By now, everyone knows that wherever Caitlin Clark goes, the cameras follow, and so does the cash. For basketball leagues, she’s a walking business model. This is precisely why every league wants her, every brand endorses her, and every founder wants to build around her. One of the first ones being Ice Cube. From record-breaking ticket sales to primetime TV deals, Clark is fueling what experts say could be a $1 billion surge for the WNBA. But the W hasn’t been compensating their star as she deserves, with just US$78,000 approximately, and some unfair officiating to make it worse.

“It was a real offer. We were prepared to fulfill the offer…I think the agents kept us away.” That’s what O’Shea Jackson said after offering her a whopping $10 million to play in his Big 3 league. The 23-year-old point guard ultimately inked a four-year rookie deal with the Fever worth $338,056. It was significantly less than Ice Cube’s Big3 offer. However, Clark secured major off-court earnings through an eight-year, $28 million Nike endorsement contract. Which, again, is precisely why there have been talks about Nike potentially forming a separate pro-league with Caitlin Clark’s star power.

The idea recently came up in a conversation with Author of On Her Game, Christine Brennan on ESPN LA. There the interviewer asked, “What if Caitlyn Clark just left and started her own league because of the way she’s been treated?” Would that work what do you think?” Brennan didn’t even take a moment to respond, as if she had already been pondering over it. She opened with, “You know it’s interesting. I thought of that too. Nike loves her, she’s got Wilson obviously, she’s got Gatorade.” No surprises there, she’s got a strong sponsorship portfolio with Wilson Sporting Goods, Gatorade, and State Farm.

With Nike’s roughly $33 billion market cap and Caitlin Clark’s ability to draw several million viewers per game in the WNBA, the notion of brands funding a new league isn’t far-fetched, but it would require serious coordination around arenas, players, and scheduling. Especially notable: Clark earns just $78,000 this season, versus NBA rookies who typically make over $1 million. The pay disparity makes it increasingly tempting for brands or new leagues to step in.

With the kind of business she has been bringing for them, you bet that they will follow CC wherever she goes. Brennan listed out her unfairly low salary and then sealed the idea with, “If Nike said, “We’re going to make the Nike Clark League,” they could do it. It would take a few years to get the arenas and logistics in place, but the TV contract? It’s Caitlin. The TV viewership is all about Caitlin Clark, not Angel and Caitlin. Just Caitlin.” She made it clear that though Angel Reese thrives of the “rivalry” narrative, Caitlin Clark is a force of her own.

She added, “I think Angel is a great rebounder and excellent at what she does, but she doesn’t move the needle when it comes to ratings. Caitlin does. And I absolutely believe Nike could pull it off in a few years.” Finally, the verdict was that, “it’s doable, especially given the vacuum of leadership the WNBA continues to show.” And it was an accurate one, because the calls (or lack of them) have hit an extent where even analysts like Stephen A. Smith and Charles Barkley had to come forward and criticize the WNBA for not protecting its most marketable player. If W can’t handle her, others are more than happy to.

Caitlin Clark’s absence, WNBA’s reality check…

Caitlin Clark’s injury absence isn’t just bad news for the Indiana Fever. It’s creating a full-blown crisis for the WNBA. While the rookie star recovers from her left groin injury (currently day-to-day), the league is already seeing dramatic consequences. Her single missed game against the Los Angeles Sparks just reinforced what became already clear during her earlier five-game absence with a quadriceps injury.

WNBA national TV ratings plummeted by over 50%. These aren’t estimates either. Nielsen data reported by USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt showed drops reaching 55%. As veteran sportswriter Christine Brennan and author of On Her Game, stressed: “The WNBA’s viewership dropped more than 50 percent. Not just the Fever, but the entire league.” Brennan put this in shocking context by comparing Clark’s impact to sports legends.

She said, “I’ve covered Tiger Woods the length of his career. As big a deal as Tiger was in men’s golf… nothing like that. And Michael Jordan being out, maybe five percentage points or something. Nothing like this.” Clark isn’t merely popular, rather, she has become essential infrastructure. Brennan stated unequivocally: “There is no one single athlete more important to his or her sport or tour or whatever the circuit is that they play on, that Caitlin Clark is to the WNBA.”

From ticket sales to TV ratings to overall buzz, we know that Caitlin Clark has been the driving force behind the league’s record growth. When she’s not playing? it’s almost as if the entire operation grinds to a halt.