A new report from the Common Sense Institute (CSI) indicates that Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark has added as much as $82.5 million to the state’s economy.
The report, titled “Clarkonomics,” published March 21, provides a detailed analysis of Ms. Clark’s economic impact on the state, primarily through increased attendance at Iowa women’s basketball games.
Authored by Ben Murrey, CSI’s director of policy & research, the report provides a data-driven approach to quantifying the impact of Iowa women’s basketball and Ms. Clark’s extraordinary college career on the economy of the state of Iowa.
“As my kids say, Caitlin Clark is the GOAT, and CSI’s study proves it,” CSI board member Amber Mason Lusson said in a release. “Her time at Iowa has been more than an inspiration to young athletes. She has generated a tremendous impact on our economy, exponentially enhanced women’s sports and done more to market the university and the state than anyone in recent memory.”
The release coincides with the kick off to “March Madness,” the annual NCAA tournament. Clark and the Hawkeyes are scheduled to play their first game on Saturday, March 23 against the winner of the West Virginia vs. Princeton matchup.
How Caitlin Clark’s stardom is impacting college athletics, marketing power of women in sports
“Caitlin Clark is that once-in-a-generation athlete who captures the hearts and minds of people across the nation, and we have the facts to prove it,” said Doug Neumann, executive director of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. “She put Iowa in the national spotlight and showcased our state to the world. The economic impact she has driven will pay dividends for Iowa’s future and inspire young athletes for decades to come.”
“We know Caitlin Clark is a phenomenon on the court, but CSI has worked hard to quantify her star power off the court,” added Josh Schamberger, president of Think Iowa City and the Iowa City Area Sports Commission. “Her impact on Iowa’s economy has been significant in generating an estimated $82.5 million in increased community and state consumer spending,” said.
Key findings from the study include:
Soaring attendance at Iowa women’s basketball games during Ms. Clark’s career is estimated to have contributed between $14.4 and $52.3 million to Iowa’s economy. That is enough to
- Purchase between 1,418 and 5,176 acres of Iowa cropland.
- Pay tuition for between 1,306 and 4,767 students at the University of Iowa this year.
- Cover the costs of the University of Iowa’s planned hospital and clinic emergency department expansion, or the recently opened University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art.
- Buy every Iowan a ticket to the Iowa State Fair, or buy every fairgoer one to four funnel cakes.
Attendance at all Hawkeye women’s basketball games was about 2.8 times greater her senior year than before she joined the squad, growing from about 125,000 to 350,000 attendees.
For Hawkeye women’s basketball Big Ten regular season home games, out-of-state attendance grew from just over 10% of all attendees before Clark to nearly 15% of all attendees during her senior year – a nominal growth of over 38,000 out-of-state fans.
In total, over the last three seasons, the increase in attendance attributable to the “Caitlin Clark effect” generated an estimated $82.5 million in increased consumer spending, according to the report. – nearly double the state revenue collected from the 2021 Iowa State Fair.
The full report is available at commonsenseinstituteia.org/clarkonomics/
