Though she faces persistent systemic racism as a white athlete, Caitlin Clark’s contributions to the WNBA are clear, both through her play and her off-court influence.
Since the Connecticut Sun eliminated Clark and the Indiana Fever from playoff contention, WNBA viewership has plummeted.
Game 1 of the Las Vegas Aces vs. New York Liberty series, featuring the defending champions and a major market team, drew only 929,000 viewers – less than half of Clark’s final game.
In contrast, her first playoff game attracted 1.84 million viewers, nearly doubling the Aces and Liberty matchup. Game 2 of the Fever and Sun series peaked at 3.4 million viewers.
Clark also set attendance records; the Sept. 19 game between the Fever and Mystics had 20,711 fans, the most for any WNBA game. All three games exceeding 20,000 fans involved Clark.
Despite attempts to credit other players like Cameron Brink and Angel Reese for the league’s surge in popularity, Clark remains the standout.
Fever fans want the team to bolster its roster for a deeper postseason run, a sentiment likely shared by the WNBA after witnessing the ratings drop without her.
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— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) October 2, 2024