If you follow me on social media, then you probably know that, like most sports enthusiasts, I’m a big fan of Caitlin Clark. Thanks to her record-breaking season at Iowa, the now number one draft pick is making a name in the WNBA and she hasn’t even played her first official game of the season yet.
Caitlin’s first game is tonight, when the Indiana Fever travel to take on the Connecticut Sun at the Mohegan Sun Arena. However, “unlike in college where big programs such as Iowa Hawkeyes typically used charter flights, travel in the WNBA is still mainly via commercial air for financial reasons.” That was from an ESPN story two weeks ago, which also reported “the growing visibility of the league has made security, including going through airports, a bigger concern.”
Two weeks ago when Caitlin and her Fever teammates traveled to Dallas for an exhibition game, they flew coach. She had this to say, per ESPN: “You travel with security, which is nice. It’s just different from college where you put your bag on the plane, hop on the plane and then you’re off. But like [here] you’re waiting at baggage claim, you’ve got to go through the normal security with everybody else. For me, it was my first time doing it. It wasn’t terrible. I just went about my business and kept my head down.”
Well, thanks to Caitlin’s immediate impact where courtside seats for tonight’s game are going for a record $5,000, her team and other WNBA teams won’t have to fly commercial for away games. The league approved “the use of charter planes for travel to and from all away games, league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.”
Well, we just got a look at the Delta Air Lines charter planes that the league is using. Yesterday, Caitlin’s veteran teammate Erica Wheeler shared a video (embedded below) on her Instagram Stories, where she’s going down the aisle of the team charter. It’s obviously a much different experience than flying commercial in many different ways and from the video, it looks like the team appreciated it. The most subdued was probably Caitlin but I would be high-fiving everyone if I got to fly on this bad boy.
Post by @playerstvView on Threads
On YouTube, the Indiana Fever shared what it was like boarding and deplaning, which you can see in the embedded video below.
Here are some of the notable comments:
@cynthiatait7708: “Thank you for changing the look of women’s basketball!! It will be the first game I have ever watched besides Iowa. Thank you Caitlin Clark, you have made us all excited!!!”
@mastercarpenter1970: “Caitlin Clark strikes again! She’s bringing the money to the game.”
warrensloan: “Everyone in the WNBA better thank Caitlin Clark for them charter flights you wouldn’t be on them if not for her.”
my.cough: “The one flight costs more than half the teams entire yearly salary.”
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