SIMMONS: WNBA remains clueless on how to take advantage of Caitlin Clark

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At different times in their lives and careers, Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan didn’t just dominate their sports — they dominated the business of their sports.

They were the story. They were the headlines. They were the athletes everyone wanted to see or be like.

But none of them — as enormous as they were — could move the sporting needle the way in which Caitlin Clark has in her first two seasons in the WNBA.

And the very fortunate WNBA, which should be dancing with joy about having this jewel of an athlete, has been more than clueless, unprepared really, as to what to do with Clark, how to handle this pot of gold.

The remarkable disconnect between Clark’s first season and a half in the WNBA and the petty jealousy, disdain and attempts at bullying this special athlete at this special time for women’s sport is outlined in detail by the veteran American columnist Christine Brennan in her book On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution In Women’s Sports.

The book is both fascinating and troubling. It’s as though the WNBA were handed a winning lottery ticket and, rather than cash it, decided to bury it in a drawer.

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What should be of some concern to Toronto — one year away from the expansion Tempo beginning play — is the place of longtime league commissioner Cathy Engelbert. She comes across in the book as rather small, unappreciative and unable to deal with the onslaught of mainstream media coverage that Clark’s entrance to the WNBA has brought.

“I think they were totally unprepared for the national scrutiny that was coming,” Brennan said in an interview Wednesday. “They had no idea what they were doing. They had no idea how to handle what was happening.”

Here’s the simple breakdown of Clark in American sport: When she plays, the WNBA gets terrific television ratings. When she doesn’t play, they get the kind of ratings they’ve had for years, the kind that nobody really notices.

When Clark plays live games for the Indiana Fever — and, understand this, she’s not the best player in the league and they’re not the best team — the games tend to be moved from smaller venues to larger ones, from insignificant crowds to sellouts place to place.

As for exactly how and why this happened, as good as this book is, you might need several books to understand the extreme impact Clark has had on sports in America.

Gretzky, as great as he was, didn’t single-handedly change television ratings or player interest in the NHL. The same was true for Jordan in the NBA.

It was slightly different for Woods because, in a singular sport, like with Tyson, he was absolutely unique and sensational. More people watched, more were engaged, more talked — but those already were mainstream sports. At least boxing was back then.

One of my favourite small parts of Brennan’s book has her describing Clark on Halloween as a kid. Most of us went out, put on a costume, went house-to-house, and collected as much candy as we could.

Clark didn’t trick or treat as much as she sprinted house-to-house, competing against her family members and friends. She never stopped running. Everything to her was a competition, even the gathering of candy.

‘How many houses can I get to, how much candy can I get?’

You read that and you learn something about her — like Sidney Crosby shooting pucks into a dryer.

That’s how you become a Caitlin Clark, with Gretzky-like vision on the basketball court, with a Jordan-like tenacity. Her success should make for the greatest celebration in WNBA history — but the league hasn’t figured all of that out.

When Clark was selected first overall in 2024, it was the highest-rated televised draft in league history. The year before Clark played for the Fever, the team averaged 4,067 fans per game. The year before that: 1,775 a game.

In her first season, the Fever drew 17,036 at home and the highest road attendance in the league. By comparison, the Pittsburgh Penguins drew 6,839 in the year Mario Lemieux was drafted and 10,018 in his rookie campaign. That was a remarkable increase of 46% for the Penguins at the gate.

The increase in Clark’s first season was 322%.

The three worst-drawing teams in the WNBA — Atlanta, Washington and Dallas — all had sellouts in larger buildings for the three Indiana games to start this season.

These are just attendance numbers. They don’t tell much about the way Clark has been treated in the league, both by fellow players and league staff led by look-the-other-way commissioner Engelbert.

Take all-star voting, for example. Clark received the most fan votes in the league. The players, as small as they could be, voted her ninth among guards. And in the book, there is much detail about Brennan’s difficulty in trying to cover the WNBA and, in particular, trying to write about Clark and how the league and, by extension, the players association foolishly attempted to have Brennan’s media credentials revoked.

This is particularly annoying if you know Brennan at all, and I do. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a stronger, prouder and louder advocate for women’s sports and more than that — for fairness in sport.

If you have a problem with Christine Brennan, the problem isn’t her, it’s you.

“I’ve asked hundreds of tougher questions to male athletes and no one complained about them,” she said. “What are they saying? That women can’t handle these questions in 2024? I completely disagree with that.”

So, what has changed between the league, Clark and Brennan since the book came out?

“I’m not sure anything has changed? I gave WNBA leadership, particularly commissioner Engelbert, the opportunity to answer questions. She chose to decline,” Brennan said.

So, what, if anything, should Toronto know about the WNBA one year away from its opening?

“What I know about Canadian sports fans is that they love women’s sports and that has been demonstrated over the years,” she said. “My sense is they’ll support the team well.

“Should they be concerned about the continued lack of leadership in the WNBA? I don’t know if that affects them. I do know this: They will sell out for the two Indiana games.”

Everybody does.

ssimmons@postmedia.com

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