Caitlin Clark named WNBA's most marketable star
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios; Photos: Nathanial S. Butler, Cooper Neill, and Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Caitlin Clark's award-winning, record-breaking rookie season has cemented her as one of the most marketable athletes on the planet.
Why it matters: Marketability leads to endorsements, which are often the path to higher earnings for WNBA players who still make a percentage of what their NBA counterparts pull in despite surging popularity.
Driving the news: Global sports media and events company SportsPro released its 15th annual list of the world's 50 Most Marketable Athletes on Tuesday.
- Clark made her debut this year, cracking the top 5 as the fourth most marketable athlete, sandwiched between No. 3 LeBron James and No. 5 Lionel Messi.
- Tyrese Haliburton is the only other Indianapolis athlete on the list at No. 86.
- Caveat: The list came together before Haliburton signed a sneaker deal with PUMA Hoops, meaning his stock is still rising.
How it works: SportsPro deputy editor Ed Dixon told Axios the list is crafted with the help of consulting firm NorthStar Solutions Group, which has developed a methodology that blends qualitative research and quantitative metrics to determine the final ranking.
- To be considered eligible, an athlete must have been active between Sept. 1, 2023 and Sept. 1, 2024.
Once the list of athletes was narrowed down to 150, 16 factors were rolled into three weighted scoring pillars:
- 💪 Brand strength: An athlete's global presence and brand affinity.
- 🌍 Total addressable market: An athlete's reach and engagement potential.
- 📈 Triple bottom line: An athlete's impact on people, profit and the planet, emphasizing their influence in the realm of social responsibility.
What they're saying: "Somebody like Caitlin Clark, she's got a lot of momentum behind her as does women's sports … but she doesn't have multiple years of consistent performance and consistent achievement," said Chris Collins, chief executive of NorthStar Solutions Group. "If that's all we looked at, she would never even rise into a category of some of these longer-term athletes like LeBron or Messi that have been doing this forever."
- Dixon, meanwhile, said this list should hush any doubters who still question Clark's impact on today's market.
- "WNBA chief marketing officer Phil Cook described it best when he described Clark's arrival to the league as a Tiger Woods entering the PGA Tour moment," he said. "That gives you an idea of how transformative she's already been and will be in the coming years."
Zoom out: Simone Biles topped this year's list.
- Biles is just the third athlete to be No. 1 twice, joining Messi and Neymar.
By the numbers: Athletes from 18 countries are featured on the list, with the U.S. accounting for 42%.
- 21 of the top 50 competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
- With six players on the list, the WNBA has more athletes in this year's lineup than any other league.
Here is a look at the full top 10.
- 🤸 Simone Biles
- ⚽ Vinicius Junior
- 🏀 LeBron James
- 🏀 Caitlin Clark
- ⚽ Lionel Messi
- 🤸 Rebeca Andrade
- ⚽ Kylian Mbappe
- 🏉 Ilona Maher
- ⚽ Cristiano Ronaldo
- 🏊 Katie Ledecky
Go deeper: Caitlin Clark and the economics of women's sports