Dick’s Sporting Goods to Sell Caitlin Clark Merch in All 724 Locations
Dick’s Sporting Goods will sell Indiana Fever t-shirts with Caitlin Clark’s name and number in all 724 of its stores this season, according to multiple people familiar with the details, the latest sign of of the WNBA rookie’s rapid rise to nationwide stardom.
The company sold WNBA gear in just 160 locations last year, according to one of the people, who was granted anonymity because the details are not public. It will sell league product in a similar footprint this season, the person said, with Clark’s t-shirts being the lone exception. Some locations will also have the in-demand No. 22 Clark Indiana Fever jerseys, which sold out in the days after the WNBA draft and are now on back-order as Nike ramps up production.
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A representative for Dick’s (NYSE: DKS) didn’t respond to a request for comment.
It’s just the latest example of how the 22-year-old is helping reshape the commercial opportunities in women’s basketball. Clark’s record-breaking senior season at Iowa drew new eyeballs to the sport, setting benchmarks for NCAA attendance, TV viewership and ticket demand. She’s been a pro for less than a week, and the impact has already been felt at the WNBA. The draft was watched by 3x more people than any other in league history, and multiple teams have moved their games against Clark’s Indiana Fever to bigger venues to capitalize on ticket demand.
The WNBA has separately seen growth of its own. The 2023 campaign was the league’s most-watched regular season in over 20 years, and its highest attendance in 13 years. Digital and social media metrics hit all-time highs. In the last few years, commercial opportunities for the league’s stars have also expanded dramatically.
The combination has led to a big apparel opportunity. Fanatics, the WNBA’s e-commerce partner, said earlier this week that Clark was the best-selling draft-night athlete in the company’s history. Both Nike and Fanatics quickly sold out of their supply of Nike Indiana Fever jerseys. Nike told Sportico on Thursday that new Clark jerseys would be available at the start of the WNBA season at select locations, including at Dick’s.
Dick’s has been an official retail partner of the WNBA since September 2021. The announcement back then said that the retailer would carry product in “select” locations around the U.S., including all home WBNA markets. At the time it made Dick’s the largest national retailer for the league.
The Pittsburgh-based company is also one of Nike’s most important retail partners, a relationship that has endured even as Nike’s DTC push dramatically reduced the number of retailers that it sells through. Nike is an investor in the WNBA.
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