--- title: "Caitlin Clark becomes the first athlete Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker have signed as a brand partner" url: https://badiyaa.com/caitlin-clark-dicks-foot-locker-brand-partner/ published: 2026-11-07T14:24:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-07T14:24:00+00:00 section: Sports publisher: Badiyaa --- # Caitlin Clark becomes the first athlete Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker have signed as a brand partner The multi-year exclusive deal covers both chains Dick's has owned since buying Foot Locker in 2025, and adds to a sponsor list that already runs from Nike and Gatorade to Wilson and Stanley. Caitlin Clark is now the only athlete Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker have ever signed as a brand partner. Neither chain had put an athlete in that role until Wednesday, November 4, when Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. announced a multi-year, exclusive partnership with the Indiana Fever guard covering both store brands. Pittsburgh-based Dick’s owns Foot Locker outright. It closed that acquisition on September 8, 2025, adding Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS and atmos to a group that now runs more than 3,200 stores and online businesses across 20 countries, according to the company. Clark is the first big name signed across both halves of that combined business. “Being the first ever brand partner for both them and Foot Locker is a really special full-circle moment,” Clark said in the announcement, adding that a trip to Dick’s “was always a stop before the start of any sports season when I was growing up.” ## What Clark will actually do The companies list national and global ad campaigns, custom promotion for her signature shoes, apparel and product lines, in-store and digital experiences, fan events, personal appearances and community programs. No dollar figure appears anywhere in the release, and the length of the deal is described only as multi-year. Executive chairman Ed Stack pitched Clark as a fit for the whole store, not only the basketball aisle. He pointed to her interest in golf, football, soccer, baseball and softball and said she “connects with fans across every part of our business.” Foot Locker’s chief marketing officer, Brett O’Brien, framed it around the sneaker wall. Foot Locker “has always been the home for basketball,” he said. O’Brien joined Foot Locker from PepsiCo when Dick’s installed a new North American leadership team after the takeover. ## The season she brings to the table Clark arrives fresh off her third WNBA campaign. She put up 891 points across 40 games, a new single-season league record that passed Diana Taurasi’s 860. She also set the Fever’s single-game mark with 45 points against the Seattle Storm and became the first player in league history with at least 25 points and 15 assists in one playoff game. On her résumé: a three-time All-Star, a two-time All-WNBA First Team pick and the 2024 Rookie of the Year. ## Clark’s endorsement timeline, from Iowa to the Fever The retail deal slots into one of the busiest sponsor rosters in women’s sport. Pulled together from company announcements and her public career record, the run so far looks like this: - **College years (2020-2024):** name, image and likeness deals at Iowa with Nike and Gatorade, Hy-Vee, Topps, Bose, Buick, H&R Block, Goldman Sachs and Shoot-A-Way. - **2023:** State Farm makes her the first college athlete to serve as a company spokesperson, with national TV spots. - **March 2024:** Panini signs her as the first female athlete on an exclusive trading card deal; the same month, Indianapolis financial platform Gainbridge adds her to a roster of ambassadors that includes Billie Jean King and Annika Sörenstam. - **May 2024:** Wilson gives her a signature basketball collection, the first for any athlete since Michael Jordan and the first ever for a woman. - **June 2025:** her Nike Kobe 5 Protro “Indiana Fever” player edition goes on sale on June 30 and sells out immediately. - **August 2025:** Stanley signs its first multi-year partnership with a female athlete, and on August 25 Nike names her a signature athlete and reveals her personal logo, with a signature shoe and apparel line set for 2026. - **November 2026:** Dick’s and Foot Locker sign their first-ever athlete brand partner. Read across the list and a pattern shows. Gatorade, Hy-Vee and Nike date from her college days and are still with her as a pro. The newer deals lean on firsts: first college spokesperson, first woman with a Wilson signature ball, first female partner for Stanley, and now the first athlete either retailer has signed. The Dick’s deal also dovetails with the Nike one. The retailers have committed to custom promotion for her signature footwear, and her Nike signature shoe and apparel collection were scheduled for 2026, so the shoe brand and the stores that stock it will be pushing the same product. Several of these sponsors, including Gatorade, Hy-Vee, State Farm, Wilson and Gainbridge, have also folded donations or pledges to the Caitlin Clark Foundation into their deals. The new partnership’s community programming points the same way, though the companies have not named a charity tie-in yet. Dick’s next faces investors on Tuesday, November 24, when it reports third-quarter results for fiscal 2026 before the market opens. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: Caitlin Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Clark) *Image: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*