Sports broadcaster Charly Arnolt and former NFL player Chris Manno took a stand in support of sports commentator Clay Travis and his controversial bet on a high-level high school boys basketball team beating the WNBA-champion Las Vegas Aces.

Travis’ $1 million wager, aimed at underscoring the biological differences between men and women, ignited a firestorm of debate across the sports community on social media.

The Las Vegas Aces, recently crowned WNBA champions for the second consecutive time, find themselves at the center of this challenge, with Travis asserting that a “good state championship-level” boys team could dominate the esteemed women’s team. This bold claim, originally made in February, resurfaced in October and sparked a whirlwind of reactions online.

Among those who clapped back was Aces guard Chelsea Gray, a three-time champion herself, who tweeted at Clay Travis Oct. 25, calling him a “dumbass” in response to his claim. Travis doubled down on his assertion in response to Chelsea Gray, placing a $1 million bet on the line. He challenged the Aces to a face-off against a 2024 high school boys’ state champion team of his choosing.

Arnolt, in her discussion with Manno, was quick to clarify the intentions behind Travis’ wager.

“Obviously there are a lot of people out there who are just assuming that Clay is being sexist, that he is trying to punk the WNBA,” Arnolt said Nov. 1 on “Outkick in the Morning.”

She emphasized the biological disparities between men and women, pointing out that the physical makeup, size, and skills of high school boys would make the level of competition vastly different when pitted against the professional women of the WNBA.

“We even look at boys high school basketball team, and the makeup of their players, what they’re able to do, their size, their skills,” Arnolt said. “And you look at the WNBA players who are oftentimes much older, they’re professional basketball players but still, the level of competition would not at all be on the same playing field.”

Manno suggested that the WNBA’s silence on the matter was indicative of their acknowledgment of these biological differences.

“I think a lot of times silence speaks louder than words,” Manno said. “The Las Vegas Aces haven’t said anything in response. I’ve spent some time training at IMG Academy, I work with athletes at a school called Lou High…we have guards who are 6’4”, 6’5”, 6’6”, where on the Aces, the tallest players are 6’3’, 6’4”. And those are the bigs. I don’t know how in any way this is a sexist thing to say.”

Swimmer Riley Gaines, also a guest on the show, echoed the sentiments expressed by Arnolt and Manno.

“It’s not sexist to say men and women are different,” Gaines said. “You don’t have to really learn this in school, you know when you’re young, it’s inherent to know that men and women are different.”