that exists like that. You saying there in your experience in baseball, there was never a player that moved that needle meaningfully enough that would cover their salary. Never once. And there’s never been a player. And and anyone who tells you otherwise, they’re they’re simply lying to you.
But I’m about to give you the exception. Caitlyn Clark with Unrivaled would be the example where she will bring with her a pot of money that otherwise would not be available to Unrivaled. And that would help inform me what I’d be willing to give her, which I assume is what they are willing to give her, which is going to be far greater than anyone else in the league.(0:36) It will be more money overall comp than the co-founders. there will be an opportunity for more equity because it’s measurable because I bet that they’ve negotiated in a way with their partners that should they get this tornado of benefit which is named Caitlyn Clark then what may be worth $1 today is worth $2 tomorrow and they want to monetize that.
Commissioner panic mode is officially activated. Caitlyn Clark fans just rejected Unrivaled again. And we’re not talking about a close split either. This was a flatout overwhelming no thanks. The so-called Revolutionary League can’t buy Caitlyn Clark’s fans no matter how hard they try.
Question is, why do her fans refuse to take the bait when there’s more money on the table? Would you watch Caitlyn Clark play an unrivaled or are you also saying no way? Timing of unrivaled announcing this. This is all strategic. They could have announced this at literally any other time. They are doing it as a negotiation tactic.
We have also heard from players that the WNBA does not want players to play in unrivaled and they don’t want them to play in overseas leagues. I have been one who has said from the beginning, I just don’t see how these two leagues coexist. I don’t see how they coexist if both of them are successful. At the end of the day, Unrivaled is a competitor league to the WNBA.
You don’t see it in any other pro sports. Now, the WNBA is different because they have a shorter season. They haven’t been able to pay the players so much. All right, let’s unpack this circus. A poll went up asking Caitlyn Clark’s fan base if they wanted to see her play in Unrivaled. Now remember, this is the shiny new women’s basketball league that runs 3×3 in Miami, packs about 800 people into a dark gym, and somehow pretends it’s the future of the sport.
The question was simple. Should Caitlyn join? And the answer, absolutely not. Roughly 78% said no. About 22% said yes. That’s not rejection. That’s a body slam. fans aren’t buying the hype, no matter how many flashy logos or celebrity investors Unrivaled throws out there. Here’s the kicker.
This isn’t the first time Caitlyn Clark fans have rejected Unrivaled. It happened last year, too, when the league offered her a cool million to play for 8 weeks. Think about that. 1 million for a couple months of 3×3 ball. Meanwhile, her WNBA paycheck about 78 grand. Do the math. It’s 10 times more money and still the fans said no overwhelmingly twice.
Now in this case though the biggest fish David and it’s not close is of course Caitlyn Clark and that is not a statement as we always have to caveat about is she the number one best player in the league. That’s an argument that many have had and will continue to have in the ways that we want to mount Rushmore everything.
But in terms of the draw, the biggest free agent, the biggest economic stimulus package that can be provided to a startup like this is obviously her. And she is not signed. She’s bigger than even show Otani in terms of direct. My view is that in terms of direct relation to bottom line performance of a league, you get Caitlyn Clark, you are able to go to banks and present financials that are way more base case than upside case.
And your base case goes higher. you have more access to capital, your sponsorship revenue goes up, every your media rights deal, I assume there’s some sort of minimum guarantee and maybe an upside, maybe whatever deal that was negotiated, having Caitlyn Clark is an absolute. So naturally, the commissioner of Unrivaled has to be sweating bullets because if Caitlyn Clark fans aren’t on board, that league is dead in the water.
She is women’s basketball right now. She’s the ratings, the ticket sales, the jerseys, the storylines. No Caitlyn, no growth. It’s that simple. And when her own fans reject the idea, that’s panic button territory. Now, let’s talk about the arguments fans used. One of the biggest reasons they gave was this.
Why should she play in a league full of women who can’t stand her? And honestly, that’s fair. She already deals with enough jealous teammates, salty opponents, and constant shade in the WNBA. Why jump into another league where the roster is practically handpicked from the same group of haters? Makes zero sense.
But then again, she already plays with those same jealous players in the WNBA and fans still watch. So technically, Unrivaled isn’t that different. It’s the same collection of players with the same attitude, just in a 3×3 format. The only difference, the WNBA has NBA owners footing the bill, while Unrivaled is a random mix of investors praying their sketchy stock pays off.
And here’s where it gets funny. Despite Unrivaled being a newborn league, it actually came closer to turning a profit in its first year than the WNBA has in almost three decades. The W lost $40 million last season. Unrivaled only lost $10 million. That’s almost break even compared to the WNBA’s endless pit.
