Are politics stunting the WNBA’s growing popularity?

This should be a golden age for the WNBA. The Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark helped push the league to new heights of popularity and players are making more money than ever. But controversies are plaguing the league, Clark has become an unwilling symbol of racial polarization and GOP members of Congress are entering the fray.

‘Losing control of its story’

The House Republican Study Committee this month asked the WNBA to “investigate the on-court treatment” of Clark, said The Hill. The popular player has been “hip-checked, poked in the eye, and struck in the throat” by other players in game action that has gone “far beyond routine physical play,” Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) said in a letter to league officials following a controversial flagrant foul on Clark by the Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas.

It was the latest in a series of conservative complaints that “many WNBA players, particularly Black players” are hostile to Clark, Bobby Burack said at Fox News. Clark has resisted being cast as an avatar in the culture wars. “People should not be using my name to push those agendas,” she said to reporters in 2024, per ESPN.

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The WNBA is “losing control of its own story” to “right-wing grifters” who have taken hold of the narrative surrounding its most popular player, said Seerat Sohi at The Ringer. The league has become “fertile ground for these types of shenanigans” because it surged into popularity at the same moment the country became “embroiled in a cultural, political, and legal fight over the role of women in society.” The players are “primarily Black, openly queer, politically outspoken” which makes them the “antithesis” of the “modern conservative project.” The people using the league to advance that agenda “understand the league’s power as a symbolic vehicle” better than the WNBA’s own leaders do.

“This isn’t fun,” said Candace Buckner at The Athletic. Clark’s ascendance was supposed to be “magic” for sports fans “watching, celebrating and obsessing over women’s sports.” Clark instead is having the “least fun of all,” plagued by injuries and at the center of “rage bait” controversies like the Thomas foul. The “justifiable anger” over the incident sparked “racial attacks” and death threats against Thomas, set off a new round of controversy over WNBA officiating and even prompted commentary from President Donald Trump. It’s all a lot for basketball fans who “just want a little fun.”

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It is “incredibly unfair” that Clark has become a “bit of a political football,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday at the Game Plan Summit, per ESPN. (The NBA founded and still owns a large stake in its sister league.) Clark is a “young woman who’s trying to improve her game.” The upside is that Clark has helped “significantly increase” the league’s popularity, said the outlet. The downside is that “race, officiating and politics” are dominating the conversation.

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