In addition, Clark is bringing a host of sponsors with her, including Gainbridge, Panini, Nike, Gatorade and State Farm—which is buying up Times Square for her on draft day.
Leading up to the WNBA Draft, State Farm is dedicating a two-screen 3D installation to her at Duffy Square in Times Square—highlighting her records and congratulating her once she’s picked. During draft day, State Farm is also sending its Jake from State Farm character to the event with Turner Networks/Thursday Night Football/Bleacher Report journalist Taylor Rooks to congratulate Clark in person.
“For us, we couldn’t be more excited to see Caitlin going into the draft,” said Patty Morris, marketing executive at State Farm. “Next week is going to be a watershed moment in women’s sports as this draft class comes through.”
In an increasingly fragmented marketplace, that type of viewership and brand pull—or the Caitlin Clark Effect—makes a difference.
Ice-ing the competition
With the potential addition of Clark, the Big3’s 3-on-3 league would look to build on the 515,000 viewers it averaged for CBS last year, which topped same-day audiences for the NBA summer league and Major League Baseball, as well as Premier League Soccer and the WNBA.
Though it may seem a stretch for Clark to join Big3 for the uninitiated, the league is also no stranger to stars, serving as a home for former NBA players such as Cuttino Mobley, Jason Richardson, Joe Johnson and Nick Young. It also has a history of going after elite women’s players.
For instance, Kwatinetz noted that the Big3 reached out to former University of Connecticut and Minnesota Lynx standout Maya Moore after she took a hiatus from the WNBA to pursue criminal justice reform and, eventually, secure her now-husband Jonathan Irons’ release from prison and exoneration. Of course, Moore retired from basketball altogether.
In addition to players, the league values star coaches, with a roster including Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers George “Iceman” Gervin, “Dr. J” Julius Erving (whose eight-year tenure there is just shy of the 11 he spent with the Philadelphia 76ers) and Lisa Leslie.
