That is not a quarterly earnings report for a tech giant or a speculative crypto boom. That is the very real, immediate, and explosive increase in demand for Pro-Am tickets at an LPGA event in November. The cause? A single human being: Caitlin Clark.

This week, the announcement came that the Indiana Fever star would once again trade her basketball sneakers for golf spikes to compete in the Annika Pro-Am, hosted by golf legend Annika Sörenstam. And in that moment, the “Caitlin Clark Effect” delivered its most potent, quantifiable, and telling metric to date.

This is not a story about golf. This is a story about power. It’s a case study in modern stardom that lays bare a truth the WNBA has seemingly been unwilling or unable to accept: Caitlin Clark has transcended her own sport, and other leagues are now, quite literally, cashing in.

The event, which will take place at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, from November 12-16, is a significant stop on the LPGA Tour. But with Clark’s name on the roster, it has transformed into a cultural phenomenon. To understand why this 1,200% surge is happening, one only needs to look back at what happened in 2024.

When Clark, fresh off her historic college career, first appeared at the event last year, she brought a gravitational pull with her that the golf world had never seen from a non-golfer. It was, by all accounts, a “movie-level moment.”

This was not a quiet, respectful celebrity appearance. It was a full-blown media and fan takeover.

In a sport where top professionals might be followed by a quiet gallery of a few dozen loyal fans, Clark’s group was swarmed by thousands. The crowds were so large and so electric that the Golf Channel, recognizing a ratings-bonanza when it saw one, went live to broadcast her round. In a move almost unheard of in the sport, a reporter walked the fairway with her, conducting a mid-play interview. The Athletic even commissioned a professional golf coach to break down the mechanics of her swing.

She played the front nine with World No. 1 Nelly Korda and the back nine with the event’s host, Annika Sörenstam. She was not a sideshow; she was the main event.

And now, she’s coming back.

The LPGA, a league that understands simple, positive economics, has rolled out the red carpet. Sörenstam herself released a glowing statement: “It was an honor to play in the Pro-Am with Caitlin last year. The crowds were amazing. We are excited for her return… She has added such a great dynamic to our event. Her passion for golf and competitiveness were fun to witness firsthand.”

Clark, who is an ambassador for Gainbridge, the event’s sponsor, echoed the sentiment. “I had an amazing time at The ANNIKA last November,” she said in a release. “I’m honored… I can’t wait to return to Tampa in November to play in the Pro-Am with the best women golfers in the world.”

It is a perfect, symbiotic relationship. The LPGA gets a massive, guaranteed injection of energy, media coverage, and new fans. Clark gets to be in an environment that purely celebrates her presence, grows her brand, and allows her to compete in a sport she genuinely loves.

But this sunshine-filled story from the Florida coast casts a long, dark shadow over another professional sports league: the WNBA.

This 1,200% bombshell is not just a win for the LPGA; it is a stunning and public indictment of the WNBA’s catastrophic failure to manage its own generational asset.

While the LPGA is enjoying an unprecedented ticket surge, the WNBA is recovering from a season defined by its struggle with the very concept of Clark’s stardom. The narrative of her rookie year was not one of celebration, but of conflict. It was a story of hard fouls, locker-room politics, “old guard” resentment, and a league office that seemed utterly paralyzed, caught between promoting its new cash cow and placating its veterans.

The video that broke this week’s news noted that “every league from MLB to NBA to NFL gets her value… every single one… except, of course, the WNBA.”

The contrast is brutal. The LPGA sees Clark and sees a 1,200% opportunity. The WNBA saw Clark and saw a problem to be managed.

The LPGA sees a star and puts her on live television mid-round. The WNBA sees a star and seems to wring its hands over how much to show her.

The LPGA pairs her with its living legends and current No. 1 player to elevate everyone. The WNBA’s veteran players, in many instances, have met her with a level of on-court aggression that, according to the source video, “took a little hit” on her brand and, more tangibly, “limited her to 13 games” in her rookie season.

This golf event, then, feels like more than a simple pro-am. It feels like a brand-rehabilitation mission. It is a strategic move to remind the world who Caitlin Clark is, away from the toxic discourse that has come to define her day job. She is an athlete who brings “amazing” crowds, “passion,” and “a great dynamic.” She is not a “problem.” She is a solution.

The WNBA’s failure is not just anecdotal; it’s a failure of imagination. They are the only league in the world that has Caitlin Clark under contract, yet they are the only league that seems to be losing from it. They have been gifted the greatest economic and cultural engine in the history of their sport, and they have treated it like a liability. They have fumbled the marketing opportunity of a lifetime.

The league is stuck in a self-defeating loop. They seem to believe they must choose between celebrating Clark and respecting their other players, failing to realize that Clark’s “gravitational pull” is the very thing that can lift the entire sport, and every player in it, to a new economic stratosphere. The LPGA understands this. Annika Sörenstam and Nelly Korda are not threatened by Clark; they are thrilled by the thousands of new fans she brings to their sport.

The 1,200% surge is the market screaming a simple fact: The “Caitlin Clark Effect” is real, it is powerful, and it is transferable. It can sell out basketball arenas, and it can sell out golf courses. It can dominate sports-talk television, whether the topic is a crossover-dribble or a 7-iron.

Caitlin Clark is an economic force of nature. The LPGA has wisely decided to step into the sun and enjoy the warmth. The WNBA, meanwhile, is still arguing about whether to open the blinds.