Caitlin Clark is one of the most marketable basketball players in the country, and the BIG3 knows it. League founder Ice Cube confirmed that he made a $5 million offer to Clark following a report from TMZ.
We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship. But I won’t deny what’s now already out there: BIG3 made a historic
offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn’t we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3. https://t.co/cwzHh7EVau— Ice Cube (@icecube) March 27, 2024
There are two big elements to this announcement:
- The BIG3 ABSOLUTELY wanted this news to leak. This is a huge marketing move for the league and they want to make as many headlines as possible while Clark is in the middle of her pursuit of a National Championship.
- It’s incredible that women ballers are getting enough hype and attention that they’re the source of marketing schemes is something that wouldn’t have happened a decade ago, and shows how much recognition the women’s game is getting thanks to these amazing athletes.
The TMZ story cites that the BIG3 wants to become an alternate home for WNBA stars, rather than have them be forced to play overseas to make up for their poor WNBA pay. However, there’s a major conflict with the BIG3 season running during the pros, which could drastically impact whether anyone is willing to try and play both.
As it stands the BIG3 season would run from mid-June to mid-August, and there are two conflicting games with the Indiana Fever, who will take Clark with the No. 1 overall pick. BIG3 wants athletes to play in both leagues, because they are in desperate need of the attention and eyeballs — but that doesn’t make any sense to someone like Clark, who will earn magnitudes more in endorsement money. This is also asking her to risk her health, and focus at the start of her pro career for short-term gain.
Basically: The BIG3 needs Caitlin Clark much more than she needs them.
Clark hasn’t said whether or not she’d accept this offer, as you’d expect with Iowa still dancing, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
