let’s take a second right now to have a moment of silence for Washington Mystics owner Shelley Johnson who suggested that the WNBA as a whole should have been on the cover of Time Magazine instead of just Caitlyn Clark two statements two months apart one shocking revelation of hypocrisy Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson publicly diminished Caitlyn Clark’s time athlete of the Year honor insisting the entire WNBA deserve the recognition instead of just one player however a lot of people are noticing the fact

that we all remember Sheila Johnson right the mystics owner that went on CNN that was none too pleased about kayln Clark having received the Time Magazine athlete of the year she made absurd comments but actions speak louder than words what Johnson just announced regarding fever games has the basketball World exploding with reactions the same owner who claimed it’s not just Caitlyn Clark bringing attention to the league is now making business decisions that prove exactly the opposite the Staggering numbers behind her latest move tell the

real story Johnson doesn’t want you to hear stick around because we have all the receipts including a certain award where Johnson was eerily silent are you ready let’s go where Caitlyn Clark was named athlete of the Year why couldn’t they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said the WNBA is the league of the year because of all the talent that we have remember when a WNBA owner Came Out Swinging against the most electrifying thing to happen to the league in years that’s exactly what went down when Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson

decided to publicly criticize Caitlyn Clark’s time athlete of the Year honor during a CNN interview it has taken the WNBA almost 28 years to get to the point where we are now and this year something clicked with the WNBA and it’s because of the draft of the players that came in it’s just not Caitlyn Clark it’s reys we have so many so much talent out there that has been unrecognized and I don’t think we can just pin it on one player let’s get into what Johnson actually said because her words reveal something pretty telling

Johnson argued that instead of honoring Clark individually time should have recognized the entire WNBA think about that logic for a second an individual Achievement Award meant to celebrate one standout performer should have somehow been divided up among more than a 100 players because when you just keep singling out one player it creates hard feelings this statement raises an interesting question was Johnson genuinely concerned about team morale or was something else driving these comments but Johnson didn’t stop there

she took things a step further by suggesting there was a racial component to Clark’s recognition I feel really bad because I’ve seen so many players of color that are equally as talented and they never got the recognition that they should have with that statement Johnson transformed what could have been a discussion about individual versus Collective recognition into something far more divisive there has been you know this phrase has been couched hasn’t it the Caitlyn Clark effect why do you think that has been the case well I want

to be very diplomatic about this um it’s just the structure of the way media plays out race I’m going to be very honest um I feel really bad because I’ve seen so many players of color that are equally as talented and they never got the recognition that they should have and I think right now it is time for that to happen what makes Johnson’s criticism particularly puzzling is how it completely ignores the measurable impact Clark had on the league the numbers tell a crystal clear story that’s impossible to dispute when the

fever played against the mystics last year Johnson’s own team the attendance averaged around 20,000 fans yet when other teams visited the mystics they struggled to fill even 5,000 seats that’s not just a slight bump that’s a seismic shift in fan engagement Caitlyn has brought a ton of new opportunity a ton of new eyeballs and more money to the sport so instead of downplaying the magnitude of of who she is and what she’s brought enjoy the ride and take advantage of the ride Clark’s influence extended far beyond just

putting butts in seats her presence in the league sparked a three-fold increase in attendance for fever games across the board jersey sales those jumped by an astonishing 1,000% these aren’t just impressive statistics they’re transformational figures that demonstrate how one player can Elevate an entire League’s profile and financial prospects while the NBA’s ratings continue to drop over 30% uh as they try to figure out who is going to feel the shoes of LeBron James Kevin Durant and Steph Curry the WNBA has a Golden

Goose sitting in their league and has done it’s gotten better but has done everything to kind of discredit the momentum and eyeballs she’s brought to this game you know what’s most revealing about this situation how Clark herself responded to the criticism instead of firing back or getting drawn into unnecessary drama she took the high road during her Time Magazine interview Clark emphasized mutual respect among players and dismissed any suggestions of jealousy within the league no defensiveness no counterattacks just quiet confidence in

her own Journey so Kaylin is someone who has if you look at it done everything you’re supposed to do and has been criticized along the every step of the way again she’s damned if she does and she’s damned if she doesn’t the contrast between Johnson’s remarks and Clark’s response speaks volumes one sought to minimize an individual achievement and frame it as potentially harmful the other showed Grace Under Pressure and refused to be baited into division so was Johnson’s criticism really about protecting team unity and ensuring Fair