But numbers don’t change the reality. Fans just aren’t into it. Because let’s be real, 3×3 basketball isn’t what people want. It looks like a pickup game you could catch at the Y on a Tuesday night. The broadcast looks terrible. Dark, empty, awkward camera angles. They claim sold out with 800 fans, yet you see 40 in the shot. Nobody’s buying it.
And if Caitlyn Clark fans already see through the illusion, no million dollar paycheck is going to fix that. Now, here’s where the commissioner has to be sweating buckets. Caitlyn Clark’s financial value is enormous. We’re talking $50 million in yearly revenue she generates for any league she plays in. Not just ticket sales, media deals, merchandise, TV ratings. She’s the golden goose.
Unrivaled knows it, which is why they keep dangling offers. But if her fan base says, “We don’t want her there.” She can’t touch it. Because at the end of the day, Caitlyn Clark doesn’t just play basketball, she carries her audience with her. And if they reject the league, the league fails. And I’ll say this again, the fans weren’t just undecided. They flat out shut the door.
77.5% said no. That’s about as one-sided as you can get. Fans would rather see Caitlyn play for pennies in the WNBA than cash a million in Miami. Why? Because they don’t trust the league. They don’t like the format. And they sure as hell don’t want to watch her help a bunch of rivals get rich off her back. Well, I don’t want to watch her play with players that’s going that they can’t stand her and and that she’s going to benefit their league.
She’s that’s all she’s doing in the WNBA is benefiting a bunch of haters and their league. Let’s be real. She is women’s basketball as a whole, right? So, think about it. Everywhere Caitlyn goes, the league benefits. The WNBA gets record ratings because of her. Owners cash in because of her.
Cities fill arenas because of her. And she gets a fraction of the value she generates. Fans see that and they’re already frustrated. So now Unrivaled wants to ride her coattails, too. Fans are done with the freeloaders. They’ve drawn the line. And I’ll be honest, this rejection cuts deeper than just one pole. It’s a sign that Caitlyn Clark’s fan base has standards.(8:31) They’re not just blindly following her anywhere. They care about the product, the format, the image. They’re saying loud and clear, “We want real basketball, not gimmicks.” And that should terrify unrivaled commissioner because if Clark’s army won’t even give them a chance, who will? There were some new announcements that just came out and this news was announced on September 8th.
So just 7 months after the conclusion of its inaugural season, Arrival said it has been valued at 340 million. Some of the biggest headlines throughout this entire season are the CBA negotiations. They wore the shirts at All-Star, pay us what you owe us. From what we have heard from so many players because they’ve been very outspoken.
They have given us a lot of information about these talks. Things are not going well. The league and the players still seem to be bumping heads and not able to come to an agreement on these CBA negotiations. Now, the deadline ends on October 31st. They can extend it, but you guys, it just gets really tricky. And I think the timing of Unrivaled announcing this.
Meanwhile, Unrivaled keeps trying to look like it’s growing. They just unveiled two new teams for 2026. The Breeze and the Hive. Cute logos, shiny names, all that jazz. But here’s the thing. Why are you expanding when your fan base isn’t even established yet? It’s like selling stock in a company that hasn’t made a dime.
Feels desperate. And Caitlyn Clark fans can smell desperation a mile away. Now, let’s compare TV numbers because that’s what keeps leagues alive. The WNBA with Caitlyn Clark on ESPN pulls massive numbers, sometimes topping NBA games. Without her, they’re barely scratching by. Meanwhile, Unrivaled pulls 150,000 viewers or less on TNT.
By comparison, Ice Cub’s Big Three League pulls about 600,000. That’s right. Ice Cub’s retired NBA pickup games, outdraw unrivaled and most WNBA games without Clark. That’s brutal. So fans are looking at this and thinking, why waste Caitlyn’s time? Why put her in a dark Miami gym with 800 fans, terrible production, and jealous players when she can sell out real arenas in the WNBA and keep building her brand? It’s not even a close call.
And that’s why the commissioner has to be in panic mode. Because if Caitlyn’s own fans won’t follow her into Unrivaled, the league doesn’t stand a chance. Here’s where it gets even more interesting. Caitlyn Clark is already underpaid in the WNBA. She makes around 78 grand from her fever contract. That’s chump change compared to the money she brings in.
We’re talking a player who boosts TV ratings by millions, fills arenas coast to coast, and spikes jersey sales like no one else. And yet, her paycheck looks like an entry-level office job. So, when Unrivaled waves around a million dollar carrot, you’d think fans would be all over it. More money, less travel, shorter season. Sounds perfect, right? But no.
Clark’s fans said absolutely not. That’s how much they distrust Unrivaled. They’d rather see her get underpaid in the WNBA than sell her brand to a gimmick league. That’s loyalty, and that’s scary for the commissioner trying to build this thing. The truth is, Caitlyn Clark’s brand is worth way more than 1 million.
