Photo: James Gilbert
Watch Colin Cowherd of FS1’s The Herd call out the powers of women’s basketball for their ‘hypocrisy’ when it came to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark not making the U.S. women’s basketball team at this summer’s Olympics, saying that for a WNBA that has complained about their financial plight for years, they sure went out of their way to block the game’s biggest cash cow Clark from competing on the sport’s biggest stage.
Check out the segment above as Cowherd details how women’s basketball made a colossal mistake in failing to solve their most publicized perils when the solution to all those problems was right there in front of them.
Colin Cowherd: “The WNBA announced that their TV ratings and their attendance are shattering records now with Caitlin Clark. The television viewership is 3.5 times greater than last year. Merchandise sales are up 756% because of Caitlin Clark.
Not putting Caitlin Clark on the women’s basketball team is not going to crush the WNBA, but clearly it would help the WNBA if we met and recognized more of their really good players.
Here’s where I find the absolute hypocrisy with the WNBA, its players, its fans, and its media. For years the WNBA players lamented their salaries. They were outraged by their second-class travel. They often criticized the media for not covering them. Well, Caitlin Clark has already solved one of those – the ‘attention’ thing. She’s kind of solved for two years the ‘travel thing’, they are now going to charter planes. Don’t you think you can maybe get a 5-10 year upgrade if Caitlin went to the Olympics? Introduced all these eyeballs to players you don’t really follow? Did you really know Mary Lou Retton before the Olympics? The Olympics, like March Madness, often introduces us to athletes we didn’t know much about. Maybe we’ve heard of but never watched.
Complaining about your second-class travel, lack of attention, and salaries... You have this player that can elevate ALL of them and you’re like ‘WELL, SHE MIGHT NOT BE ONE OF THE TOP 15 PLAYERS!...’ Oh, we’re quite precious aren’t we? That would be like being a 25-year-old saying ‘NOBODY OFFERS ME A GOOD JOB!’... Then somebody does and you’re like ‘WELL, I DON’T LIKE THE HOURS! THEY WOULDN’T GIVE ME THREE WEEKS OFF, JUST TWO!’... Yeah, you don’t get everything in life. Even the Kansas City Chiefs had to move off Tyreek Hill because they couldn’t afford his salary. Even Tom Brady to win Super Bowls took a little bit of a pay-cut. Even LeBron had to leave his hometown for Miami to win titles.
The WNBA wants all sorts of things and now has an opportunity to ensure all three of them. You don't think introducing players over the Olympics – 20 million viewers per game – couldn't help you in TV contracts and extensions of broadcasting a little?
If you’re going to complain about stuff, use Google, it’s a search engine... This morning, I found article after article... Here’s an article -- ‘LAYOVERS, CRAMPED SEATING, SECURITY LINES – A DAY WITH WNBA PLAYERS ON A COMMERCIAL FLIGHT’... Caitlin got you a two-year upgrade. Maybe if people watched the other players – like, ‘I REALLY LIKE THEM, THEY’RE REALLY COOL!.’... If not national endorsements, local endorsements.”
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