ESPN Runs Promo Calling WNBA 'The Best League In The World,' Downplays Caitlin Clark

It's the marketing department's job at any company to promote its product or products. But they also have to try and be somewhat realistic. ESPN decided to eschew the realism completely in a new promo featuring the upcoming WNBA season.

ESPN is excited about the WNBA. They should be. There's more buzz around the league than at any time in history. That's largely due to former Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, the number one pick in the WNBA Draft. 

But in this new promo, ESPN proudly declares that the WNBA is "the best league in the world." According to what metrics? 

Notice they didn't qualify this by saying "best women's sports league" or even "best women's basketball league." They simply state that it's the "best league in the world." 

If you take into account all the various professional sports leagues in the world, the WNBA wouldn't crack the Top 25. Heck, it might not even be in the Top 50. 

Now, you could argue that it's implied. Maybe it is. But that's not what they said. I can't remember any other American pro sports league declaring itself the best league in the world. Except, maybe the NFL. However, in the NFL's case, that would be true. 

There's an argument to be made that the WNBA isn't even the best women's basketball league in the world. It depends on the criteria. Many WNBA players play in overseas leagues because the pay and benefits are much better. Those leagues actually make a profit, which the WNBA does not. 

The most-watched WNBA game IN HISTORY failed to draw 900,000 viewers. It's hard to find data on overseas television ratings, but it's certainly possible that a European women's professional basketball game had more viewers. 

ESPN, WNBA appear afraid to lean too far into promoting the league's biggest star, Caitlin Clark. 

The other thing about the promo that struck me was how little they focused on Caitlin Clark. She doesn't appear until about halfway through the commercial. The narrator mentioned "the best draft class in history" and they do interlay the audio of Clark being selected #1 overall. 

ESPN is promoting WNBA games on its network by grossly exaggerating the league and downplaying Caitlin Clark.

(Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images)

Of the two games that they are promoting, one of them is Clark's WNBA debut against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night. The promo doesn't even mention that or make it clear. How is that possible? 

It's because neither ESPN nor the WNBA want to overly promote Clark. That's absurd, since she's obviously the most popular player in WNBA history. There's no real debate to have about that. 

Look at the women's NCAA Basketball Tournament ratings when Catlin Clark played. Her Final Four matchup against UConn drew over 14 million viewers, which aired late on a Friday night. That's considered one of the worst television time slots that currently exists. 

The game before Clark, between South Carolina and N.C. State, aired before Iowa's game in a slightly better timeslot. That game drew half as many viewers as Iowa-UConn. 

They want to push Angel Reese as a potential star in her right, and she is. But here's the important question: would Angel Reese be who she is today without Caitlin Clark? 

Most people probably didn't know much about Reese until she taunted Clark after the 2023 NCAA Women's Championship. It was Clark that helped vault Reese into superstardom. 

Angel Reese should be eternally grateful to Caitlin Clark for helping to turn Reese into a celebrity.

(Kristina Bumphrey/WWD via Getty Images)

We don't know for sure if Reese would be as popular as she is right now without Clark, but an educated guess would suggest we have that answer. 

But ESPN can't go all-in Clark because it is a left-wing network. The WNBA is a far-left-wing sports league. Pushing Clark over the black players in the league makes them racist, at least in their minds – and, more importantly, in the minds of the extreme leftists on social media. 

The WNBA has a unique opportunity to actually produce a profit for the first time in its history. It's likely to get over 1 million viewers on a game for the first time ever. That's all due to Caitlin Clark and has nothing to do with the WNBA being "the best league in the world." 

Self-awareness is important, but that's clearly not something that's a strong suit of either ESPN or the WNBA.