Caitlin Clark's WNBA Contract Revealed, NFL Superstar Says: 'These Ladies Deserve So Much More.' Do They?

As certain as it was that former Iowa women's basketball sensation Caitlin Clark would be the first selection in Monday night's WNBA draft, it was just as certain that the touchy subject of the difference between men's and women's salaries in professional sports would be raised by Tuesday morning.

It didn't take that long.

All it took was Barstool Reports posting Clark's WNBA rookie contract details.

A look at Caitlin Clark’s first contract in the WNBA pic.twitter.com/wHCcLgR9tM
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 16, 2024

Little more than an hour later, Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Russell Wilson weighed in.

These ladies deserve so much more… Praying for the day

Do they?

These ladies deserve so much more…
Praying for the day 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 l https://t.co/mIZmaXwPVi
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) April 16, 2024

I'll ask again: Do "these ladies deserve" so much more? If so, based on what?

Don't get me wrong. Caitlin Clark is a once-in-a-generation phenom, the likes of whom women's college basketball has never seen. Moreover, it's my fervent hope she can help raise the WNBA to a revenue-generating level that would justify paying her and other WNBA players the "so much more" Russell Wilson believes they "deserve."

As a businessman in my prior life, here's an indisputable reality: Revenue generation drives incomes. It really is that simple.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) recorded total revenue of $10.58 billion in 2023, an increase of $500 million over 2022. In contrast, the WNBA was projected to bring in between $180 million and $200 million in combined team and league revenue in 2023. The league started play in 1997 and has yet to turn a profit.

Reality aside, on Tuesday's episode of NBC's "Today with Hoda and Jenna," co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager lost their minds over Clark's contract. Hoda was ignorantly flabbergasted.

I saw it and I was like, ‘This can’t be right.' This is like picking at an old scab for many women. I think it’s all these old things and there was something about it, like, I was imagining the little girls with the signs who were filling the stadiums, who are now obsessed with basketball, with signs that say ‘Caitlin,’ and society I guess is saying, ‘Well, this is what that’s worth right now. That’s worth $76,000.

Yeah, no, Hoda.

It has nothing to do with society and everything to do with revenue generation or the lack thereof.

Jenna weighed in with this bit of brilliance:

Honestly, the gap is so jarring. Ten million to 78 (thousand). It’s so jarring, the discrepancy. We’re talking about equal pay. That isn’t even close.

And there it was. "Equal pay."

Sounds great, Jenna. So how about this. Let's have NBC pay you a salary that would allow a morning show host in some small local market "equal pay" with you. Would you take that deal? Of course, you wouldn't.

Newsflash: Caitlin Clark is not going to go broke.

Already worth an estimated $3.1 million due to NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness), a term used to describe the means through which college athletes are allowed to receive financial compensation – including product endorsements – there's little doubt that the endorsements Clark signs as a professional will significantly increase her net worth.

Again, it's all about the money, gang. Love it or hate it, the bottom line is what matters.

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