“They Suck at Promoting”: WNBA’s Cold Shoulder to Caitlin Clark’s NBA Moves Leaves Fans in Agony

Caitlin Clark is on a roll. After participating in the LPGA’s Pro-Am, the number 22 has decided to support her boyfriend Connor McCaffery during the Butler Bulldogs games and mark her presence for the Indiana Pacers, the brother franchise of the Indiana Fever. In one such move, Clark was attending the Pacers’ battle against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday, and while it got a lot of attention from the NBA, the W seemed not even winking about it, which got many fans furious.

“They suck at promoting the league overall it seems. Maybe they are not biased towards CC maybe they’re just incompetent. 😂 who am I kidding tho,” a fan tweeted. Despite Clark attending the Pacers game, the W didn’t tweet about it. Instead, the Fever’s official handle had tweeted about Clark sitting courtside along with her boyfriend McCaffery and their friend Tyrese Haliburton’s girlfriend, Jade Jones.

“Caitlin Clark is courtside for some Monday night @Pacers basketball 🔥,” tweeted Fever’s handle. Meanwhile, the Pacers handle reshared the same tweet with the caption, “Love to see it 🔥🔥.” However, all the while, the W, which had earned a great amount of revenue and got a lot of fan attention due to the former NCAA Queen’s arrival on the big stage, has kept mum about it.

Meanwhile, Clark was seated along with Jones and McCaffery in a section reserved for the Indiana Pacers point guard. In another snippet posted by the Pacers’ official handle, she could be seen hugging Jones and McCaffery. Even Indiana writer Scott Agness shared a picture of the 22-year-old putting up a three-pointer sign as Haliburton ended with 34 points.

Plus, the fans cheered on, chanting her name whenever she was featured on the big screen, proving that the W and the NBA fans respected her. It is amid such admiration that it did not sit well with her admirers that the Fever sensation did not find a place in the WNBA X handle.

Fans slam the WNBA for their Caitlin Clark snub

“This was the post today…. First one in three days!” another fan tweeted while sharing the picture of the latest tweet by the W. The picture had Chennedy Carter, Kahleah Copper, and Arike Ogunbowale. The caption asked users to vote for the “season’s nastiest crossovers and ankle breakers.” This was the first post in the past three days, and even Clark’s rival Angel Reese did not find a place among any of the posts despite attending the Indiana Pacers-Orlando Magic game in mid-November.

“They should be tweeting about any W player sitting courtside at an NBA game. There are only 144 possibilities and only a handful of NBA games every night. And the NBA’s commissioner mentioned a player’s name should be tweeted out too,” another fan tweeted. The fan was angry that despite only a few NBA games every night, the W does not share the pictures or tweets about it, even though it could provide an engagement opportunity for the official W handle.

Even NBA Commission Adam Silver was asked to reflect on Clark’s importance before this matchup, to which he remarked, “Caitlin Clark set the world on fire, not just this community… She’s brought so much attention to the entire league. People are seeing how deep this league is, how good the basketball qualifies… It’s wonderful to see.” Hence, according to fans, this moment should have found a place on the official W handle.

“CC golfing got the Golf Chanel 300+ thousand views on YouTube alone yet the W posted nothing about it. The W needs to pick up it’s coverage of players in the off season especially players like CC AR, Rickea, and brink.,” another social media user pointed out. Clark notably recorded a 120% increase in ticket sales compared to last year, but despite that, the W did not tweet about her. In comparison to this, the golfing community and channels were constantly sharing news of her participation in the LPGA Pro-Am.

“I don’t know if you have noticed, but the athletes themselves don’t acknowledge any posts that the WNBA posts about them … they only acknowledge it when it comes from their team… the WNBA needs to do better with all its athletes,” another follower pointed out. Maybe the W’s official handle has fallen back on promoting the players, and hence, it isn’t given so much importance by the athletes themselves.

“the @WNBA needs new leadership SO badly. 2024 has been an EPIC FAIL on their part. So many dollars left on the floor,” another user stated. Notably, Clark’s presence hasn’t got the W profits. Instead, they have lost $40 million, which shows they failed to capitalize on Clark’s brand value. Hence, the fan was disappointed that the W lags in promoting its stars.

Hopefully, the league will take this into account, and perhaps from next season onwards, it will be careful to provide a platform to its players, who can rake in money for the league when the season begins.