Caitlin Clark’s Performance Will Fuel NIL Deals And Gender Equality

The Women’s Final Four side of The March Madness Basketball Tournament kicks off on Friday. Everyone is talking about Iowa guard Caitlin Clark’s incredible record breaking 41 point, 12 assists and 10 rebounds triple-double to lead Iowa to the Final Four. The game pulled in a massive 2.49 million viewers who witnessed her historic performance. For the first time, tickets for the women’s Final Four are three times as expensive as the men’s tickets.

The nearly month long college basketball tournament is one of the most-watched sporting events in the United States but it has primarily been focused on the men’s game. Men’s March Madness has received far more distribution, funding, attention and promotion than the women’s side of the tournament but for some reason this year feels a little different as increased focus on gender equality in sports has put pressure on all stakeholders to narrow the gap and give female athletes more equal treatment.

In general, women’s sports have been underfunded and underappreciated, and female athletes have struggled to earn the same level of recognition and compensation as their male counterparts. However, several recent developments have provided women with hope that meaningful change could come soon.

Let’s start with Caitlin Clark’s performance in front of a record TV audience. For perhaps the first time, Clark’s heroics elevated women’s college basketball to water cooler conversation which only comes about when something rises to a certain level of national interest and prominence.

Also fueling this movement is the recent changes in NIL rules where female student-athletes can now profit from their name, image, and likeness while still maintaining their eligibility to compete in college sports. This means that they can sign endorsement deals, monetize their social media accounts, and engage in other commercial activities that were previously off-limits.

Social media platforms have become a critical component of the NIL strategy for female college athletes and they are using them well. Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok are some of the most popular platforms that female athletes are employing to connect with fans, promote their brands, and generate income. And they have proven to be particularly good at creating content. This new opportunity and platforms have allowed female athletes to reach a wider audience and have given them a way to share and amplify their stories and perspectives. This is the first time that brands have consistently aligned with female athletes to advertise and promote their products. In the past that actively was predominately reserved for male athletes.

The combination of this newfound inclusion in marketing and publicity provides female student-athletes with a vehicle to showcase their talents on a national stage which leads to greater visibility and helps them to build more brand value. This will result in even more opportunities for them to monetize their NIL. All of this has a fly wheel effect on the perceived value of women’s sports and female athletes.

Women’s college basketball is leading the way because it has the most broad based exposure of any female college sports. But when women’s basketball builds interest and stars it has a trickle down effect and Female student athletes are beginning to take full advantage of this added exposure. They are making great progress, earning more money, and gaining more influence through their social media platforms.

Most importantly, female college athletes are for the first time being used consistently as marketing vehicles that can help drive sales for brands, albeit still far less than their male counterparts. Including female athletes at the center of brand marketing campaigns will help shape our cultural norms and influence what becomes aspirational to young girls. While women’s sports have come a long way there is still work to be done to achieve true equality. However, performances like the one by Caitlin Clark on a big national stage goes a long way towards shifting our culture’s perception of women’s sports.