Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have already helped lead the WNBA’s massive surge in ratings and attendance.
Now, superstar rookies are also credited with a whopping 1,000% increase in league merchandise sales.
Fanatics, the official retailer of W, has seen a 500% increase in business during the first half of the season compared to the first half of 2023, a spokesperson told TMZ Sports on Tuesday.
The company also reported a 1,000% increase in sales of gamer-specific merchandise, with Clark and Reese leading the pack at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.
New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, who was a protégé of the late Kobe Bryant, took third place in jersey sales, while Las Vegas Aces rookie Kate Martin and her teammate A’ja Wilson rounded out the top five.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have helped the WNBA record a 1000% increase in merchandise sales
Superstar Rookies are #1 and #2 in the gamer-specific merchandise sales category.
“Fan merchandise sales through the first half of the season are the highest in league history,” a Fanatics spokesman said, noting that sales at the All-Star Game in Phoenix last weekend also broke the previous record for at-venue purchases.
The WNBA’s rise in popularity is paying off for the league in more ways than one, as signed a new media rights package worth about $2.2 billion over 11 years last week, Athletic reported.
That’s a net profit of about $200 million annually, roughly four times the WNBA’s current media deals with Disney, Ion, CBS and Amazon, which are valued at $50 million annually.
The new package was negotiated by the NBA amid its own massive rights negotiations, during which the league reached an agreement with Disney, NBC and Amazon on a set of 11-year, roughly $75 billion contracts.
As part of the deal, each network (ESPN, NBC and Amazon) will have its own WNBA package.
Several WNBA records have already been broken this season alone; the league announced last month that more than 400,000 fans attended games in May, the most in 26 years.
Additionally, the league’s viewership has increased greatly since the arrival of Clark and Reese.
On ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, WNBA games are averaging 1.32 million viewers, which is nearly triple last season’s standard of 462,200 viewers.
The WNBA has also signed a new media rights package worth approximately $2.2 billion over 11 years.
A superstar rookie class, led by Clark and Reese, has given the sport a boost in 2024