Caitlin Clark Makes a Killing as a Keynote Speaker
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark certainly doesn't need to rely on her $76,535 base WNBA salary for the 2024 season to make ends meet.
The former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar was projected to have made millions back in college due to the NCAA's NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rule that allowed her to profit off her basketball success in the form of endorsements and sponsorships.
She has parlayed that into multiple lucrative brand deals and partnerships during her professional basketball career, including an eight-year, $28 million deal she inked with Nike earlier this year.
Clark's not needing the money is surely a big reason why she hasn't been so quick to join the Unrivaled Basketball League (and the record-breaking salary that comes with it) as many of her peers.
And another (allegedly) insanely lucrative way that Clark makes money has recently come to light on social media: being a keynote speaker.
Caitlin was seen speaking at an in-person business event on Thursday. In the wake of this, a LinkedIn post from Don Steinbrugge, who is the Founder and CEO of Agecroft Partners, went viral on X because it included him writing, "We were told [Clark's] virtual speaking fee started at $100,000, which was over our budget. She makes more in a 30-minute virtual meeting than she does over a 40-game WNBA season with her team."
X user @clrkszn took a screenshot of this and reposted it on X, noting that Clark has already done four in-person speaking engagements this offseason, which would presumably net a total of at least $400,000.
Then it came out that Clark also appeared at a virtual marketing webinar yesterday. This is the second virtual event she has done this offseason, which would mean she has made at least $600,000 this offseason based on speaking engagements alone.
While this alleged $100,000 speaking fee is by no means confirmed based on that one LinkedIn post, there's no question the 22-year-old is getting paid a pretty penny for speaking up this offseason.