Caitlin Clark’s Nike Deal Is A BARGAIN At A Reported 8 Year/$28 Million And The Other Shoe Companies Tried To Lowball Her Even More

Dave Portnoy said:
“If people want to complain about Caitlin Clark getting screwed complain about this. 8 year 28 million deal is STEALING.   8 years 80 million min is her worth and that’s still prob too cheap.   I hope she has an early opt out if they don’t pay up when she blows through this deal.”
“Men would 100% buy her sneakers.   All girls who play hoop will.    Devin Booker got 5 years 50 million.  Caitlin is 100x the Star and impact”
Not to glaze as the kids say, but Dave is 100% right here. The craziest part about the Nike offer was that it was the best by far if you compare them to the other shoe companies:

Clark received offers of $16 million over four years from Under Armour and $6 million over four years from Adidas, with both including a signature shoe, according to the WSJ. Clark earned about $3 million in NIL money at Iowa with deals she has had with State Farm, Gatorade and others, according to On3.com. Clark’s agents were working on the new Nike contract even before she announced she would turn pro instead of returning to Iowa for a fifth season under the COVID-19 exemption offered to players in college during the 2020 pandemic season.

$6 million for 4 years from Adidas? What are they doing over there? Adidas has about 50 or so NBA players under contract and I can guarantee you maybe 2 or 3 of those are bigger than Caitlin and would provide actual ROI like she will. Devin Booker might be a stretch considering he dropped 70 on the Celtics at 20 years old, and is a superstar, but you can’t convince me they’re not trying to rob Caitlin. Puma hears Caitlin’s bidding is starting at 3 million a year and they walked away and said “it’s okay, we have *checks notes* Kyle Kuzma?”

And I’m a diehard Lakers fan but come on man. This of course comes with a signature shoe, and if you don’t think every female basketball player from the age of 5 to 30 will be wearing the Clark 1’s then you’re lost in the sauce. How do you let Nike beat you to a generational player like this if you’re behind them? Sure, they have more money to offer anyone but getting rights to Caitlin for the next near decade for under $30 million is going to be the best return on investment since JackMac bought Bitcoin in 2015.

Clark isn’t even my favorite player. I said she may have been the second best player in the country behind Cameron Brink. But marketability? No one is even close. And I know the people behind these decisions are all deluded old men with no concept of modern day athletics and they’re still talking about sports on online forums, but man what a miss by everybody besides Nike. Checks over stripes as Drake would say.

Congrats to Caitlin on the biggest sponsorship ever for a women’s basketball player and like Dave says, hopefully she gets an early opt out when she blows through any and all expectations.