Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark made a huge impact in her rookie season in the WNBA.
The Iowa native brought the league to new heights in terms of viewership. In the 2024 season, 32 WNBA games reached over one million viewers, a milestone that hadn’t been achieved since 2008 before Clark joined the league.
Clark’s efforts in elevating the profile of the WNBA have not gone unnoticed. During a recent New York Knicks-Indiana Pacers game that she attended, Knicks announcer Mike Breen compared her impact on the league to that of Michael Jordan on the NBA.
Mike Breen praised Caitlin’s impact on women’s basketball during the Knicks vs Pacers broadcast. We need him to call a Fever game!
“She’s doing for the WNBA what Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Steph Curry have done for the NBA.”
BANG pic.twitter.com/Zdu46IfS5B
— correlation (@nosyone4) November 11, 2024
“During the summer when the Indiana Fever played with Caitlin Clark, the arena was packed for every game. The TV ratings for the Fever games this past summer were higher than many Pacers games because of Caitlin Clark,” Breen stated. “She’s doing for the WNBA what Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Steph Curry have done for the NBA.”
As WNBA viewership soared last season, NBA viewership has experienced a decline. ESPN’s NBA coverage is down 27% year-over-year and TNT is down 16% so far this season, as reported by John Ourand of Puck.
Last season, Indiana Fever games averaged 1.59 million viewers across all networks (excluding NBA TV), according to Sports Media Watch. In comparison, ESPN’s NBA telecasts were averaging just 1.21 million viewers per game in the first two weeks of the NBA regular season.
The impact that Clark has had on the league is undeniable, making comparisons like Breen’s valid. While it may be a long way before Clark can be compared to legends like Jordan, Taurasi, or Bird, she has brought excitement to the WNBA similar to what Jordan, James, and Curry have brought to the NBA.
In the future, we may look back on Clark as the “Michael Jordan of the WNBA,” a notion that doesn’t seem far-fetched.
[Sources: Sports Illustrated, Puck, Sports Media Watch]
