Sports broadcaster Cari Champion addressed the shifting media culture and fan dynamics surrounding the WNBA. Specifically, the former First Take host offered her thoughts on one of the most talked-about fanbases in the league: Caitlin Clark's avid followers.
Champion joined The Bakari Sellers Show this week and offered a candid opinion on the WNBA and its attempt to "balance" a fanbase, one she describes as "entitled and extremely nasty." Champion’s remarks focused on the tension between long-standing WNBA fandom and a newer audience, including many who entered the sport when the Indiana Fever guard arrived.
While Champion addressed a highly complex topic head-on, she also made her opinion of Clark as a player clear. She praised the 24-year-old
for making the game "impactful and tangible" for people who've never really watched it, comparing it to Steph Curry's impact on basketball.
"She represents an avatar for Middle America: white people who want to see white women doing well and playing in a sport that is traditionally Black," Champion said. "She's a heterosexual white woman, she was Catholic, and all the things they think she is, they're like, 'I can relate to this, I can get behind her.' So she brings in this new fan base, and what this fan base does is bring in more business. And the WNBA has needed this business."
Champion continues by stating that the WNBA "looks the other way" when the fanbase is "wholly inappropriate to other players who are just doing their jobs" and when criticism is directed at Clark.
She also praised Clark for her efforts to step in during various conversations, noting that the Fever guard pointed to Maya Moore as a reason she wanted to play basketball when she was growing up.
"To Caitlin's credit, a few times she's tried to say, 'You don't do that, that's unfair, it's disgusting. I appreciate the women whose shoulders I stand on, [Maya Moore] was the reason why I wanted to play basketball. I watched her growing up.'...
...And so the WNBA is trying to balance this entitled fan base, this new entitled; I say they are entitled because they get so upset when you say anything about Caitlin, when you say she doesn't play defense, when you say that she needs to be better on the court in terms of her leadership," Champion said.
Champion compares the Caitlin Clark attention to LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Shaq
Among the many interesting points Champion made was a comparison of the magnitude of Clark's impact on the WNBA to that of a few notable current and former NBA stars. This includes LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. She points out that they've all received immense criticism for on-court reactions/moments.
"What I do know is what you're noticing is what other people are noticing, and they're naming it and labeling it because that's what you do when you have someone who is a supernova who is playing on a team who gets a lot of attention," Champion said of Clark. "And by the way, her attention is extreme either way, either extremely pro or extremely not so. It's extreme. No matter how you talk about her, it's going to be extreme. We've seen this happen with LeBron, with Kobe, with Shaq. You go down the list. These type of people who change the direction of business will always be analyzed, maybe to a fault."
Champion summed up her point by calling on the WNBA not to "coddle" players, even going beyond Clark, but stating that the league is "ignoring" her fanbase.
"If the W really wants to be taken seriously, they cannot be coddled, and I'm talking about all players," Champion continued. "And I think that they're mishandling Caitlin in a time that is so polarizing. You have a league of women, 70% Black women, and you are putting your supernova—and that's not my name for her; that is what the numbers are saying, that is what the dollars are saying, that is what her impact is saying. And you're coddling her and you're ignoring this extremely nasty base. Unhinged.
Not all of her fans -- excuse me, not all of the Indiana Fever fans -- are unhinged; I'm not putting that on everybody. But there is a concerted effort to really stop any type of critique of Caitlin; it's almost like you don't want to do it. In fact, someone you and I both know said the league feels like their hands are tied."
Champion covers the topic in a very broad sense, highlighting an area that has drawn immense criticism pointed at the WNBA, while also emphasizing how important it is for the league to address this with all players and fanbases, not just Clark.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Cari Champion calls out WNBA over Caitlin Clark's fanbase
