Is Caitlin Clark leaving money on the table?

For most collegiate athletes, getting drafted by a professional team offers opportunities for money and fame that were inaccessible in college. For a few athletes, especially female players, the decision to go pro isn’t as straightforward, as their potential college earnings might be higher than what they’ll make in the pros.

Caitlin Clark electrified college basketball this season, and her on-court abilities contributed to lucrative off-court earnings. Since 2021, collegiate athletes have been able to profit from their own Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), allowing them to sign endorsement deals with different brands. According to on3, Clark’s NIL valuation is now $3.4M, and she has already signed deals with premium brands such as Nike, Gatorade, and State Farm.

However, in February, Clark announced that she was forgoing her last season of college eligibility to enter the WNBA draft, where she is projected to be the first overall pick. Her expected rookie salary? $76,535.

WNBA players sign endorsement deals as well: WNBA star Candance Parker, for example, made $8.1M in 2023, and virtually all of her pay came from endorsement deals (her 2023 WNBA salary was just $100,000).

But the WNBA’s audience pales in comparison to women’s college basketball, and Clark was the catalyst for the two most watched games ever in women’s college basketball. Iowa’s Final Four matchup against UConn had 14.2M viewers, breaking the previous record of 12.3M viewers for Iowa’s game against LSU just days before. Meanwhile, the most-watched WNBA game ever, Game 4 of the 2023 finals, drew an average of just 889,000 viewers, peaking at 1.3M viewers for 14 minutes of the game.

Yes, Clark will be one of the most sought-after sponsorship partners in the WNBA, but when you consider league viewership numbers, it’s easy to argue that she would command a higher market value by playing one more season for Iowa — she will almost certainly earn less in her rookie season as a professional.