Early Monday morning, Catrina Allen took to social media to do one of my favorite things: Announce an announcement – she’ll (finally) reveal her new title sponsor on Wednesday.
Here’s the news as it broke on Instagram:
This article’s not going to be about Allen’s new sponsorship. Nope. Instead, it’ll be about something I’ve noticed en route to Wednesday’s announcement. Something I’m completely serious about, no matter how “clickbait” the headline might come across to new readers:
Catrina Allen is one of the most hyped female free agents in American sports history.
I’d ask for your patience with me on this thing. I’m far from an expert on women’s sports. I didn’t enroll in any women’s studies courses back in college. And admittedly, outside of disc golf and the Summer Olympics every four years, I don’t closely follow many female athletes, either.
Here’s the thing, though: I’m not an anomaly.
Male or female, most NBA fans stick with just that – the NBA. The WNBA is an afterthought. The same thing goes for the MLB and its professional, all-female counterpart: softball. UFC, soccer, volleyball and track and field are key contenders, but still – there’s just not much there.
Gnaw on this for a hot second, and you’ll see what I mean …
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Carli Lloyd is a household phenom in the (literal) world of women’s soccer. In 2021, she was the highest-paid female footballer, raking in over $518,000 annually. She retired a member of Gotham FC. She played for 10 different clubs before that …
That’s right: On the female front, the world’s biggest star in the world’s most popular sport was pulling the most money the world had ever seen. She was a free agent ten times throughout the course of an illustrious 22-year soccer career and you had no earthly idea until I just told you.
Thankfully, this isn’t the case as much in disc golf. The MPO division is bigger. It’s more popular. The payouts are more lucrative, as well. But unlike with the aforementioned sports, die-hard Discraft fanboys are very likely to follow Paige Pierce just as closely as Paul McBeth.
Clearly, the same can be said for Catrina.
With a team, she was adored by men and women alike. For nine years, in fact. And without one, an entire community sets up Google Alerts on their phones to find out what she’ll throw this season. Genuine interest is there. A two-time World Champion, the money will be there, too.
So was this article’s headline a reach?
Maybe, but not by much. Not by much at all.
Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.
