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April 15, 2024 — A one-woman needle-mover?
This evening, Caitlin Clark is expected to be the first overall pick in the WNBA Draft, going to the Indiana Fever.
She will undoubtedly carry forward the excellence of the league that has been going for nearly three decades. But the question is, can she be the kind of star player who can transcend the sport like she already has?
Undoubtedly.
However, what I think she will be judged on is not whether she will be able to sell out arenas, but can she do what Wayne Gretzky did when he accepted a trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles in 1988? That one move brought big-time professional ice hockey to the southern half of the United States. The NHL and other pro leagues put teams in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and in other non-traditional locations. And it also led to the development of pro players with southern addresses.
What Clark is going to do, for better or worse, is going to have to be able to bring more basketball fans to arenas and get ownership groups around the U.S. to invest in the WNBA. Since 1996, the league has manage to put itself into 22 markets from Sacramento to New York, but have rarely had more than a dozen teams playing in any season.
That, I think, can change.
There are a number of markets who have previously held WNBA franchises such as Sacramento, Portland, Detroit, Orlando, Miami, San Antonio, and Salt Lake City. But there are other markets which have never had a WNBA team, such as Philadelphia, Boston, Milwaukee, and Denver.
Too, there are other great women’s basketball markets which could support a team. Since the start of the WNBA, there has been all manner of speculation that eastern Tennessee would get a team, whether Knoxville or Nashville. And I think the current excellence of the South Carolina women’s team could justify the resurrection of the Charlotte Sting. The market in Louisiana, whether in Baton Rouge or New Orleans, could also be harnessed because of the excellence of LSU or Louisiana Tech over the years.
There is room to grow. And I hope The Clark Effect is able to make it happen.
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