“Cam Newton will be irrelevant in 20 years” “Caitlin Clark viewership is what’s truly up”: Fans react to former NFL star’s ‘god awful’ WNBA take
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink have become popular names over the past couple of years. However, that wasn’t always the case for WNBA rookies.
Even the biggest names in the league had to play overseas to make ends meet when the WNBA was in its offseason.
Given the recent uptick in interest in the league, and considering how MLB coverage isn’t as mainstream on social media anymore, former NFL MVP Cam Newton shared a rather bold take.
On Friday’s episode of his “4th and 1” podcast, the retired quarterback predicted that the WNBA would overtake MLB in 20 years.
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“Baseball is like a — I hate to say — a dying sport,” Newton said. “I think baseball will be surpassed by WNBA in 20 years. Baseball isn’t being played by Americans anymore. It’s like, who’s really paying attention to baseball? Especially paying attention to baseball in the regular season.”
It didn’t take long before that clip went viral and fans voiced out their opinions in the comments section.
“WNBA viewership is up a little, Kaitlyn Clark viewership is what’s truly up. That won’t sustain,” a fan tweeted.
“God awful take,” one fan tweeted.
“Cam Newton is retarded like his hat,” a fan said.
“Cam… no, the sport that’s currently dying is the NBA,” another fan said.
Here are more fan reactions on X.
“WNBA ain’t passing nothing. It’s not even generating revenue. He can’t name 10 wnba players names,” a fan commented.
“Crazy the WNBA is gonna be giving out $700M-800M contracts soon,” a fan said.
“Ah yes. The sport which paid a player $800 million is going to be surpassed by a sport that pays Caitlin Clark $80K,” another fan wrote.
“This guy turning into the new Stephen A Smith,” one fan wrote.
The WNBA is growing, but it has a long way to go
One cannot deny that the WNBA is on the right path. It’s making the most of the new interest of fans and the influx of money, even though it still has a long way to go.
“We need the ecosystem, essentially, the sports ecosystem to step up,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said on May 13. “And I feel really good that that’s going to happen with our next media rights negotiation, as well as our corporate partners. Our phones are ringing off the hook.”
The first step will be that the players won’t need to go overseas to round up their salaries after a full WNBA season. From that to signing $700+ million contracts like Juan Soto, it’ll be a long path, but they’re finally heading up.
