Caitlin Clark’s viral airport arrival spotlights WNBA’s longtime issue
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever touched down in Dallas on Thursday ahead of their preseason tilt against the Wings on Friday night.
Upon walking past baggage claim at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Clark and the team were greeted by cameras documenting their moves, with footage subsequently shared on social media re-igniting commentary over the WNBA’s longtime issue of organizations flying commercial versus private.
“Caitlin Clark is hopefully going to force the charter flight issue in the WNBA the way [Phoenix Mercury center] Brittney Griner did. It’s about safety and player health,” former “SportsCenter” anchor Jemele Hill posted Thursday on X in response to a video from ABC’s North Texas affiliate WFAA.
Whitney Medworth of Homefield Apparel expressed: “This is too much. get the chartered planes thing amended. should have happened so long ago and now its about to all get super weird.”
Several WNBA stars have spoken out about the need for charter planes to ensure the safety and wellness of players. The league has previously cited financial limitations.
Two months after the league announced in April 2023 its plan to expand charter flights for the playoffs and for back-to-back contests, the WNBA’s travel detail came under fire when Griner was aggressively confronted in Dallas by a blogger, who pressed her about her release from a Russian prison.
She was approved to fly charter for the remainder of the season in the wake of the incident.
The spotlight on the league has only continued to intensify following the addition of Clark, who was selected first overall by the Fever in last month’s WNBA draft following a prolific career at Iowa.
Her impact at the collegiate level has welcomed new audiences and fans to the game and with that, questions as to how Indiana will manage security and flying commerical.
“It will definitely be an adjustment, but, you know, it is what it is,” Clark said Wednesday, according to the Indy Star. “I think the [WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement] is up for renegotiation after the season, we can opt out of it, and certainly the new media rights deal will have a big impact on that too. So, at this point of my career, and across the WNBA, it is what it is. I’m sure certainly everybody would say they would love to be flying charter all the time. It would definitely help a lot of problems, but I think the Fever organization has done a really good job of getting out ahead of things; there’s gonna be a lot of security traveling with us.”
With the growth of the game, Clark, 22, hopes “changes in the near future” follow.
“… It’s not like we’re the odd man out here. Everybody has to navigate it. And I think it’s gonna, you know, cause some problems, maybe because the popularity of our league is continuing to grow. Having to navigate travel with that, but at the same time, as you know, that’s a positive thing; you want people to be excited about our game. So, hopefully it changes in the near future, but for now, it’s just what it is,” she said.
The Fever will open their season on the road against the Connecticut Sun on May 14. Their home opener against the New York Liberty is set for May 16.