Stephen A. Smith Puts Team USA Attendance Without Caitlin Clark Into Focus
Much has been made about the Team USA Women's Basketball selection committee's decision to omit Caitlin Clark from their Paris Olympics roster.
Regardless of Clark's on-court performance being worthy of a roster spot, the main argument sports pundits have made about the rookie sensation's Olympics snub is that her playing in Paris would have drawn tons of global attention to not just Team USA, but the entire sport of women's basketball.
This became an even bigger talking point once attendance numbers of early women's Olympic basketball group stage games were released — and the 13,040 fans that attended USA's July 29 rout against Japan was the lowest of any game.
This caused sports media personality Stephen A. Smith to go on a tirade against Team USA during a July 31 episode of 'The Stephen A. Smith Show'.
“How does it feel, Team USA, to have six games (four of them drew over 20,000) and the one that didn’t still drew 2,000 more [fans] than you?” Smith said.
The women's basketball group stage with the second-lowest attendance was Puerto Rico vs. Serbia on July 28, which drew 15,324 fans.
“Well, guess what, ladies and gentlemen? That’s why you should’ve had Caitlin Clark, and Angel Reese, because they’re a draw," Smith added. "I never once said that Caitlin Clark should’ve been on the team ahead of the 12 people selected ahead of her because of basketball. I said, ‘Marketing matters in everything. Promotion matters in everything. And you’re not gonna get around that.’ That is what I said. And you go over to Paris, and… Team USA draws the lowest attendance.
"People are over there, also, to build their brands, to elevate their profile, so they can turn that into a marketable tool that could generate dollars... and it was the perfect opportunity for Team USA to do just that, but you didn’t do it,” he continued.
Smith then referenced South Carolina coach and USA selection committee member Dawn Staley admitting last week that, "If we had to do it all over the again, the way that [Clark is] playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team."
“If we had to do it all over again, the way she’s playing, [Caitlin Clark] would be in high consideration of making the team”
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) July 28, 2024
Dawn Staley on Caitlin Clark’s omission from the Women’s Olympic Basketball team pic.twitter.com/UchPSFyXvC
Smith used Staley's comments to continue his rant, saying, "You know, playing amongst other stars with her marksmanship, [Clark] could’ve made things happen. With her passing ability, she could’ve made things happen. Then, she would’ve drawn excitement and eyeballs, and people all over the world would’ve been watching here, which would have assisted in the elevation of the WNBA brand, which would’ve benefitted everybody!"
“But, you didn’t care.. And now Team USA is on the docket, drawing the lowest attendance of anybody in the Olympics… That’s embarrassing," he added.
For what it's worth, Team USA's attendance recovered after that initial game against Japan, as they drew crowds that matched the tournament's top European teams.
Although the primary attention metric for Team USA's Paris games will be TV ratings. And there's no doubt ratings would have been boosted if Clark was rostered.
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.