Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson on Friday spoke out against Time magazine naming Caitlin Clark its “Athlete of the Year” in an interview with CNN Sports, saying that Time magazine has criticized the WNBA as a whole. He suggested that an award should have been given.
Johnson even suggested that the decision to honor Clark would fuel “racist” sentiment within the league.
“Why couldn't they put the WNBA on that cover and say, 'The WNBA is the league of the year,' when we have the talent,” Johnson said. “When you single out one player, it creates hard feelings. So now we're starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA, and I don't want to hear those stories.”
Johnson even claimed that race was to blame for Clark's attention and the coining of the term “Caitlin Clark effect” in reference to the attention she brought to the league.
“It's about how the media portrays race,” Johnson said. “It's really disappointing because I see a lot of players of color who are just as talented and they don't get the recognition they should.”
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Louisville guard Morgan Jones, center and forward Olivia Cochran attempt to pass the ball during the first half of an NCAA Tournament Elite 8 college basketball game in Seattle, Sunday, March 26, 2023. Iowa State guard Caitlin Clark (left). (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
The owner is also unhappy with the fact that Clark signed a $28 million sponsorship deal with Nike in April, making it the richest sponsorship deal for a women's basketball player.
“They want to get the same kind of recognition. It all started with the Nike sponsorship that Caitlin got,” Johnson said. “Other players are saying, 'What about us?'
Johnson is vice chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Washington Capitals. Her Mystics directly capitalized on Clark's popularity, posting historic ticket sales at the end of this year's regular season.
The Mystics' final game of the season, against Clark's Indiana Fever, will be played from the Mystics' home, the just 4,200-seat Entertainment Sports Arena, to the Wizards' venue, Capital One, which can seat up to 20,356 people for basketball games. Changed to Arena. As a result, the Fever-Mystics game on September 19th was the most attended game in WNBA regular season history, with 20,711 fans in attendance.
The Las Vegas Aces made a similar move when they hosted the Fever at the larger T-Mobile Arena instead of playing at the smaller Michelob Ultra Arena for the July 2 game. The match attracted 20,366 fans representing the world. the best This is the highest number of participants in a single regular season game since 1999.
Yet Mr. Johnson chose to publicly denigrate and undermine the attention Mr. Clark was receiving in his CNN interview. Johnson also suggested that the WNBA's rise in popularity is also due to other WNBA rookies for the 2024 season, including Chicago Sky star Angel Reese.
WNBA star Caitlin Clark named Time Athlete of the Year after historic season: 'We've only scratched the surface'
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, 22, and Connecticut Sun forward DeWanna Bonner, 24, play during WNBA Basketball Playoff Series 1 on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. Words are exchanged during the first half of the second round. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
“It took the WNBA nearly 28 players to get to where it is now. And something went right in the WNBA this year, and it was because of the drafting of players that came in. It wasn't just Caitlin Clark. It was a lease,” Johnson said. “I don't think you can pin it down to just one player because we have a lot of unrecognized talent.”
In fact, Johnson's Mystics played Reese's Sky again this year on June 6th at Capital One Arena. However, the attendance for that game was only 10,000, less than half of the games Clark played in at the end of the season.
Johnson, the first black woman to own three professional sports teams, is just one of many figures in the sports and media world who have cited Clark's popularity contest in a negative light.
WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson said Clark being white was a “huge thing” when it came to the rookie's popularity
In May, “The View” host Sunny Hostins said on an episode of the show that part of Clark's popularity was due to “white privilege.”
Journalist Jemele Hill says Clark's white ethnicity and sexuality as a straight woman did not affect her popularity in the WNBA, where the majority of players are black and many are lesbian. claimed to be “naive”. Interview with the Los Angeles Times in May. Mr Hill also argued that Mr Clark's popularity due to these attributes was “problematic”.
Former FS1 and ESPN host Skip Bayless, who was one of Clark's harshest critics until she started her career in the WNBA, said Clark was unimpressed with her skills out of “guilt”. He admitted that he was pretending because he didn't want to make a fuss. racism. He even suggested that Clark became a “right-wing icon” due to the fact that he was a white player who excelled at the game of basketball.
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June 30, 2024. Phoenix, Arizona: Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, 22, was fouled by Phoenix Mercury guard Sag Sutton, 1, at Footprint Center in the fourth quarter. (Michael Chou-Arizona Republic)
Since joining the WNBA this year, Clark has repeatedly been pressed by fans to answer questions about race and racism, including in a Time magazine profile that Johnson criticized.
“I'd like to say I've had everything, but as a white person I have privilege,” Clark told Time magazine. “A lot of the really good players in the league were black players. This league is kind of built on them.”
Ms Johnson said she did not believe Mr Clarke needed to make such a comment, but “admired” the genius for speaking out.
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