WNBA proprietor Sheila Johnson made some feedback about Caitlin Clark throughout a current interview.
Johnson, who owns the Washington Mystics, was interviewed by CNN. In her interview, Johnson was vital of TIME journal for naming Clark the “Athlete of the 12 months.”
In Johnson’s eyes, your entire WNBA deserves widespread recognition, not simply Clark. Johnson needs the league as a complete had been acknowledged as an alternative of Clark individually.
“I need to be very diplomatic about this. It’s simply the construction of the way in which the media performs out race, if I’m being very trustworthy. I really feel actually dangerous, as a result of I’ve seen so many gamers of colour which can be equally as gifted, and so they by no means get the popularity that they need to have. And I believe proper now it’s time for that to occur,” Johnson stated.
“So final night time, you learn TIME Journal, and Caitlin Clark was named ‘Athlete of the 12 months.’ Why couldn’t they’ve put the entire WNBA on the duvet and say ‘the WNBA is the league of the 12 months,’ due to all of the expertise that we’ve? As a result of whenever you simply hold singling out one participant, it creates onerous emotions, and so now you’re beginning to hear tales of racism throughout the WNBA, and I don’t need to hear that. We have now received to function and grow to be stronger as a league and respect everyone that’s enjoying and their skills.
“It has taken the WNBA virtually 28 years to get to the purpose the place we are actually. And this 12 months, one thing clicked with the WNBA and it’s due to the draft that the gamers that got here in. It’s simply not Caitlin Clark, it’s Reese, there’s a lot expertise on the market that has been unrecognized. And I don’t assume we are able to pin it on only one participant.”
Clark is the rationale issues “clicked” this 12 months. Clark is driving the recognition. She’s the participant who sells out video games whether or not it’s at residence or on the highway. The Mystics ought to know higher than anybody simply how a lot of a draw Clark is. The workforce had 20 residence video games and hosted the Fever twice. Regardless of solely making up 10 % of their residence video games, video games towards the Fever produced 31 % of the Mystics’ residence attendance. That’s the Clark Impact.
