Women's Fastbreak On SI

Fever President Reveals How Caitlin Clark Tried to Get Opposing WNBA Players Paid

A member of the Indiana Fever's front office shared an anecdote that conveys Caitlin Clark's true colors.

Grant Young

Sep 22, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) during the game against Indiana Fever during game one of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images
Sep 22, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) during the game against Indiana Fever during game one of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images / Mark Smith-Imagn Images

All indications are that Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark is just as good of a person as she is a basketball player.

Not only does the 22-year-old conduct herself with a lot of class in front of a microphone, but she is also keen on using her massive platform to help grow the entire sport of women's basketball.

And there's no better example of this than an anecdote the Fever's President and COO Allison Barber shared during a September 19 speaking engagement at The Economic Club of Washington D.C., which displays Clark's desire to give her peers a piece of the pie, so to speak.

"Here's all you need to know about Caitlin Clark: When we would go to away games, they always sold out," Barber said. "So [the Atlanta Dream] would normally have 3,000, 4,000 people. Now they have 17,000 people and they sold 1,000 standing-room-only tickets.

"So when we walked into the arena, people were on that third balcony looking down at the tops of our players' heads to watch... After a few away games, and all of the sellouts, Caitlin asked the WNBA if they would pay spot bonuses to the away team players," Barber continued.

For context, a spot bonus is a one-time monetary incentive that's given to employees as a result of extraordinary performance; which, in this case, would be the staggering attendance metrics at the games Indiana played — despite the attendance being mostly due to Clark.

Essentially, Clark wanted her opponents to get paid bonuses for selling out arenas full of her fans.

"She said 'We're making all this new revenue, and I would like the away team to benefit from that. Could they get a spot bonus?'," Barber added.

"So that's the heart of Caitlin Clark."

Barber then noted that the WNBA declined Clark's request because it violated the league's current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Regardless of the outcome, this story (which Clark would never tell herself) shows what kind of person the WNBA's future is contingent on.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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