After three straight losses, the Indiana Fever were able to rebound on Tuesday night, beating the Washington Mystics behind Kelsey Mitchell‘s 24 points. Mitchell, along with Aliyah Boston in particular, have stepped up in Caitlin Clark‘s absence. Clark is expected to be out for another week, possibly more depending on her rehab.
Clark’s injury hasn’t just affected her team, though; it has also affected fans who bought tickets to watch her play, either at home or on the road. Her absence has upset fans who purchased tickets and possibly planned road trips to watch her games. That has led to some fans asking for reimbursements from WNBA franchises. That doesn’t sit right with WNBA legend Sue Bird.
Sue Bird: “So yeah, she’s hurt. It sucks. The league will continue to go on.”
While talking about the Clark injury situation on her “A Touch More” podcast, she wondered aloud if a big sports league would ever change their rules for just one player.
“If you bought a ticket to see somebody and they’re hurt, I get it, that’s a big bummer. But no, you would never say that about men’s sports. If LeBron [James] was out or Steph Curry or the big names were out for a couple weeks, [the NBA] would never be like, ‘Oh, we are going to reimburse you guys, sorry about that’.“
Bird then makes it clear that Clark isn’t bigger than the league, and fans need to be aware of that.
“So yeah, she’s hurt. It sucks. The league will continue to go on… for those who don’t realize it, supporting the league is supporting Caitlin. So if you want to support Caitlin, you have to support the league. She’s a part of that ecosystem, she doesn’t get to separate herself out, so that’s one thing that doesn’t add up to me.“
We’ve seen something similar happen in MLS with Lionel Messi. The legendary soccer player and current Inter Miami star has forced an upcharge in tickets whenever he shows up to town, but when he has dealt with injuries and missed games, some MLS franchises have had to make statements about his absence and even reimburse fans who purchased tickets and didn’t want to go anymore.
Clark isn’t close to Messi on a global scale, but in the WNBA sphere, there isn’t any other player attracting fans like she does. It’s impossible to predict and completely avoid injuries, so this won’t be the last time this kind of situation arises. The WNBA must be ready for when it does.
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