Famed sports podcaster and writer Bill Simmons declared that WNBA megastar Caitlin Clark may be a bigger powerhouse than NBA stars.
Bill Simons said that Clark was bigger than other NBA stars in her age group on his recent show. Per Fox News:
Those names would include guys like Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards, to name a few. And those guys aren’t considered the best under 30. Those players are widely regarded as the game’s best regardless of age.
Simmons said he did not care much about women’s college basketball until Caitlin Clark came onto the scene.
“I literally did not care about women’s college basketball 10 years ago in any way, shape or form. So, I think some things have moved forward; it’s just that the quality of play is more fun to watch. She seems to be some sort of catalyst that is like before or after, and now we’re in the after,” Simmons said.
Author and ESPN columnist Chuck Klosterman said that Clark’s “stardom in a way has changed many conversations about” women’s sports.
“Part of it is, it’s real difficult now for a guy to become famous in basketball at the collegiate level. It still seems very plausible for a woman,” said Klosterman.
As Breitbart News reported in June, rookie star Caitlin Clark’s presence has made such an impression on the WNBA that its ratings and attendance were boosted to record numbers in the first month of the new season.
“Roughly 400,000 fans attended games across the WNBA during May, making the largest attendance in 26 years for the opening month of a season, and the league boasted that more than half of all WNBA games had been sellouts, which was a 156% increase from the prior year,” reported the New York Post.
Across the country, WNBA arenas reported filling up to 94% capacity, with WNBA games averaging 1.32 million viewers across the big networks ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and CBS. Just last year, the WNBA averaged 462,000 viewers.
“What’s happening now in women’s basketball is confirmation of what we’ve always known: The demand is there, and women’s sports is a valuable investment,” Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison said in a statement. “We’re encouraged by growing engagement across all our verticals, especially as we welcome new and diverse audiences into our fandom. The WNBA continues to experience sustained growth as our league embraces this heightened momentum.”
The effect of rookie star Caitlin Clark cannot be understated, given that her first three games of the season “set records for the most-watched WNBA game of all time on the respective networks,” per the NY Post.
“The May 14 season opener between the Fever and Sun averaged 2.12 million viewers for ESPN 2; on May 18, ABC averaged 1.71 million viewers when the Fever took on the Liberty, and on May 20, 1.56 million viewers watched the Sun and Fever go at it again on ESPN,” it noted.
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