Catilin Clark has permanently changed the WNBA. While it's probably too early to debate whether she's the GOAT (she hasn't even finished her rookie season), you can't deny the fact that she's created new interest in the game of women's basketball.
The “Caitlin Clark Effect” has dramatically increased attendance at both home games for the Indiana Fever and for attendance at games where the Fever are the away team. When she plays on national TV, she has often set viewership records especially when she has played against her rival, Angel Reese.
And where there's new interest, there's potentially a new market for collectibles. Not surprisingly, sports cards companies are producing a huge number of cards featuring Clark to meet all of the demand. Specifically, companies have produced an unbelievable 600+ Caitlin Clark cards during her short career. Many consider Clark's 2021 Sports Illustrated for Kids to be her "true" rookie card. This PSA 7 copy sold recently on eBay for $769.60:
Previous WNBA stars like A'ja Wilson, a two-time MVP (and will almost certainly win her third after the current season) received a fraction of that attention during their rookie campaigns. But as Clark drives up demand for the WNBA, fans are realizing two things: (1) there are many other great players besides Clark like Wilson, Breanna Steward and Arike Ogunbowle; and (2) unlike Clark's cards, there weren't many rookie cards produced for these other players. When demand rises and limited supply exists, you'd think that the value of rookie cards for these other WNBA stars should rise in value.
In June, a PSA 10 A'ja Wilson rookie card sold for $1,500; in August another sold for $4,999,
We're starting to see a lot of evidence that the Caitlin Clark Trickle Down Effect is indeed causing these cards to rise in value. For example, let's take a look at a PSA 10 copy of A'ja Wilson's 2018 Rittenhouse Rookie Card. Back in June, when Clark was already a household name but there wasn't a lot of exposure yet to a player like Wilson, a PSA 10 copy of Wilson's rookie card sold for $1,500 or less on eBay.
Skip forward a couple of months and the value of another PSA 10 card has absolutely exploded in value -- the most recent sale of a PSA 10 sold for a whopping $5,000 on eBay just two and a half months later!
Is this $5k sale an outlier or has it put a spotlight on an undervalued area of the collectibles market?
While we can't be sure that this dramatic increase in value was caused by a trickle down effect caused by Caitlin Clark, and this $5k sale could ultimately prove to be an outlier, this is a mind-blowing sale. If the thesis is that this is just the beginning of a newfound interest in the WNBA and its popularity sticks over the long-term, there may be several buying opportunities for stars like Wilson, Ionescu, Kelsie Mitchell and others who had very few rookie cards produced. If you think the WNBA's current popularity is merely a bubble, then investing in these players probably doesn't make a lot of sense.
