Caitlin Clark quickly grabbed attention when she took the Iowa Hawkeyes to the 2023 NCAA Finals. While fans praised her for her thrilling logo threes and her exciting passing ability, something that she carried on into the W, alas the ROTY couldn’t save the league from its $40 million crisis. However, while some of her haters might blame the Iowa-alum for not getting the league to the place it was anticipated to, the popular journalist Skip Bayless finds beauty in the former NCAA Queen’s flaws.

“I wasn’t a big Caitlin Clark fan when she was at Iowa. Though I got into it a little more in the Final Four and certainly the Final Game. I found myself captivated watching her, and I don’t… Obviously she brought a lot more white people back to watch the game, but it seemed to all swirl around her. Whatever new popularity like not sure she saved it but she changed the game,” Bayless stated while reminiscing her Final Four game that got the reigning ROTY to his notice.

The Hawkeyes played their Final Four game against the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2023, defeating their opponents by a 77-73 margin. Then they advanced to the Finals against LSU and had an average of 9.9 million viewers, shattering the record of the previous most-watched game in 2002. In that game, Iowa was dealt a cruel blow as they lost by a 102-85 margin. However, Clark did find herself in the middle of all of it.

“And I still can’t quite explain why because I thought she was just a three-point shooter and I didn’t see this at Iowa, this at Iowa but she’s a LeBron-esque passer of the basketball… I didn’t see that coming and she led the league by far in assists but she shattered I mean like obliterated the all-time turnover record,” he added.

While the former NCAA Queen was popular for her signature logo threes, what came as a surprise to Bayless was that she was an efficient passer. The reigning ROTY by the end of her NCAA career had the third-highest assists in the all-time list with 1,144 assists. As a result of her passes, she sometimes failed to deliver right and hence finished the NCAA with the third-highest turnovers 639.

“She did by like 75 turnovers because she will try anything at any moment- thread the needle where there’s 17 hands in between, and you’re not going to get the basketball through. And she tries to get it through. But every once in a while, she’ll throw some lead pass and it’s just… it’s a touchdown you know where she’ll hit somebody right in the hands,” Bayless pointed while giving his take on Clark’s high turnovers.

This continued into the W as Clark finished the year with the highest single-season assists, but also had the highest single-season turnover record with 223 (78 more than the second-best set by Alyssa Thomas in the same season). However, he did agree that it was all this “changed the way that team plays basketball, and I got addicted to watching that team not just because of her because of all of them.”

And it was this play that transformed Iowa into a winning team as in 2023 they reached their first Final Four after 1993, and their maiden Championship Finale. However, Lisa Bluder and her mentees did not stop there and instead took the Hawkeyes to their second Championship Finale the next season. But despite Clark’s popularity, she couldn’t save the league from faltering.

WNBA suffers massive loss

While Clark did get record-breaking viewership, featuring in 19 out of the 22 games that crossed 1 million, the W as per reports was still in a loss. The teams were projected to make humongous money this season, with the Fever having an 889% increase in their projected revenue from last year ($9.1 million in revenue to a projected $90 million). But despite all this, the W eventually had to face loss.

The W is mostly owned by the NBA owners who had 60% in the league. And when one considers the personal stakes of the owners, then the amount rises to 75% as per a report by the NY Times. Hence, irrespective of the money the W makes, a chunk of it goes to the NBA. “The WNBA owes the NBA so much we won’t see any windfall for years,” had told the Post (h/t: NY Times). Therefore, though CC gave her best, she couldn’t bring the league to profit.

However, that is most likely to change with the $200 million 11-year media deal agreement. And perhaps with that, the W will see profitability. Till then Clark can continue to leverage the league with her popularity and drive crazy numbers.