Caitlin Clark’s salary will never match her WNBA value: agent
Caitlin Clark’s value to the WNBA is more than the league will ever be able to pay her, the women’s hoops superstar’s agent said in a recent interview.
Speaking with ESPN, Erin Kane, Clark’s agent, called for higher salaries for WNBA players while suggesting that the league is ready to “spin off” from the NBA when it comes to media rights.
Kane, an agent with Excel Sports Management, also addressed Clark’s value to the WNBA.
“Will Caitlin Clark ever be paid by the WNBA what she’s really worth to that league? I don’t think that’s possible,” Kane said to ESPN.
And Kane has a case to be made backed up by one economic expert at Indiana University Columbus, who spoke with the Indy Star in December.
Dr. Ryan Brewer calculated that Clark had accounted for 26.5 percent of the league’s economic activity during the 2024 WNBA season, which included merchandise sales, TV and attendance.
Brewer calculated that Clark had an economic impact of $36 million on the city of Indianapolis.
“Now, let’s take a breath for a minute and think about this,” Brewer told the Indy Star in December. “That’s for one year. We’re talking about one player.”
While everyone around Clark feels the positive economic impact of her presence in the league, she’s only expected to rake in a little more than $78,000 in 2025 from her on-court work.
Kane argued that WNBA players as a whole should be earning more and added that she’s “very, very hopeful for this CBA negotiation that it will be progressive and move the line forward a lot.”
The WNBA and the WNBA Players Association will have to work out a new collective bargaining agreement after the players’ union opted out of the current one last October.
Part of the aim is to see player salaries increase with the next CBA – currently, salaries range from $64,154 to $241,984.
Despite a new media rights deal that is valued at $2.2 billion – $200 million per year – WNBAPA executive director Terri Jackson felt last July that the league was being undervalued and Kane seemed to agree.
“I think we’re ready for a spin-off [from the NBA],” Kane said. “I just think that the NBA is incentivized to make decisions that are good for the NBA, and those are not always aligned with what’s good for the WNBA. And so, for the sake of the league that I work in, I want women and women’s basketball to be able to make clean, clear choices that are in their own best interest.”
The WNBA’s value and player salaries have been a topic of conversation around basketball circles, and the source of criticism from women’s hoopers.
In October, WNBA star Angel Reese said during an Instagram Live that “the WNBA don’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think it pays one of my bills. Literally.”
