Caitlin Clark exploded onto the sports scene like few athletes do.
But now Clark is facing a major career choice.
And Caitlin Clark is mulling this contract offer to go play in a new league.
Caitlin Clark was so popular that when her Iowa Hawkeyes played in the Women's NCAA Tournament Final, the game drew more than 18,000,000 viewers.
That was a bigger TV audience than any men's game - including the NBA Finals - dating back to before the pandemic.
The Indiana Fever then selected Clark with the first pick in the WNBA Draft and the Caitlin Clark effect hit the pros.
Attendance boomed 48 percent from last year.
Television ratings on ESPN - the league's main broadcast partner - skyrocketed 170 percent from the 2023-2024 season.
But that doesn't mean it's all roses and sunshine for the WNBA.
Since the WNBA is a money-losing proposition - the league ran $40 million in the red - player salaries are comparatively low for pro athletes.
Clark's rookie deal paid her $75,000 this season and $78,000 next year.
That opened up the opportunity for a women's three on three league named The Unrivaled to ink a $100 million TV deal with the intention to play their schedule in the WNBA off season.
This massive new TV deal allowed the league to offer Clark a reported $1,000,000 deal, which Clark is now mulling over and reportedly leaning towards accepting.
"On a day that the league expanded its rosters from 30 to 36 players, those sources said Unrivaled has told Clark she can 'take as long as she wants' to decide, mindful of the grind Clark has endured over the past year as a collegiate player and rookie in the WNBA. But Unrivaled has also strategically signed two of Clark's closest friends -- Fever teammate Lexie Hull and former Iowa teammate Kate Martin -- to recent contracts, and, according to sources, speculation is Clark is leaning '60/40' to saying 'yes,'" Sports Business Journal reported.
A source close to Clark said Clark knows she is going to get the maximum amount the Unrivaled can afford to pay, so what she's really looking at is what will make her happiest and afford her the best head space.
"Comes down to mental health, stress or playing ball -which she loves," the source told Sports Business Journal. "She has not decided yet . . . there will be a spot for her if she wants it, but she will be paid for what she brings to the league, as much as a new league can afford . . . I think a few weeks we will know."
Clark holds all the cards here and the Unrivaled is happy to let her make her decision on her town timetable.
"Ultimately, they're not applying pressure and just building the league, and hopefully she joins, because if she does, it would have a dramatic impact in a positive way," one source with knowledge of the Unrivaled told Sports Business Journal. "But they don't even have a timetable on when that decision is coming. It's like recruiting someone. It's a decision that can go either way. There's only two answers. I think one way or another, any player that doesn't play this year, I think once they see it, it's just going to be hard not to want to join."
The source said the Fever have no leverage over Clark but worry the Unrivaled is going to offer Clark the type of deal FC Miami did to lure Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi to the MLS, where the team combined with Apple to offer Messi a revenue sharing deal that provided Messi a cut of the money brought by new subscriptions to the league's Apple+ streaming deal.
"They recognize that if it's a Lionel Messi type offer, you're not going to tell her don't," one source close to the Fever relayed. "But they hope she doesn't. They want to provide her with an environment [in Indiana] where there'd be no reason to do anything else. That's the focus. That's their hope. But do they think [Unrivaled] is going to throw her some [exorbitant] offer? Of course they do. Because what else are they [Unrivaled] going to do?"