Nike Accused of Failing Caitlin Clark by Former Employee
Nike Accused of Failing Caitlin Clark by Former Employee originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
When it comes to popularity in women's basketball, Indiana Fever second-year guard Caitlin Clark is surely on top of the list.
Advertisement
Her college clashes at Iowa saw her headline two of the most-watched women's college basketball games ever, with her 2024 Elite Eight win over LSU attracting as many as 16 million viewers. In the same year, she attracted 2.4 million viewers in what is dubbed to be the most-watched WNBA Draft.
She has more than lived up to the hype in the WNBA, winning the WNBA Rookie of the Year award last season and being one of the front-runners for MVP this season. Although she's currently considered to be one of the faces of the league, Clark is missing something off the court that Angel Reese, her classmate, possesses.
Earlier in the week, it was announced that the Chicago Sky forward is set to release a signature sneaker on June 4 with Reebok. Although Clark has an eight-year deal with Nike worth $28 million, fans have been underwhelmed with the sporting apparel giant's efforts to capitalize on Clark.
Many have begun questioning why Clark doesn't already have a signature shoe, and fans aren't the only ones voicing their displeasure. Former Brand Marketing Director for Nike Basketball, Jordan Rogers, took to social media to shred his former employer's handling of Clark.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts to the action Saturday.© Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
"You have the single biggest needle mover in all of American sports since Michael Jordan, and you have somehow convinced yourself that you need to slow-play this," said Rogers.
Advertisement
Rogers also questioned their efforts to market less popular NBA players more than Clark.
"I am so confused as to how you would be so invested in the WNBA for several years and you've been doing great work trying to elevate and uplift that league and many of the athletes," Rogers said. "But this seems like you have convinced yourself that this needs to be an either-or conversation. And we never have an either-or conversation in the men's sports, you have like 10 signature athletes, half of them don't deserve a signature shoe."
Rogers expressed that he thinks Nike is afraid of the possible backlash it'd face due to the controversy surrounding Clark in the media. However, he did point out how companies such as Gatorade, State Farm and Wilson have all done a much better job in maximizing the value of the WNBA's "unicorn" superstar.
Only time will tell if Nike gets the message, but the demand is there.
Related: Paul George Doesn't Hold Back on Caitlin Clark's Trash Talk
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
24 minutes ago
- Axios
Trump's Truth posts mix wild conspiracies with market-moving policies
President Trump 's Truth Social account is full of jarring juxtapositions: major trade policy announcements and presidential nominations broken up by bizarre conspiracies and personal boasts. Why it matters: The president's words matter, whether he's moving markets with tariff threats or spreading unfounded conspiracies about his political rivals, and the White House has mimicked Trump's bellicose online persona. Emboldened in his second term, Trump has surrounded himself with conspiracy theorists and posts without restraint. Driving the news: The president late on Saturday shared an outlandish conspiracy from another user who said that former President Biden had been "executed in 2020" and was replaced by clones or robots. Trump shared the post to his nearly 10 million followers with no context. In another strange post Wednesday, Trump shared a meme of himself walking down a dark city street with all-cap text that read, "HE'S ON A MISSION FROM GOD & NOTHING CAN STOP WHAT IS COMING." Pepe the frog — a cartoon symbol embraced by the alt-right — is standing in the background. The edit was credited to another account on Truth Social. What they're saying: The White House didn't directly respond when asked about Trump sharing conspiracy theories. "President Trump has done more than any other president in modern history to stop antisemitic violence and hold corrupt institutions, like Harvard, accountable for allowing anti-American radicalism to escalate," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an email. The intrigue: Between those two posts, Trump made and shared (real) political and economic news. On Friday, he accused China of breaking the trade truce it reached with the U.S. The stock market immediately dropped on Trump's post. On Saturday, before he suggested his political rival had been executed, Trump announced he'd withdrawn Jared Isaacman's NASA nomination. He also shared highlights from his remarks at a U.S. Steel facility in Pennsylvania, where he said he'd increase tariffs on steel imports to 50% from 25%. Trump also used his Truth Social account to endorse books written by MAGA-aligned playwright David Mamet and Salena Zito, a journalist who detailed the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Yes, but: The things Trump doesn't post are just as striking. As of Monday morning, he had not commented on the Boulder, Colorado, attack near a rally advocating for the release of Hamas-held hostages in Gaza that sent eight people to the hospital. The official White House X account has reposted statements from several other administration officials condemning the attack. Context: It's not a new phenomenon for Trump to platform unproven conspiracies and misinformation on social media or in the White House. Per the Washington Post's count, the president made 30,573 untruthful statements during his first term, many of which he shared to Twitter. He's repeatedly said the 2020 election was stolen and has elevated racist "birther" conspiracies against his opponents. On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump and Vice President Vance repeated a baseless claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets. And in a shocking Oval Office encounter last month with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump pointed to misleading images when doubling down on the "white genocide" conspiracy theory.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China rejects Trump claims that it violated trade deal
