“Rookie Men Start at $1.1M”: Earning Less That Baseball Legend Babe Ruth 94 Years Later, Caitlin Clark and Co Get Fans’ Support for WNBA Contract Disparity

For more than a week, the anticipation of the approaching WNBA draft had overwhelmingly taken over everyone. People gathered together for the event held in Brooklyn as if it was a rocket launch in the olden days. This is the Caitlin Clark effect. What Clark has achieved in the last two years of her college basketball career has gone off the charts of excellence. It’s like everyone wants to be the first to get an update on her career journey.

This is why the 2024 WNBA draft event saw an attendance record set by the fans coming over to witness the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer taking her career to the next level. However, Clark’s contract reveal is attracting huge criticism over the fact that it is too small for a player like Clark.

Caitlin Clark and Co. not getting paid enough enrages the fans

Caitlin Clark’s on-court performance has been given the elevation of celestial objects floating high in the sky. However, the #1 WNBA draft pick’s potential has been allotted in mere nickels and dimes (according to the fans). Despite being the all-time leading scorer of men’s and women’s in NCAA history, Caitlin Clark’s rookie contract states her annual salary to be $76,535 in 2024, $78,066 in 2025, $85,873 in 2026, and $97,582 (option) in 2027. The #3 draft pick, Kamilla Cardoso’s rookie contract annual salary for four years, states the same amount.

However, the #7 draft pick, Angel Reese’s salary details in her four-year contract are falling behind as she will be getting $73,439 in 2024, $74,909 in 2025, $82,399 in 2026, and $93,636 in 2027 (option). This amount has caused an outcry among fans, furious to know that this is not what she should get, and rather deserves much more. In simple words, Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, and Angel Reese will be making $36hr before taxes and have left fans in a frenzy.

As a result, people are taking X by storm, chipping in their views on Clark’s contract reveal. “I get that the immediate response to this salary information is ‘endorsements, etc.’ but I am flabbergasted by the number $76,535 for the #1 overall pick in a major sports league in the United States of America,” a Clark fan wrote on X, further comparing her salary with the legendary baseball star Babe Ruth saying, “Babe Ruth’s salary was $80,000 in 1930…”

Another fan wrote, “$70,000 / year as the #1 WNBA draft? After taxes you can barely afford a studio apartment in Manhattan. This can’t be normal. Someone who understands the sportsball please make it make sense,” talking about how little her salary will be as compared to the cost of a studio apartment in Manhattan.

But it doesn’t end here as sports journalists too are sharing their take on the issue.

Breaking their silence

It is common knowledge that several WNBA players go overseas to play in the international leagues in the off-season for the very reason of not getting paid enough. Star players like Sue Bird, Jonquel Jones, Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart, and Diana Taurasi earn more than $1 million by playing away from home in the off-season.

Keeping this in focus, journalist Victoria Brownworth posted on X saying, “The 10months I covered Brittney Griner’s false imprisonment by Putin, talking with the State Dept. at least once a week, people kept telling me it was her fault for working in Russia. NBA makes $75B a year. They could pay WNBA players more than Russia but don’t. Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, and Angel Reese will make $36hr BEFORE taxes. Rookie men start at $1.1M.”

Meanwhile, sports journalist Jemele Hill elaborated on things with a different lens. “This success that we just said in women’s basketball is going to translate over. But before this even happens, understand last year’s WNBA finals was the highest-rated WNBA finals in history. The regular season across all platforms that the WNBA games are appearing on, they are rivaling what the viewership is for the NHL, so there is so many positives to be pointed out,” showing how women’s league has positively grown from the earlier times.

She further added, “What I was saying is people, if you are outraging when you saw those salary figures, if you think women deserve more, its really simple – buy the merchandise, watch the game, go to the game – that is the best defense that you can give these women is by consuming their product because I promise you, it is worth it,” asking people to show wholehearted willingness and support towards the WNBA, as they do to the league’s male counterpart, the NBA.