Not even America’s Team could stop Caitlin Clark’s meteoric rise to stardom.
The college basketball star’s massive surge in popularity over the past month has been nothing short of spectacular and last week she accomplished yet another insane feat — beating the Dallas Cowboys.
OK, it wasn’t on the gridiron or anything, but this is perhaps even more impressive: She outsold the entire Cowboys roster in jersey sales.
Clark’s jersey with the Indiana Fever — who drafted her first-overall in last week’s WNBA draft — outsold every Cowboys player combined last season, according to a report by the New York Daily News.
Another report last week said that Fanatics, the apparel company that manufactures WNBA jerseys, sold out of sizes XS, M, L, XL and XXL Clark jerseys just one hour after she officially joined the Fever.
While the Cowboys famously have not been to a Super Bowl since 1996, the team remains one of the most popular in the world and features several big-name stars.
In fact, linebacker Micah Parsons led the league in jersey sales during the 2023 season while Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott ranked fifth. All-pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb also ranked highly.
Clark’s rise to superstardom began last year during the women’s NCAA March Madness tournament when she used her incredible offensive skills to guide the Iowa Hawkeyes to the championship game before falling to LSU.
This year, she broke the NCAA career scoring record before again leading the Hawkeyes to the final, this time losing to an undefeated South Carolina squad.
The 2024 women’s championship game was watched by a record 18.7 million people in the U.S., an average viewership that was higher than the men’s final notched this season — another first.
In an attempt to capitalize on Clark’s popularity, some opposing teams have moved their games against the Fever this coming season to bigger arenas to increase tickets sales. Of the Fever’s 40 regular-season games, 36 will be broadcast on national TV in the U.S., up from 22 last year.
And while many were shocked to learn about the meagre salary Clark will collect from her WNBA rookie deal — roughly $340,000 over the course of four years, with $76,000 in her first year — she appears set for a massive windfall.
Clark and Nike reportedly are close to signing an eight-year deal worth up to $28 million, including her own signature shoe.
Things haven’t been all good for Clark, though.
Last week during her introductory news conference with the Fever, a reporter had an exchange with Clark that many described as “creepy,” before referring to the guard as “that” and “it” to her team’s coach.
Clark also had to block outspoken former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown after he made several wildly inappropriate remarks on social media towards the star.