Over the past couple of years, Caitlin Clark has emerged as one of the biggest sports stars on the planet and the face of women’s basketball, leading to a surge in popularity for the sport. And the numbers certainly prove the impact she has made on the WNBA since she was selected with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft back in May.
As Front Office Sports points, out, there have been 16 WNBA games so far this season to eclipse one million viewers compared to zero last season. And of those 16 games, 14 of them featured Caitlin Clark.
“The league’s growth is driven by the arrival of the 2024 rookie class that features Caitlin Clark (above) and Angel Reese. The WNBA has 16 games with at least one million viewers this season—including the All-Star Game—14 of them featuring Clark, and the top two most-watched games between the Indiana Fever and Reese’s Chicago Sky. Not a single game breached the one-million-viewer mark last year, including the Finals,” Front Office Sports reported this week.
Obviously, this is some pretty insane news that highlights just how much of an impact she has had on the popularity of the WNBA, and it led to a lot of reactions on social media.
Shut up. No-one is popular than CC. Not even near of her. #WNBA https://t.co/03cHqeNLRi
— Lucy (@jasminafricafan) August 15, 2024
Yet she was still not in the Olympics women's basketball team, which remained as the biggest mistake in Cheryl Reeve's career. https://t.co/t21LUnSFbf
— John Christian ❤️💚💙 (@ambionESC) August 15, 2024
Das my GOAT man https://t.co/wYFTGQ4lNn
— ²² (@ClarkF0r3) August 15, 2024
And the two non-Fever games were lead-in games to Fever games on the same channel.
— Rich F (@RichFGeorgia) August 15, 2024
All but two are @IndianaFever games. Common denominator is ‘Caitlin Clark!’ #FeverRising #WNBA
— WBB and some other topics (@WBB_GLORIOUS) August 15, 2024
Maybe, she is the real deal for the WNBA
— PWazoo (@PhilWierzbinsk1) August 15, 2024
We’ll have to see how she continues to grow the game.