Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever Have Produced 14 Million-Viewer Telecasts For WNBA
As if we needed any more proof that Caitlin Clark is the driving force behind the surge in popularity of the WNBA, we got some just prior to the league's All-Star Weekend.
According to Sports Media Watch, the Indiana Fever-Dallas Wings matchup on Wednesday averaged 1.7 million viewers on ESPN.
In the game, Clark broke the WNBA record for assists in a single game with 19. She also added 24 points, for good measure. Unfortunately for her and the Fever, the Wings won the game, 101-93.
She also became the first player in league history to have 21+ points and 16+ assists in the same game.
The 11-15 Indiana Fever have had 14 games this season reach the million-viewer mark. Prior to this season, the last time the WNBA had a game reach at least one million television viewers was in 2008.
Of the 16 WNBA games this season that have had 1 million or more television viewers, 14 have included Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
(Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports)
In fact, there have been 16 games this season to reach that mark. Obviously, the Fever accounted for nearly 90% of those contests.
Well, what about the other two?
One of them – Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces on May 18 – aired right after an Indiana Fever game on ABC. Clearly, that game benefited from the Clark bump.
The other game – Connecticut Sun vs. Phoenix Mercury on Sunday – just barely crested the seven-figure mark (1.02 million viewers).
Oh, and Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever started their game less than an hour after the conclusion of that game.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are driving millions of viewers to the WNBA.
Despite all the hype around Angel Reese, the only Chicago Sky games to get over one million viewers have been their matches against the Indiana Fever.
Granted, the Fever receives more national television coverage than other teams. But that's because networks understand who's going to draw the eyeballs to the TV screen.
The bad news for the league is that, because of the Olympic break, there are no WNBA games – apart from the All-Star Game on Saturday – until mid-August.
The big question is how the league is going to fare once football season starts. The WNBA regular season ends on Sept. 19 and the playoffs will go well into October.
That's going to be a real test for the league.
But it certainly seems possible that Caitlin Clark is up to the task, as she has been with everything else thrown at her since being drafted #1 by the Indiana Fever in April.