{"id":413785,"date":"2026-08-22T11:50:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/413785\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T11:50:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:50:31","slug":"why-sophie-cunninghams-fame-complicates-wnba-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/413785\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Sophie Cunningham\u2019s fame complicates WNBA marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The athlete far more little girls can identify with, and aspire to be, than we want to admit is not Caitlin Clark,<\/a> but her Indiana Fever teammate who comes off the bench and averages 8.8 points per game.<\/p>\n

Sophie Cunningham is irresistible content, and famous. Who cares if she averages a little more than 23 minutes per game? Why you\u2019re famous doesn\u2019t matter now. Just be famous.<\/p>\n

In a development no one with the Fever \u2014 or the WNBA \u2014 saw coming, a decent reserve player with three starts this season<\/a> has morphed into one of the most prominent faces of the league, and women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

She is part Livvy Dunne,<\/a> part Pat McAfee, part decent pro basketball player who is one of the fortunate, and opportunistic, to take social media\u2019s unguarded possibilities to create a name, and a following, for herself.<\/p>\n

The WNBA may be Clark\u2019s league, but the show is her teammate, Cunningham<\/a>. Clark\u2019s game and her \u201cfrom the logo\u201d 3-pointers are a top draw, but right behind those are Cunningham\u2019s antics, theatrics and personality.<\/p>\n

Cunningham, Clark and the Fever will play the Dallas Wings on Thursday at the American Airlines Center. Clark is the reason this game is expected to sell out, but people will be there to watch a role player.<\/p>\n

Sophie Cunningham\u2019s path to fame<\/p>\n

It helps, immeasurably, that Cunningham<\/a> is white with blonde hair and she\u2019s pretty. Do not delude yourself into thinking that the power of these three traits, when combined, aren\u2019t as powerful today as they were decades ago.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also bright, funny, irreverent and not afraid to express her thoughts on her social media channels.<\/p>\n

Cunningham\u2019s social media following is one of the biggest in the WNBA, just behind Angel Reese and Clark. It\u2019s miles ahead of more established players such as Kelsey Plum, A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a> and teammate Kelsey Mitchell.<\/p>\n

From a basketball perspective, Cunningham will never be picked for an All-Star game. She can\u2019t even crack her team\u2019s starting lineup. From a popularity standpoint, she is crushing her league, and most of those All-Stars.<\/p>\n

She enjoyed a decent career in relative obscurity in her first six years in the WNBA<\/a> with the Phoenix Mercury. It wasn\u2019t until she joined Indiana last year did her name enter the algorithm sphere, and it hasn\u2019t left.<\/p>\n

The WNBA\u2019s Sophie Cunningham challenge<\/p>\n

A player this popular should be a wonderful tool for the WNBA, a league that needs household names. The problem is that Cunningham does not fit into the box that the league wants to market.<\/p>\n

The WNBA wants to market its players much the way the NBA does its stars: through highlights. Cunningham\u2019s highlights are hard fouls, a few 3-pointers, taunting, serving as a ring girl at a UFC fight, her sense of humor, and now commentary that has a Fox flair.<\/p>\n

She recently created headlines when she expressed her thoughts on the topic of transgender athletes in sports when she said that young girls \u201cshouldn\u2019t have to go against biological men.\u201d That comment pushed her into a different realm of celebrity; one that makes PR and marketing people want to throw their phones into the toilet.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s become the right vs. left vehicle that all sports leagues loathe. Now she\u2019s also actively commenting on the state of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert\u2019s<\/a> future employment.<\/p>\n

Cunningham has become a favorite among the media that covers this league; she is a layup for media members looking for an easy talking point about social commentary that will engage\/enrage audiences.<\/p>\n

Naturally players around the league have noticed, and taken exception to, her popularity that has so little to do with what she does on the floor.<\/p>\n

Sophie Cunningham\u2019s game merits a spot on a WNBA team, but the level of fame she enjoys is one of those organic creations that the league didn\u2019t see coming, nor can it slow.<\/p>\n

Normally, a league like the WNBA would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars with the hope of a player reaching the level of her fame.<\/p>\n

She has the fame, but the league has no idea what to do with Sophie Cunningham.<\/p>\n


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Mac Engel<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
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