Ratings Say Caitlin Clark Is Single-Handedly Carrying The WNBA

Through Sunday, WNBA games featuring Caitlin Clark have averaged 1.099 million viewers. Games that do not feature Clark have averaged just 414,000. 

By comparison, the WNBA drew an average of 301,000 viewers per game last season. 

There are two takeaways from those data points: 1) interest in the WNBA is up, year-over-year. 2) the interest in Clark far outpaces the rest of the league. 

"So Clark by herself is nearly tripling rest of WNBA," Clay Travis noted in an X post.

Sooooooo … why does that matter? Because WNBA players and commentators continue to deny Clark is the reason for the recent surge in interest. 

Here's Angel Reese from earlier in the week:

"People are pulling to games. We got celebrities coming to games. Sold out arenas. Like just because of one single game [the 2023 college national title game]. And, just looking at that, I'll take that role. I'll take the bad guy role and I'll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates. 

"And, if I want to be that...I know I'll go down in history. I'll look back in 20 years and be like, 'Yeah, the reason why we watching women's basketball is not just because of one person. It's because of me too.' And I want you all to realize that, like, it's not just because of one person. A lot of us have done so much for this game."

Chennedy Carter, the player who slammed into Clark last Saturday, asked what Clark has done for the WNBA besides "shoot 3s." 

WNBA on ESPN commentators Chiney Ogwumike, Monica McNutt and Elle Duncan have spent the past two weeks discrediting Clark's impact on the league.

They've made fools of themselves – all of them. 

In addition to the ratings, look at the ticket sales:

The argument that Caitlin Clark is not single-handedly driving the growth of the WNBA is so outrageous that it caused even Dan Patrick, the most benign sports radio host of this generation, to weigh in on the culture war on Wednesday:

"But her attention, her notoriety is based off Caitlin Clark because she wins the national title, the first thing she does is mock Caitlin Clark," Patrick said. "And then, she doesn’t even celebrate with her teammates. So, she’s made it personal with Caitlin Clark. Then, she’s played off of that.

"WNBA has been around a couple of decades and people didn’t notice the game – they’re noticing it now. Well, that’s because of Caitlin Clark, not Angel Reese."

DP, meet the wrath of Black Twitter… 

Hopefully, he doesn't cave. What he said is accurate.

This is Caitlin Clark's movie. The other women are part of the supporting cast (even if they are better at professional basketball, at this stage, than Clark).

And that's okay.

The WNBA is a niche sport. Niche sports grow when once-in-a-generation-type stars emerge. 

Clark's popularity is disproportionate to the rest of women's basketball. That's not unusual. See how popular Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Ronda Rousey, Serena Williams, and Hulk Hogan were compared to their contemporaries.  

In each of those cases, the superstars grew the sport in which they played – lifting all of those around them. 

The more viewers watch Clark, the more they will learn about the players and teams she competes against. Clark is that transcendent of a star. Other than Travis Kelce, name an athlete garnering more interest right now than Clark. 

You probably can't.

Clark has completely overshadowed the NBA Finals. Did you know the Finals start on Thursday? 

At this point, there are two chief threats to the growth of the WNBA: A) someone injuring Clark;  B) the other women unmasking themselves as so unlikable that viewers reject them.  

Unfortunately, at this rate, both of those outcomes seem likely. 

The WNBA has a chance to finally establish itself as a major sports league in the United States. But, to do so, the players and media have to accept that a straight little white girl from Iowa is their catalyst. 

Evidently, they are not ready to do that.