Manatt Digital and Technology Counsel and Director Matt Reece was quoted in Law360 on Caitlin Clark’s, NCAA basketball superstar, decision to enter the WNBA draft in lieu of finishing her last year of college eligibility at Iowa.
While some hypothesized that her pay would decrease as a result, many saw the new opportunities open to her especially as she had another year of eligibility, an option that previous college stars did not have. During Clark's career at Iowa, Reece said, everybody in the college sports ecosystem benefited from her advertising and ticket revenue-generating accomplishments, such as the NCAA, the Big Ten Conference, her school and the television networks — while she herself, until the past two years, was prohibited from benefiting financially and could only do so by leaving for the pros. But with the new landscape for athlete compensation in college, Reece continued, "I start thinking, it's great, because it puts the choice in the hands of the student athlete. So the student athlete isn't like, 'I'm giving up a lot by staying. It's different reasons — it's personal reasons, it's sporting reasons. It's not that I'm only able to realize the value of my talent by going only one place or the other.'"
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