Caitlin Clark Has Arrived in the WNBA. Her Jerseys Haven’t.
Basketball fans can’t get enough of Caitlin Clark. They also can’t get her jersey.
Clark was drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever in Monday’s WNBA draft. Less than two days later, her jerseys are sold out. Listings for Clark’s navy blue and red No. 22 uniforms at the official WNBA shop, which is run by Fanatics, now say that they will likely ship in August “due to Nike’s manufacturing times.” Listings from Nike, which makes the jerseys, just say that the product is “coming soon.”
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It’s a surprising commercial misfire during a high-profile moment. The 22-year-old’s rise has led to record ratings, unprecedented ticket demand and heightened interest on social media. If anyone chooses not to buy a $100 jersey because it won’t ship until the back half of the season, that’s bad for fans, the WNBA, the Fever, Nike, Fanatics and Clark herself.
The miss is further elevated by how predictable the demand appears to have been. The Fever secured the No. 1 pick in December, and Clark said she would be going pro two months later. The Iowa native was a virtual lock to be taken first, as was the fact that fans would flock to buy her jersey at levels not previously seen.
Representatives for Nike and the WNBA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sports fans have seen this before. Last July, when Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami, fans who went to buy his jersey were eventually told the product wouldn’t ship until mid-October, around the end of the league’s regular season. Those delays were due to Adidas ramping up production to meet demand.
Many rush to assign blame in these situations without fully understanding the relationship between a given league (in this case, the WNBA), the jersey partner (in this case, Nike) and Fanatics. Michael Rubin’s company is the e-commerce partner for almost every major U.S. league, but its relationship with the actual jerseys sold to fans varies quite dramatically by league.
In MLB and NFL, for example, it sells Fanatics-branded fan jerseys and manufactures the authentic, on-field uniforms that bear the Nike logo. With the WNBA, however, Fanatics has no lower-tier jersey rights, and it does not manufacture the authentic Nike jerseys. It keeps a limited stash of blank uniforms, and when that stash is empty, it relies on Nike to supply more product.
The stash of blank Fever jerseys didn’t last long. A small batch of Clark No. 22 uniforms were put on sale after Monday’s WNBA draft, which sold out almost immediately. Rubin said later that Clark was the best-selling draft-night athlete in the company’s history.
Prepping jerseys to sell after a draft—or after a major trade—is more complex than most people likely realize. It’s atypical for a player to have an official number on draft night, so listings often go up with No. 00 as a placeholder—that what’s currently listed on the WNBA shop for second overall pick Cameron Brink, or third overall pick Kamilla Cardoso. Clark, given her stardom and her inevitability, was a rare situation where at least some product, with her official No. 22 number, was available immediately. And manufacturing those additional uniforms takes time, often more time than fans would like.
All of this comes on the heels of the controversy surrounding the new MLB uniforms, designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics, which have drawn criticism from baseball players and fans.
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