recognition or was it the first sign of something else a pattern of behavior that would become increasingly difficult to ignore as time went on I mean honestly that we know how this owner feels about Caitlyn Clark let us not forget this that pattern of behavior it became Crystal Clear when Asia Wilson was awarded one of ‘s women of the Year honors recently and suddenly Johnson’s passionate speech about recognizing the entire league disappeared faster than playoff tickets at Capital One Arena where was all that concern about hard

feelings when it wasn’t Caitlyn Clark in the spotlight Time Magazine just announced Asia Wilson as one of their women of the Year celebrating her remarkable contributions to women’s basketball this prestigious individual recognition placed Wilson in the exact same position Clark had been in just months earlier a sing singular player being honored for her achievements the perfect moment for Sheila Johnson to once again stand up for her supposed principles about team recognition over individual accolades Time Magazine

backed themselves into a confusing corner with this latest blunder this is a whiskey riff right here when they crowned their athlete of the year last year they did the right thing by giving the title to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark surprisingly there was some backlash to the decision ision which is absurd with many in the WNBA saying the award should have been given to the entire league instead of just Clark except she didn’t say a word not a single comment no CNN interview this time no passionate plea about how time

should have recognized all the women of the WNBA instead of just Wilson the deafening Silence from the mystics owner spoke volumes about what was really motivating her previous criticism remember all those concerns about creating hard feelings among players when individuals receive special recognition apparently those concerns have an expiration date or perhaps they were never genuine in the first place Wilson’s honor represented the precise scenario Johnson claimed to be troubled by yet her principles mysteriously

vanished overnight the mystics owner went on CNN and was like I think it would have been nice if theya put the entire league on the uh front cover of Time Magazine as athlete of the Year well there wasn’t but one athlete that was moving all the numbers all right that was influencing all the money gate Revenue attendance ratings all the stuff we’ve talked about right there’s only one right wrong or indifferent just one plays in Indiana Wars 22 right this glaring inconsistency didn’t go unnoticed within the league

WNBA player Lexi Brown publicly called out the double standard posting can we please stop taking steps backwards her frustration reflected what many players were thinking if the concern was truly about fairness and team unity why did that concern only apply when Clark was in the spotlight unlike Johnson’s earlier claims about players developing resentment Wilson’s achievement was widely celebrated throughout the league with players supporting rather than resenting her individual recognition the stark contrast reveals something

troubling about Johnson’s Original ISM this was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate consistency in her convictions to again argue that individual honors diminish Collective achievement instead she chose silence suggesting her initial outrage had little to do with protecting team unity and everything to do with who was receiving the recognition people keep in mind this is a business when Nike signs a athlete okay they want to get a Roi return on their investment how do they do that because that athlete resonates

he understand saying that Caitlyn Clark her jerseys her apparel if she has an apparel deal her shoes will sell let’s be real if Johnson genuinely believed individual accolades created division in women’s basketball her response to both honors would have been identical the fact that she spoke out only against Clark’s recognition while remaining silent about Wilson’s award reveals a troubling selectivity to her principles you know what’s most telling about this situation it’s not just the hypocrisy of Johnson’s selected outrage it’s what

that selectivity reveals about her true motivations when two superstars receive nearly identical individual recognition just months apart and a team owner only criticizes one of them we’re no longer talking about principles we’re talking about targeting why do you think Johnson is selectively targeting Clark let us know in the comments the mystics were moving the two games that were coming to their town with Caitlin Clark in the Indiana Fever they were moving them to Baltimore all right now in case you’re wondering that Mystics home arena that

they they play on normally and brag about selling it out is only 4,200 fans I mean come on uh 4,200 fans right Johnson’s principles about team over individual lasted exactly as long as it took to calculate potential ticket Revenue when she quietly announced a venue change exclusively for fever games moving from a fourth ,200 seat Arena to one holding 14,000 the mask of principled leadership slipped to reveal something far more transparent a business decision that contradicted everything she claimed to stand for kitlin CLK comes to town they

move it to a 14,000 seat Arena I mean it’s that’s nearly that’s what is that that’s nearly 10,000 more fans Johnson made a strategic announcement that spoke volumes about what she truly believed the Washington Mystics would be relocating their home games against the Indiana Fever to CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore this wasn’t just any venue upgrade it represented more than tripling their capacity jumping from the entertainment and sports Arena’s modest 4,200 seats to a facility capable of holding nearly 14,000 fans what makes

