More than 15 million viewers tuned in Sunday to watch the college national championship game between the University of South Carolina and the University of Iowa.
Basketball phenom Caitlin Clark has been credited for putting women’s college basketball on the map. When the star plays professionally, she will earn $76,000 in the WNBA, which is the starting salary. The starting salary for an NBA player is $1.8 million.
Clark and the University of Iowa lost the national championship game to the University of South Carolina, but Clark’s career is just beginning.
The 22-year-old was praised by South Carolina’s head coach, Dawn Staley.
More than 15 million viewers tuned in to watch the final game Sunday.
“The coolest part for me, on this journey, we started the season playing in front of 55,000 people, and now we’re ending it playing in front of 15 million or more on TV,” Clark said.
Clark is the projected No.1 pick in next week’s WNBA draft, but as a rookie, her max salary would be less than $80,000.
She is already making millions in endorsements.
Founder of Collect, a media company covering sports memorabilia, Darren Rovel, tells Inside Edition Clark can make a lot of money now by selling her game jerseys.
“The bounty on those jerseys is as high up as $500,000 for one of those jerseys,” Rovel says.
Clark’s high school coach is stunned by her achievements.
“I wouldn’t have predicted it. I figured she’d be successful in college but I wouldn’t have predicted she’d achieve this level of fame and notoriety,” Kristin Meyer, head coach girls varsity basketball at Dowling Catholic High School said.
