There’s no question that Caitlin Clark impacted the WNBA this year on the court. However, now that she’s off the court, her impact is still being felt.
WNBA ratings have crashed since the Connecticut Sun eliminated Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever from playoff contention over a week ago. Game 2 of that series, which ultimately led to Indiana’s ouster, became the most-watched WNBA game in cable history.
Now, with Clark out of the picture, we can see the disastrous impact her absence has had on WNBA viewership.
Game 1 of the series between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty, a rematch of the 2023 Finals, included the defending champion Aces and a team from the largest media market in the country (New York), only drew 929,000 viewers, not even half of what Clark’s final game earned.
Even Clark’s first playoff game drew 1.84 million viewers, nearly doubling the number of viewers for the Aces and Liberty.
Viewership for Game 2 between the Fever and Sun peaked at 3.4 million.
“The Fever-Mystics regular-season game on Sept. 19 at Capital One Arena set a WNBA single-game attendance record of 20,711,” the New York Post reports.
All three WNBA games that exceeded 20,000 fans involved Caitlin Clark.
Clark arguably had the most significant impact on WNBA ratings and attendance that any player has ever had on any league in history.
Yet, that did not stop media types from trying to spread credit for the surge in league popularity to Los Angeles’ Cameron Brink and the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese. However, facts being the stubborn things they are, those explanations failed as Brink only played briefly before becoming injured. Reese never played in a game that set any ratings record unless she played against Caitlin Clark.
Fever fans have made it clear they want the team to surround Clark with better talent to enable a deeper postseason run. After looking at the ratings without Clark, the WNBA is likely rooting for the same thing.