Caitlin Clark Could Receive 'Lionel Messi-Like' Unrivaled Offer

October 23, 2024

It could be argued no athlete proportionally affects their sport’s viewership more than Caitlin Clark. With that in mind, nascent 3-on-3 league Unrivaled is prepared to go to great lengths to compel her to join. Sources tell us the offer is styled similarly to the MLS deal that brought in Lionel Messi—a sizable salary, equity, and possibly even revenue sharing. We explore what’s being considered and what it could mean for the league.

—Michael McCarthy

Unrivaled Preparing ‘Lionel Messi–Like’ Offer for Caitlin Clark

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Special players attract special contract offers—and compensation. The new Unrivaled women’s basketball league is considering a sweeping “Lionel Messi–like” offer to entice Caitlin Clark to play in the league’s inaugural season, sources tell Front Office Sports.

The start-up league’s “full-court press” to recruit Clark is similar to the push by Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF to woo Messi in 2023. The club knew that salary alone was not enough to land the global superstar. So Inter Miami constructed an unprecedented package that included a contract valued at $150 million, partial ownership, and other financial incentives. Apple even agreed to share revenue from MLS Season Pass with the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Clark was just named the fourth-most-marketable athlete in the world by SportsPro in London. (Messi ranks behind her at No. 5.) With her stardom and broad appeal in mind, the start-up league is poised to offer Clark everything from a salary possibly exceeding $1 million for less than three months of work, to equity and revenue sharing, sources say.

Similar to the “Messi Effect” on MLS, Unrivaled hopes a “Caitlin Clark Effect” would drive ticket sales and ratings for TV partner TNT Sports, while attracting blue-chip advertisers.

A million-dollar payday may not sound like much compared to NBA superstars like LeBron James, who’ll make $48.7 million with the Lakers this season. But it would be a fortune compared to Clark’s base salary of $76,535 during her rookie season with the Indiana Fever. Not counting incentives, she’ll make only $338,056 during her first four seasons, according to Spotrac. The WNBA’s highest-paid players for 2025—Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale—will make only $249,032. Warriors superstar Steph Curry makes $55.8 million.

Clark’s real income comes off the court. Among other deals, she has an eight-year, $28 million contract with Nike. Since her college days with the Iowa Hawkeyes, she’s built an impressive portfolio of corporate sponsors, including the Swoosh, State Farm, Gatorade, Wilson, Bose, Buick, and other brands. Clark is represented by Excel Sports Management, which also reps Derek Jeter as well as Peyton and Eli Manning (Excel declined to comment for this story).

Clark could easily spend her offseason training, playing golf, and shooting TV commercials. But Unrivaled hopes the combination of a high salary, a stake in the league (all players will receive equity opportunities), and the challenge of hooping against the world’s top female players will entice the 22-year-old point guard.

Cofounded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, Unrivaled promises its 30 players the “highest salaries in professional women’s sports league history.” That means a six-figure base salary outside of their equity stakes. But both players and agents have been told up front the league will not take a one-size-fits-all approach toward compensation, say sources. Instead, players will be paid on a sliding scale. The bigger their stardom, the bigger their social media following, the more players will earn. By that standard, there’s no bigger draw than Clark, who drives TV ratings like no athlete since Tiger Woods. To date, 26 of 30 players, including Chelsea Gray and Angel Reese, have announced their intentions to play in the six-team league. On Monday, the WNBA players’ union voted to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement that was supposed to run through 2027.

“Unrivaled is proud to offer the highest average salary in professional women’s sports league history—in addition to offering an equity stake to all athletes competing in the inaugural season,” a league spokeswoman told FOS on Tuesday. “While we believe Unrivaled is setting a new standard in the marketplace, we are not disclosing individual player compensation packages or league financials at this time.”

Unrivaled will tip off in Miami in January, 2025. The 3-on-3 league’s season will run for eight weeks, including playoffs. There may also be appeal for Clark to spend the coldest part of winter in sunny South Florida rather than wintry Iowa.

As with Messi, it’s up to Clark. The ball is in her court.

World Series Poised for Massive TV Ratings

Jun 4, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe (11) hits a two run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium.

Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images

Despite the usual crowded October sports schedule, the MLB playoffs have been the best TV show in town. Baseball’s best postseason in years is primed for a great Fall Classic between the Yankees and Dodgers: the two most storied teams playing in the two biggest TV markets. Naturally, Fox Sports executives are popping champagne corks. (So is Apple, which will work on a documentary around the series.) But the money will really roll in for Fox if the Yankees-Dodgers series is a long one—particularly if it reaches seven games. Make sure to read FOS colleague Eric Fisher’s full breakdown of ratings expectations here.

As usual, Douglas “Son of the Bronx” Pucci of Programming Insider asked me and other sports-media scribes for our ratings predictions for this year’s Fall Classic. I’m predicting Fox will average 24 million viewers for a seven-game Yankees-Dodgers series. That would top the 23.4 million mark of the seven-game Cubs-Cleveland series in 2016 and make this the most-watched Fall Classic since the Red Sox drew 25.4 million average viewers while breaking their October curse in a four-game 2004 sweep.

Tweet of the Week

This award goes to NFL PR guru Brian McCarthy (no relation) for his expert troll of sports media critics, including yours truly:

“On this day 85 years ago, 1st NFL game was televised. @andrewmarchand & @richardDeitsch panned announcer Skip Walz. @JimmyTraina had many thoughts, @Ourand_Puck heard Walz was going to be defenestrated & @MMcCarthyREV had sources saying CBS was interested. @benjstrauss did a deep dive & @bryancurtis had @davidshoemaker guess the strained pun headline from the game. Broadcast was a success.”

Mike’s Mailbag

Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images

“Tuned In” reader Michael Ryan posed an interesting question about newly minted Raiders owner Tom Brady: “Who at the NFL is going to enforce these Brady [broadcast] rules? Are they going to designate somebody to listen to every broadcast to see what he says? If not, are these rules just to pacify the other owners?”

That’s a great question, Mike. It’s my understanding the NFL’s broadcast department will enforce the “Brady Rules,” which include no pregame production meetings with players and coaches, no visits to team practices or facilities, and no criticism of teams or officials. It won’t be that difficult. Brady will call only one game per week heading into Fox Sports’ broadcast of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. And the NFL’s 32 franchises are so hypercompetitive, they’d probably all like to drop a dime on the ultimate winner if he tries to circumvent the rules. Just ask Bill Belichick, who’s still salty over being ratted out by the rival Jets during the Spygate scandal broken by Fox’s Jay Glazer back in 2007.

Reminder: If you have a thought on something I wrote or a question to ask, just email me (michael@frontofficesports.com) and you may be featured in a future newsletter.

We got a ton of reaction to our scoop that Unrivaled was going to put on a “full-court press” to recruit Clark. What shocked me was how many fans who love to watch her play state she should not join the new league. “She can make more by playing golf professionally in the off-season compared to getting an eye poke and being shoved by the same jealous players,” wrote one. “I would love to see her play but I also recognize she may not see the 3×3 game as her bag, plus she might not want to risk an injury (though she’s been really durable). She may value the rest and time to work on her game more than the $$,” wrote another.

Written by Michael McCarthy

Edited by Or Moyal, Catherine Chen