That number sounds big on paper, but compared to what she generates, it’s pennies. She’s a $50 million per year player in terms of business impact. 1 million for 8 weeks of work isn’t generous. It’s a discount. Fans know that. They’re not impressed. They want to see her treated like the star she is, not lowballed into propping up a side hustle league.
And let’s not ignore the elephant in the room, player jealousy. One reason fans reject Unrivaled is because they know exactly how those locker rooms would look. The same petty drama she already faces in the WNBA, eye rolls, side comments, players upset she’s getting attention, would be amplified and unrivaled because that league is literally player run.
Imagine Caitlyn Clark walking into a setup where half the owners hate her guts. fans don’t want her in that mess. They’ve seen enough of the jealousy already. Let’s also call out the obvious. Unrivaled markets itself like it’s reinventing basketball. But 3 * 3 isn’t revolutionary. It’s not exciting. It looks like a summer camp drill stretched into a professional league.
The court looks awkward. The games are too short. And the TV product is brutal. The commissioner can scream growth all day long, but if fans don’t want to watch, it doesn’t matter. Caitlyn Clark’s fans want her in real basketball, not a sideshow. And then there’s the TV money. Everything in sports comes down to TV contracts.
The WNBA just landed a $2.2 billion media rights deal. That’s life-changing money. That’s what’s going to fuel bigger salaries and expansion. And you know who made that deal possible? Caitlyn Clark. Not Angel Reese. Not AJ Wilson. Not Brianna Stewart. Caitlyn Clark. Her star power convinced networks the WNBA was worth investing in.(13:54) That’s why players like Shakira Austin and others are about to cash bigger checks. Unrivaled, they’re scraping for ratings. They can’t pull 200,000 viewers most nights. TNT Sports is throwing them a bone, but if they can’t deliver an audience, that bone disappears. And Caitlyn Clark fans have made it clear they’re not going to tune in.
Which means the league has no future unless it somehow lands her. And good luck with that. Now, here’s the irony. The commissioner thought Caitlyn was their golden ticket. Offer her a million, get her fans to follow. Boom. Instant success. Instead, her fan base slammed the door and left them scrambling.
Now they’re unveiling new teams. The Breeze, the Hive, trying to look like they’re growing, but it feels desperate. You can have eight logos and a slick slogan, but without fans, you’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Meanwhile, Caitlyn Clark doesn’t even have to say a word. She hasn’t publicly trashed Unrivaled, hasn’t mocked it, hasn’t engaged at all.(15:00) She just focuses on the WNBA, keeps interacting with her fans, and lets them do the talking. And every poll, every survey, every arena full of Clark jerseys sends the same message. We’re not buying what Unrivaled is selling. That silence from her hits harder than any press release, and the commissioner knows it.
That’s why panic is setting in. Because if Caitlyn’s fan base won’t budge, then the investors will start asking questions. Why pour money into a league that can’t attract the biggest name in the sport? Why expand when your target audience is rejecting you in overwhelming numbers? Why keep funding a product that fans openly call a waste of Caitlyn’s time? Those questions don’t have good answers.
Now, let’s compare Impact again. Without Caitlyn, the WNBA loses $40 million a year. With her, they finally turn the corner and score a massive media deal. Without Caitlyn, Unrivaled is an expensive hobby for investors. With her, maybe they get real traction. But if she never joins, the gap between maybe and never becomes impossible to cross.
That’s why the rejection stings so badly. And let’s not sugarcoat it. Unrivaled might not survive long-term without Caitlyn. They can hype Angel Reese. They can hype A Wilson. They can hype whoever else they want. But none of them draw like Clark. She’s not just the face of women’s basketball. She’s the face of women’s sports right now.
That’s not opinion, that’s fact. The numbers prove it. And if she stays WNBA only, Unrivaled becomes a footnote, not a revolution. Fans made their decision loud and clear. They want Caitlyn Clark in the WNBA. They want her in real arenas, not dark Miami gyms. They want her playing five on five, not a gimmick half court drill.
They don’t care how much money is on the table. They care about the product. And that loyalty is why the commissioner is panicking. Because you can’t buy fans who don’t trust you. And Caitlyn Clark’s fans clearly don’t trust Unrivaled. So, here’s the bottom line. Caitlyn Clark’s fans hold the power and they just flexed it again. The poll was the proof.
The rejection was overwhelming. And unless something drastic changes, Unrivaled will keep trying, keep begging, and keep failing because without Clark, they’re irrelevant. And now the commissioner knows it, too. That panic you hear, that’s the sound of a league realizing it can’t survive without the one player it can’t have.
So fans rejected Unrivaled again, leaving the commissioner in full panic mode. Caitlyn Clark doesn’t even need to answer. The fans speak for her and they’re saying stay away. What do you think? Should Clark ever give Unrivaled a shot or is it just a waste of time? Drop your thoughts below. Hit that like button and subscribe for