Clay Travis: Caitlin Clark “being a straight white girl makes people uncomfortable” because “in the WNBA ... there's a lot of lesbians, and there's a lot of minorities”
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From the April 8, 2024, edition of OutKick's OutKick The Show
CLAY TRAVIS (HOST): Caitlin Clark. A lot of people are like, okay. Is she the GOAT? How would you assess this? How would you analyze Caitlin Clark? First of all, incredible career. Like I said, congrats to South Carolina on finishing undefeated, but this is really the Caitlin Clark story. And to me, Caitlin Clark is in a unique spot. I can't think really of any team sport athlete that has ever been bigger than the sport she is playing before she even gets to the pros. Think about this for a minute. If Caitlin Clark had lost, 65 or 70% of the overall viewership for women's college basketball would have vanished overnight. People say, oh, women's college basketball is so strong. No. Caitlin Clark is a unicorn. She's a meteor streaking across the night sky. People care about Caitlin Clark. They don't particularly care about women's college basketball. The analogy that's probably best to make is, Ronda Rousey. In the same way that a decade ago, everybody had an opinion about Ronda Rousey in UFC, and women's UFC has continued post-Ronda Rousey. Nobody cares. I can't name you a women's UFC fighter right now. Unless you're a diehard UFC fan, you probably can't either. Ronda Rousey was women's UFC fighting. As soon as she lost, the sport vanished. Nobody really cared. She was bigger than the men for a short period of time. She lost Holly Holm, and then I think she lost again, and it was basically all over. Her entire career was finished, and the UFC has never recovered on the women's side. Other analogy. I think you can say she's like Tiger Woods in that Tiger brought in a ton of people who otherwise did not care about golf. I think she you can say she's like Michael Jordan and that Michael Jordan brought in a ton of people who otherwise did not care about the NBA. Difference is both of those guys were professionals by the time they became supremely famous.
Caitlin Clark is going to the WNBA. Her brand is bigger and more valuable than the entire WNBA, and that is why you are seeing so many people out there attack Caitlin Clark because women's basketball, instead of welcoming her, has actually been ripping her. I think there's many different levels here. I think the fact that she's straight and that she's white does not work in her favor in women's college basketball universe or in the WNBA, because there's a lot of lesbians, and there's a lot of minorities. And I think that does factor in. Being a straight white girl makes people uncomfortable. I'm talking about WNBA people. It's weird, but I think it does.
The other thing here, the question is, how much of her celebrity translates to the WNBA? What I would say if I were giving advice is put her on the women's college team. I mean, sorry, the women's, US women trying to win the gold medal. I think it's a no-brainer. Way more people will watch it. The other analogy I'm using there, kind of the women's soccer team, but there were a lot of famous people on the US women's soccer team. I'm not sure anybody ever ascended to the heights of, where you're seeing now Caitlin Clark. So there isn't a lot of historical replication here.