Caitlin Clark's new boss to change her team's brand to be 'like Apple' amid WNBA pros calling its fans racist

Caitlin Clark has brought truthful overmuch attraction and popularity to the Indiana Fever, that the team's caller president has large ambitions for its brand. 

The Fever's caller president of hoops and concern operations, Kelly Krauskopf, said she wants to marque the Fever's marque similar the tech institution Apple, during her introductory property league connected Tuesday. 

"We person a foundational subordinate successful Caitlin Clark, and we're going to proceed to adhd to that. But I privation this squad to beryllium a person successful the state and an enduring marque similar Apple. We person a existent accidental here," Krauskopf said. 

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Indiana Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark speech during the playoff crippled against the Sun, Sept. 25, 2024, successful Uncasville, Connecticut. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

For Krauskopf, Clark's beingness connected the squad gives the enactment a accidental to scope a caller procreation of fans. She plans to beryllium precise forward-thinking successful presumption of who the squad volition beryllium selling itself too. She suggested the squad volition look to determination connected to focusing connected a caller demographic, compared to the fans that it appealed to erstwhile it won its lone WNBA title successful 2012. 

"This is the infinitesimal wherever it takes a procreation immoderate clip to get to that level," Krauskopf said. "I would archer our players, ‘Look, we’re gathering this for idiosyncratic else. We're gathering this for someone's 10-year-old girl now,' due to the fact that that's what you do. We wanted to support moving it forward, pushing it guardant and paying it forward."

"I cognize what benignant of enactment we person and we person it and that's wherever I consciousness empowered and precise assured successful the absorption that we're going due to the fact that we person that level of support."

Krauskopf besides pointed retired that Clark was 10 years aged erstwhile the Fever won its archetypal title. Now she believes that Clark volition springiness the squad a chiseled recruiting vantage arsenic it looks to germinate its marque and turn its instrumentality base. 

"If you're a astute hoops subordinate and you ticker the mode [Caitlin Clark] plays, you would privation to play with her," Krauskopf said. 

However, Krauskopf volition beryllium looking to springiness the Fever this estimation aft a play successful which aggregate WNBA players person criticized the Fever fans and accused them of being "racist." 

After the team's nonaccomplishment to the Connecticut Sun successful the archetypal circular of the playoffs, aggregate Sun players spoke retired against Fever fans and alleged they utilized racist connection against them. 

"Honestly, it's been a batch of nonsense. I deliberation successful my 11-year career, I've ne'er experienced the radical comments [like I have] from the Indiana Fever instrumentality base," Sun subordinate Alyssa Thomas said aft the Sun won the bid connected Sept. 25. "It's unacceptable, honestly. There's nary spot for it." 

Thomas went truthful acold arsenic to accidental the Fever indispensable intervene to halt their fans' actions. 

"We don't privation fans that are going to degrade america and telephone america radical names," Thomas said. "We already spot what's happening successful the satellite and what we person to woody with successful that aspect. We travel to play hoops for our job, and it's fun, but we don't privation to spell to enactment each time and person societal media blown up implicit things similar that. It's uncalled for and thing needs to beryllium done, whether it's [the Fever] checking their fans oregon this league checking. There's nary clip for it anymore."

Fellow Sun subordinate DiJonai Carrington, who gave Clark a achromatic oculus successful Game 1 of the playoff series, insulted the Fever instrumentality basal aft Indiana defeated Connecticut 84-80 connected Aug. 28. 

"The Indiana Fever person the nastiest fans successful the [WNBA]. Ew," Carrington wrote successful a post connected X that night. 

INSIDE CAITLIN CLARK'S IMPACT ON MEN'S BASKETBALL

Indiana Fever defender Caitlin Clark reacts aft getting deed successful the oculus during the playoff crippled against the Sun connected Sept. 22, 2024, astatine Mohegan Sun Arena successful Uncasville, Connecticut. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Clark's longtime rival and Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese has accused Clark's fans, some for the Fever and her fans during Clark's assemblage vocation astatine Iowa, of racism, decease threats and adjacent sending explicitly AI-generated images of Reese to her household members. 

"I deliberation it's truly conscionable the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, present the Indiana fans, that are truly just, they thrust for her, and I respect that, respectfully. But sometimes it's precise disrespectful. I deliberation there's a batch of racism erstwhile it comes to it," Reese said during the archetypal occurrence of her podcast connected Sept. 5. 

"People person travel down to my address, followed maine home, it's travel down to that… Multiple occasions, radical person made AI-images of maine naked. They person sent it to my household members. My household members are similar uncles, sending it to maine like, ‘Are you bare connected Instagram?’" 

Clark herself addressed the allegations of racism against Fever fans during the team's exit interview. However, Clark did not admit that the individuals accused of racism are fans of her oregon her team. 

"Those aren't fans. Those are trolls," Clark said. 

Regardless, the influx of followers Clark brought to Indiana and the WNBA arsenic a full is undeniable. 

The WNBA broke viewership and attendance records this year, spearheaded by Clark's beingness connected the team. The 14 most-watched WNBA games this twelvemonth each included the Fever, and the team's play finale against the Washington Mystics connected Sept. 19 broke the grounds for most-attended crippled successful WNBA past with 20,711 attendees aft it was moved to a larger arena. 

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Indiana Fever defender Caitlin Clark and Sun guardant DeWanna Bonner speech words during their game, Sept. 25, 2024, successful Uncasville. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Clark drew a WNBA record 1.84 cardinal viewers to her archetypal playoff crippled against the Connecticut Sun connected Sept. 22, portion competing with NFL Sunday. She followed it up with different grounds assemblage of 2.54 cardinal viewers for Game 2. Clark and the Indiana Fever mislaid some those games, however, sending Clark location for the offseason. 

However, erstwhile Clark and the Fever were eliminated from the playoffs, viewership plummeted. The archetypal crippled betwixt the Aces and Liberty, a rematch of past year's WNBA finals betwixt 2 of the league's astir fashionable and palmy teams, drew an assemblage of 929,000, ESPN announced, which is 50% little than the Fever's Game 1 against the Sun. 

Now Krauskopf volition look to usage that ammunition to physique up the team's brand, each portion accusations of racism against the instrumentality basal by different players whitethorn perchance continue. 

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