Out Of Touch WNBA 'Fans' Are Whining About Caitlin Clark Flying Commercial After She Was Filmed At An Airport

Caitlin Clark was filmed walking through the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, providing some WNBA fans and media members with the perfect excuse to complain about players having to fly commercially. 

Those that are complaining about Clark not flying private have exposed themselves to not only having zero general knowledge of how businesses work, but not paying close enough attention to the league it claims to be following.

The video that has sparked outrage online simply shows Clark and a few of her Indiana Fever teammates walking through the Dallas airport alongside a security team. Nobody is shouting at Clark or any of her teammates in the clip, the players are just walking through the baggage claims area as all normal travelers do.

While most would agree that it's unfortunate that WNBA players have to fly commercial - unless if it's a back-to-back situation when teams are allowed to charter flights - it's simply the reality the league is in at the moment.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has made it clear that the league simply does not have the resources at the moment to allow teams to fly private if they want the league to have any type of future.

"There’s no way any male sport has charter travel without a huge media rights deal," Engelbert told The Athletic in August 2023. 

"You’re not gonna jeopardize the financial stability of this league, I’m telling you. If the players got what they wanted right now — look, I want it for them too — but they’re not going to have jobs in three to five years if we did it today," the commissioner continued.

The WNBA Has No Money, Therefore Players Fly Commercially

The WNBA is set to see a huge funding boost when it signs a new media rights deal when its current contract expires at the end of 2025, but for right now, the league simply doesn't have the funds to fly teams around the country privately.

The WNBA's current TV media rights deal makes roughly $60 million annually. For comparison’ sake, the NBA's current TV deal earns the league roughly $2.1 billion. That one example alone makes the situation abundantly clear as to just how small the WNBA, and the league's funds, are compared to the male side of professional basketball.

Oh, the WNBA is subsidized by the NBA, it is fully backed by the Association, which is important to remember in all of this as well.

Caitlin Clark herself doesn't exactly care about having to fly commercially for the time being, either.

"Hopefully it changes in the near future, but for now that’s just what it is. Everyone is dealing with the same thing so you can't use it as an excuse," Clark explained during a recent press conference.

The fact that the WNBA has explained why players can't fly privately at the moment or Clark shrugging the inconvenience off didn't stop the likes of Jemele Hill and others who have zero understanding of reality from whining about the situation.

Hill claiming Clark could force the WNBA's hand into allowing teams to fly private is rich given that if and when that change occurs and Clark is the face behind it, Hill will undoubtedly play the race card and say that ‘it took a white girl’ for the WNBA to allow players to ditch commercial travel.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Clark and her teammates can handle walking through the airport on their way to work like the rest of civilization.