Holy bologna!
The WNBA debut of Caitlin Clark was the most-watched contest for the league in an incredible 23 years, according to Sports Media Watch. (RELATED: How Did Caitlin Clark Do In Her WNBA Debut? … OOF!)
Tuesday brought us a WNBA Opening Night game between Clark‘s Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun, and there was a ton of hype surrounding it because of it being the pro debut of the former Iowa guard. And that hype certainly showed in the numbers, as the contest brought in 2.13 million television viewers, with 2.12 million watching the broadcast on ESPN with another 13,000 on ESPN Deportes.
The historic numbers are the WNBA’s highest ratings in almost 23 years, with the last big-time audience of this magnitude happening back on Memorial Day. Then, NBC brought in 2.44 million viewers for the game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets. That contest also happens to be the most-viewed ever for the WNBA.
Caitlin Clark’s debut is the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years with 2.12 million viewers on ESPN2: https://t.co/pOf7UGOtuy
— Sports Media Watch (@paulsen_smw) May 15, 2024
I’m curious to see how the television ratings do if she continues to tank. If she continues to kill it, the ratings will keep up, no doubt, but how long would they stay up if she kept playing like trash?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think she will. I think she just needs to get adjusted to the WNBA game. But I’m just saying … it’s something to think about if she ends up being a bust.
If I’m the WNBA, I’m doing everything in my power to make Caitlin Clark successful. I want those ratings!