June 2 (UPI) -- China on Monday rejected claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that it has broken the terms of the recent trade deal made between the two nations. A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said in a press release that it "firmly rejects" the "unreasonable accusations" and instead alleged that the United States failed to fulfill its duties. The statement said that China followed through in canceling or suspending "relevant tariffs and non-tariff measures" implemented in response to Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" against China and several other nations. It also noted that despite its conciliatory actions, the Trump administration has "successively introduced a number of discriminatory restrictive measures against China" such as export control guidelines for AI chips, stopping the sale of chip design software to China, and refering to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's announcements of plans to "aggressively revoke" visas of Chinese students. "The United States has unilaterally provoked new economic and trade frictions, exacerbating the uncertainty and instability of bilateral economic and trade relations. Instead of reflecting on itself, it has turned the tables and unreasonably accused China of violating the consensus, which is seriously contrary to the facts. China firmly rejects unreasonable accusations," China said. "If the [United States] insists on its own way and continues to damage China's interests, China will continue to take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests." Trump said in a social media post on Friday that China had "totally violated its agreement with us" after the two sides had reached the deal in Geneva in May. Under the terms of the deal, the two sides agreed to pause tariffs between the countries for 90 days as China reduced tariffs on American goods from 125% to 10% while the United States cut tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified Trump's comments on CBS News "Face the Nation" Sunday, stating that China was "withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement," and then confirmed those products to be rare earths.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
German police investigating Madeleine McCann case to conduct new searches in Portugal, UK police say
German police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will carry out fresh searches in Portugal, police in the UK have said. The Metropolitan Police say they are "aware" of the searches set to be conducted by German federal police in - where Madeleine disappeared while on holiday with her family in the resort of Praia da Luz. A spokesperson for the force said: "We are aware of the searches being carried out by the BKA (German federal police) in Portugal as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. "The Metropolitan Police Service is not present at the search, we will support our international colleagues where necessary." German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters also said in a statement that as part of the investigation, "criminal proceedings are currently taking place in Portugal". Madeleine, aged three, was asleep with her younger twin siblings in the family's Portuguese rented holiday apartment before their mother Kate discovered her missing at around 10pm on 3 May, 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann were dining nearby on the complex with friends and taking turns to check on all their sleeping children every half an hour. Her disappearance is one of the most high-profile cases of a missing person in British history. It comes as Portuguese police sources told Sky's partner in the country, SIC Noticias, that the search is expected to start on Tuesday morning. Officers are expected to search more than 20 rustic plots of land in the easternmost part of Praia da Luz - near the house where suspect Christian B lived at the time. Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under Germany's privacy law, is currently in jail and coming to the end of his sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in the resort. He has not been charged or indicted in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine, and he denies any involvement. A German prosecutor told Sky News in January that he will not face any charges in the foreseeable future. In October, Christian B was acquitted on a series of rape and indecent assault charges after a non-jury trial in Germany, in which several references were made to his status as the main suspect in the Madeleine case. SIC Noticias also reports that German and Portuguese authorities are looking for either Madeleine's body or for an indication that she may have been there at the time. German authorities last carried out searches in 2023 near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz. It had previously been searched in 2008 after Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it over claims her body was there. Read more from Sky News: Last month, Madeleine's parents marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance, vowing they would keep searching. "No matter how near or far she is, she continues to be right here with us, every day, but especially on her special day," they said ahead of her 22nd birthday. "We continue to 'celebrate' her as the very beautiful and unique person she is. We miss her."
