] got their attention and we need everybody’s attention in order to get the exposure for women’s athletics and get the financial resources,” Elliot Smith, head of Athletes at LWHS said.
The recent viewership in women’s basketball has even propelled the creation of a Bay Area WNBA team. With the eyes trained on the sport, there will be more and more stars to follow, maybe one representing the Bay Area.