this decision so revealing isn’t just the change itself it’s the selective application Johnson didn’t announce a permanent move to a larger venue for all Mystics games she didn’t even select matchups against multiple top teams no this venue change targeted one specific team the Indiana Fever the same team featuring the player Johnson had publicly suggested wasn’t solely responsible for the League’s growing popularity means the gate prices all right the gate prices for the game will actually go up in other words just like

that preseason game they got has got tickets for 4,500 bucks a run-of-the-mill game like this even we all know Caitlyn Clark tickets are expensive the financial implications are impossible to ignore with almost 10,000 additional tickets available per game all likely to be sold at premium prices given the demand the revenue potential becomes staggering a conservative estimate would suggest millions in additional ticket revenue from just these games alone all driven by the drawing power of the very player Johnson

had attempted to downplay raising the amount of money it will cost to get into this game she may end up lining her own Pockets with more money because the gate prices may go way up and she’s going to force Caitlyn Clark fans to pay additional money to get into the game by putting in a bigger but not as big venue basketball fans immediately recognize the contradiction social media erupted with call outs highlighting the disconnect between Johnson’s words and her actions one fan didn’t mince words wasn’t this the same

owner that diminished CC’s impact and downplayed her now she’s milking the ticket sales another pointedly asked should the mystics move all of their games there their owner didn’t seem to want to give Caitlyn any credit for the women’s basketball movement but yet she’s good with extra profits from fever games the questions cut to the heart of the hypocrisy as one fan succinctly put it wait why just the fever games why not every game or are you choking on your words about the face of the league these weren’t just random internet critics they were

WNBA supporters who recognized the Stark inconsistency between criticizing individual recognition while simultaneously cashing in on individual star power and this year something clicked in the WNBA because of the draft and the players that came in it’s not just Caitlyn Clark yes it is is you telling me somebody spending $4,500 for an angel Reese game get the bleep out of here the mother bleep out of here it’s Angel Reese she continued we have so much talent out there that has been unrecognized and I don’t think we can

pin it on just one player Johnson isn’t alone in making venue adjustments for fever games other WNBA teams have done the same but those teams didn’t first go on National Television to minimize Clark’s individual impact on the league they didn’t suggest that recognizing one player creates hard feelings they simply acknowledged reality Caitlyn Clark drives unprecedented interest in women’s basketball this venue change represents more than just a business decision it’s an inadvertent confession when Johnson claimed the entire WNBA deserved

recognition not just Clark her words carried a certain weight but actions ultimately reveal true beliefs and her decision to specifically capitalize on Clark’s drawing power through selective venue changes exposes the hollow nature of her previous statements I don’t agree with the mystics owner saying that the whole WNBA should have been named that because that’s not true the whole WNBA benefited this year from the viewership increase what does this say about the current state of WNBA leadership can League Executives continue publicly

downplaying individual Stars while privately building business strategies entirely around them the disconnect between public messaging and private decision-making creates a credibility problem that extends Beyond just one owner what basketball analysts have been saying all along is now proven by these events Johnson’s comments didn’t just undermine Clark’s individual achievements they created an unnecessary division in a league that should be celebrating its Rising Stars the hypocrisy is painfully obvious when we look at the complete picture

there are some other players that get deals men and women okay that have signature shoes that despite how good they are as a player stra as they are as a player they don’t move product because it doesn’t resonate it doesn’t translate what translates is when Caitlyn Clark came into the league and 30,000 jerseys were already ordered that the Indiana Fever the season tickets were already sold out when you go on the road to the mystics and they have to change the venue and wies is going to be played to play you know where the Wizards play

okay on a couple of occasions it’s only certain people that do that whether you like Caitlyn or not are you interested if you’re a ball player there certain aspects you got to love about Caitlyn’s game the future of the WNBA doesn’t depend on diminishing individual Excellence but embracing it as analysts have pointed out stars like Clark Elevate the entire league rather than detracting from it what we’re witnessing isn’t just about one player getting recognition it’s about w NBA leadership needing to unify behind its talent

instead of creating artificial friction the contradiction between public statements and private business decisions exposes the real issue when a star drives growth that’s a collective win for women’s basketball maybe that’s what scares some Executives the most admitting they need their stars as much as their Stars need the league do you agree let us know in the comments like subscribe and turn on all notifications so you never miss out click the video on the screen and we will see you in the next one