There’s one thing I’ve gotten wrong — or at least understated — about Caitlin Clark’s impact on the WNBA. There is also one thing that I think almost everyone has got wrong about the WNBA’s response to Caitlin Clark and her impact on the league.
The WNBA playoffs begin on Sunday – Clark’s Indiana Fever are scheduled to host the Connecticut Sun in a best-of-three series.
Historically, the league has struggled to get points or attention outside of tight ends, especially when faced with the competition of pro and college football. Last year’s finals had just 728,000 viewers on ESPN — actually up more than 30 percent but still a small number. The playoff games averaged just 470,000 viewers.
Not this time.
This is the Clark factor I didn’t see coming.
Was his arrival after a famous and famous career at the University of Iowa to bring more attention and some new fans? Really. Clark is one of the most famous athletes in America. TV ratings, media attention, jersey sales etc. would come up.
That said, interest in one level of play doesn’t always equate to interest in the next level – or the opposite level. The national women’s soccer team of the United States came out of the World Games and Olympic medals with great strength and very famous stars – Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, etc. However the impact on the National Women’s Soccer League has been very strong. , not a steady wave.
While Clark’s style of play was a crowd pleaser, he also benefited from some built-ins.
For starters, Iowa has more fans than any team in the WNBA, so he didn’t need to create a Hawkeye fan base when he arrived in Iowa City; he just needed to get a high percentage of Hawkeye fans to care about women’s basketball. Second, most of his big games were against equally – or more – popular teams…Ohio State, Indiana, Connecticut, LSU, South Carolina and so on.
Clark and Iowa became a phenomenon wherever they went. That is different from overnight interest.
Then there was the NCAA tournament series – the brackets, everything, the time set in March/April when the country gets involved in hoops. The Women’s Final Four is always ahead of the WNBA.
The 2024 national title game between Iowa and South Carolina drew an astounding 18.9 million viewers, but how many of those would follow Clark through the longest WNBA season without the drama of March Madness ? Could they watch the hum-drum game in July?
No, many of them did. The increase in WNBA ratings this year was almost incomprehensible.
ESPN reported 1.2 million viewers for its games, up from 440,000 a year ago. By comparison, the average NBA ratings last season for games on ESPN and TNT was 1.56 million. About 3.44 million watched the WNBA All-Star Game vs. 5.5 million for the NBA All-Star Game.
The Fever alone has won five games with more than two million viewers and 18 with more than one million. This wasn’t just Sunday afternoon on ABC, either.
Friday night game on Aug. 30 against Chicago drew 1.6 million viewers, the largest audience in the network’s history. Two games on NBATV recorded 600,000 viewers or more.
Clark’s followers came and never left. They followed every game. Some of them, no doubt, started watching other teams again. Yes, Clark was the headliner, but more people today know the genius of A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart than a year ago.
It suggests that while the Fever’s playoff numbers may set new records, there may be a sustained and extended boost for all postseason games that far exceeds any reasonable expectation. – mine in particular – of what Clark had to offer.
Now, to the part that seemed to worry the league and many of its fans. Clark wanted a lot of attention and sales wherever he went. With it came understandable anger from returning players and many longtime fans.
There have been endless complaints that WNBA players and coaches should acknowledge and thank Clark for what she did for the league. Yet with so many pushing back – or sometimes pushing him down – the league became even more interesting.
The best thing that happened for everyone was cold shoulders and hard mistakes, the “games” of the Olympics, and Sheryl Swoopes and the TV commentators seem to dismiss her game. As the heat grew on Clark, his fans — and all fans — had reason to tune in to see how he would respond.
Competitions are good for sports. Conflicts are sold. If Clark had been embraced and accepted and publicized, the 2024 season would have lacked the spice that made it a more interesting sequel.
Clark slowly adjusted to the physicality of the WNBA as her teammates adjusted to her style of play. He enters the playoffs as a top-five player in the league and currently averages 25 or 30 points a game, while hitting three-pointers and long-court shots. That is what drew many to him in the first place.
No, there probably won’t be a playoff game that hits 18.9 million viewers, but Caitlin Clark hasn’t broken the expected streak as a player; opposition to him and his success helped him in that regard.
Game 1 is Sunday – well against the NFL. This time, many people will still watch.
#wrong #Caitlin #Clark