Minnesota Lynx owner Glen Taylor on the Caitlyn Clark effect

Glen Taylor, owner of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, joined TheStreet to discuss what he feels Clark will bring to the league.

Transcript

00:00 One of the big stories surrounding women's basketball is coming out of

00:05 Kaitlyn Clark and what's happened there. She's already a household name.

00:10 What do you think her coming to the WNBA is going to do to elevate that league?

00:19 Well, first of all, I think it's just gonna increase the viewership. She's an

00:25 exciting young woman that just has great skills. Fun to watch. This was already

00:34 showed during her college career. She's gonna go to Indiana. I think it's gonna

00:40 really help their team. But if you go back a ways, we had Maya Moore

00:46 come into the league. Kind of the same thing but at a different time. And it

00:51 just upgraded the whole league and the style of basketball, the ability to play,

00:58 the people that came in. And I think that'll happen now. I think we see

01:04 already by attendance, almost as she, Indiana, goes to different towns to play,

01:11 their sellouts are ready. How do you think players will react to all of the

01:17 attention the new kids on the block are getting like Kaitlyn Clark?

01:23 Well, I think it's gonna go both ways. There's gonna be a group that'll look at them and

01:29 say, "These are great young women. They're upping the standards for the league

01:34 and let's ride it." But there's always gonna be a little jealousy that comes

01:40 with new players getting to the top faster than other players who have

01:46 worked for years to get themselves established. And I think that's human

01:50 nature, but I don't think that's gonna be anything that's gonna hurt the league or

01:54 anything. But it's reality and I accept it. I'm not worried about our

02:00 particular team because I know the players on our team and they'll be

02:04 supportive of another player that brings higher skills to the league. And I think

02:12 they'll try to copy her. So the WNBA is getting more attention these days and

02:20 sometimes more attention, there can be a downside, right? There seemed to be a lot

02:25 of confusion about contracts for female basketball players, outrageous to why

02:32 Kaitlyn Clark's salary was so low. So tell me what more can be done to help

02:39 increase WNBA salaries across the board and what kind of pressure do you think

02:45 is going to be put on the WNBA to raise salaries for these new players?

02:53 Well, there will be pressure. The difference is great. Everybody can see

03:00 that we are working under contracts and that we've worked out with the union so

03:06 we have things in place, but people are gonna try to get more. But the best way

03:11 to address that problem is to get more income. So if we can get more people

03:19 coming to the games and we can get our TV rights increased, that money can be

03:25 shared with the players and that'll address part of it. But it's gonna be a

03:29 problem or a concern for quite a while.

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