Caitlin Clark to Attend NFL Annual Meetings for Panel on Women's Sports, Flag Football

The NFL is bringing WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark to its annual meetings next week to "participate in a panel discussion on women's sports and the league's aspirations around flag football," according to Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports.

Clark will be joined on the panel by tennis legend Serena Williams, former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and Denver Broncos co-owner Mellody Hobson.

"Flag football is a high priority of ours," NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller told Fisher. "It's an opportunity for young women to participate in our game... and as we look forward, there definitely seems to be an appetite and interest in a professional flag league for both men and women. So it's a continuation of the growth in women's sports, and the role that the NFL can play in it."

Few figures have exploded on the sporting scene in recent years quite like Clark, last season's WNBA Rookie of the Year. She emerged as both a fan favorite and lightning rod of discourse during her college career at Iowa, helping to grow women's basketball in the process, and has remained a figure of great interest at the WNBA level with the Indiana Fever.

According to ESPN's Michelle Steele, "An economist at Indiana University Columbus interviewed by the Indianapolis Star recently calculated that Clark was responsible for $36 million in economic impact to the city of Indianapolis and almost 27 percent of the [WNBA's] economic activity for the 2024 season, including attendance, merchandise sales and television. Clark's salary is expected to be just over $78,000 for the 2025 season."

That level of impact—absurdly low salary aside—provides her with a unique perspective.

"We don't get an opportunity to talk about this enough, just the explosion of women in sports," the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, said. "This is happening across the globe, and we want to continue that conversation among our membership."