Mike Decourcy on the star power of Caitlin Clark and WNBA player resentment towards her

Mike Decourcy: I do have a problem with how Caitlin Clark is being treated by fellow players, but it's not all physical.  Some of it's verbal as well.  This idea that they have to chop her down.  Look, you [the WNBA] can do whatever you want to do, it's your league.  But if you want your league to grow - and you know what happens when the league grow, Mike, the money grows.  If you want to make more money, then you embrace her entry into the league.  I'm not saying you let her, "Here, take an open shot, Caitlin."  It's not about that.  But you don't have to cheap shot her and take pot shots at her verbally as well.

Mike Carver: That's part to me, Mike, that I can't grasp...  Here's what I can't figure out the most: Why is everyone in that league - not everyone - why are a lot of players in that league, at the root of it, Mike, so upset that this girl is bringing notoriety, money?...  There is so much to gain, Mike, and it seems like a lot of girls are unhappy about it!  That doesn't make any sense to me.

Mike Decourcy: It's the same thing that I wrote about back in February we're seeing reflected in the college game where she was seen elevating the college game.  And let's not forget here, a couple of years ago, before Caitlin Clark made the Final Four, they were happy if they got a 5 million audience for the championship game of the women's Final Four.  They were happy.  "Five million, ok, that's a good number."  That's what they were looking for.  When Caitlin Clark played in it last year against Angel Reese and LSU, they got 10 million.  And she played it this year against Carmilla Cardoso and South Carolina, they got 18 million!  That's three times the audience.

If that's what's out there, look, you don't try to get mad because, "Oh, why weren't you watching us all along?"  Hey, the audience wasn't.  You can't explain a phenomenon, Mike.  Why were the NBA Finals of the 1970s on tape delay?  They just were, the audience wasn't there.  Magic and Bird come along, all of a sudden it's magical and everybody's watching.  It's just sometimes that's how it works.  Joe Namath comes along in 1969 and the NFL goes from a very watchable league, a lot of fans, to the most powerful sports entity in the world.  All of that happens because a certain player at a certain moment draws people in and enough of those people stick around that everybody's boat is elevated.  Right now for the WNBA, that person is Caitlin Clark.  Don't try to explain why everybody wants to watch her play...

So you embrace it and everybody gets wealthier as a result.  That's not happening in the WNBA.  No one, at any level in that league, is embracing what she can do for them.

~ Mike Decourcy, "Exploring Caitlin Clark’s Impactful WNBA Rookie Season," Ferrall Coast to Coast, June 4, 2024