It wouldn’t be a Caitlin Clark game without a record being broken. The Iowa guard, who has seen her popularity explode since becoming the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball earlier this month, is now causing ticket prices to hit new heights.
Tickets to see Clark at her final regular season home game on Sunday between the University of Iowa and Ohio State are now the most expensive for a women’s basketball game on record, surpassing college and WNBA games, according to TickPick.
Currently, the cheapest price for a seat is $491, a whopping 45% more than the “get-in” price for the February 15 game when she broke the scoring record against the University of Michigan.
TickPick said that the most expensive listing is selling for $3,853, seated in the first row, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. For those who don’t want to pay, the 1 pm ET game will air (for free) on FOX.
Clark’s popularity has helped ticket prices surpass those for the professionals, too. The average purchase price for her game, as of Tuesday morning, is 1,100% more expensive ($557) than the average price of a WNBA game ($49).
“Demand to see her break the all-time women’s scoring record earlier this month hit record highs and this game is now surpassing that,” TickPick co-CEO Brett Goldberg told CNN. “It’s a big moment not only for Iowa fans, but college sports fans in general.”
Her popularity has also helped the Big Ten sell out tickets for the women’s basketball conference tournament, which follows the regular season, for the first-time ever. It will take place in Minneapolis, just under five hours drive from Iowa’s campus, beginning March 6.
Sunday’s game could be her final home game for Iowa. Clark hasn’t said if she will forgo the 2024 WNBA draft — where she is projected to be selected first overall — or remain in college for a fifth season. The senior has an additional year of college eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on previous NCAA seasons.
The 22-year-old’s appeal is also extending beyond the court. Jerseys and shirts bearing Clark’s name are flying off the (virtual) shelves at Fanatics, with the guard becoming the online retailer’s top-selling college athlete since it began selling collegiate athletic apparel in 2022, the website previously told CNN.
A 2021 Supreme Court ruling allowed student athletes to make money off their personal brand — their name, image and likeness, known as NIL. That meant college athletes like Clark could start making money off their likeness. Soon after, stores were also cashing in.
Fanatics sold more Clark-branded merchandise “than any other individual men’s or women’s NIL-era college athlete across all sports has sold since 2022,” in less than 24 hours after she broke the record, the company told CNN.
She surpassed the University of Colorado Buffaloes quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, son of his coach and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, to earn the top spot on Fanatics’ website.
Clark has also signed deals with Gatorade, Nike and State Farm, among others. Sports data site On3 estimates the total value of those partnerships at $818,000 — the fifth-highest ranking in all of women’s college sports, and multiples higher than Clark can expect to make as a pro in the WNBA, where the top salary currently maxes out around $250,000.
CNN’s Clare Duffy and Allison Morrow contributed to this report.
Read the full article here
