The WNBA commissioner chose to praise Angel Reese over Caitlin Clark and fans are DONE with this delusion.
The WNBA knows where its bread is buttered right now and that’s with its influx of young talent.
The league’s popularity has skyrocketed thanks to the arrival of rookies like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. And despite some of the toxic discourse that surrounds their respective performances, commissioner Cathy Engelbert believes their rivalry is a net positive for women’s professional basketball.
“It’s a little of that [Larry] Bird-Magic [Johnson] moment if you recall from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one black,” Engelbert explained during a recent appearance on CNBC. “And so we have that moment with these two.”
“But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry,” she continued. “That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.”
Engelbert is right that rivalries are important to the interest in a league — especially when it comes to basketball. And although there may be some aspects to that dynamic that may not be exactly what the WNBA wants — the money isn’t lying.
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“It’s a balance, but certainly from a marketing dollars [perspective], corporate partners are stepping up to endorse these players much more so than they were five years ago because they see the benefit of having women and diverse women representing their brand,” Engelbert said.
Clark signed a $28 million deal with Nike back in the spring which is the richest sponsorship contract ever for a women’s basketball player. While Reese inked a multi-year endorsement agreement with Reebok.
Two-time MVP A’ja Wilson is also set to debut her first signature shoe with the Swoosh in 2025. So in many ways it’s never been a better time to be a WNBA player.