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$76,535!  That's how much Caitlin Clark, the Iowa superstar who became this year's #1 pick in the WNBA draft, will be paid by the Indiana Fever.

By comparison, the #l pick in last year’s NBA draft, Victor Wembanyama, will pocket $55 million in his first four years, and $12.1 million in his first season alone playing for the San Antonio Spurs.  That's 159 times Clark’s first-year salary. The Spurs, by the way, didn't make the NBA playoffs; they haven't since 2019, although Wemby--as he's better known--is expected to help them get back to the playoffs next season.  

For Clark, it isn't all about the money: Rapper Ice Cube is creating a Big3 league and offered Clark $5 million to play eight regular season games and possibly two playoff games...10 games for five million dollars!

Since the WNBA regular season is only 40 games and Ice Cube's venture is during their off-season, Clark could still take that offer, too!

Caitlin will also likely rake in millions on endorsement deals plus jersey sales, which could net her thousands over the next few months.

The WNBA, like most professional women's sports, has never paid the big bucks men earn for playing.  The US women's soccer team has never made as much as the men's team, although the men, unlike the women, haven't been World Cup contenders.  

Much of the revenue for sports leagues comes from broadcast deals, but recent history shows that the popularity of women's basketball, thanks in large part to Clark, may be leveling the playing field in that respect.  

The WNBA pulled in just over $60 million in broadcast revenue last season, while the NBA got $2.7 billion; but this year, for the first time ever, the NCAA women’s title game drew more viewers than the men’s championship, averaging 18.7 million viewers on ABC and ESPN to the men’s 14.82 million.

Even President Joe Biden commented on what the WNBA will pay Clark:

Opportunities for women are increasing--in sports and otherwise.  

Inequality of the sexes was as much a part of America's shameful history at its racial discrimination; and both have been slow to change.  Black men actually got the vote (at least legally, although they often were prevented from exercising their rights) before women.  

Although the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 requiring men and women to be paid equally for doing the same work, it wasn’t until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on October 28, 1974 that women were able to get their own credit cards in their own name without a male co-signer. 

Fifty years ago, this reporter, then an announcer with the local radio station, had the opportunity to broadcast the first game in which a basketball team from Lincoln County won a state championship.  It was the girls team from East Lincoln High School, and I'm proud that their win was a part of my legacy.

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