WNBA icon Sue Bird has significantly contributed to the growth of women’s basketball.
Although Bird has retired, she continues to support the sport through her “A Touch More” podcast with Megan Rapinoe. In an episode on October 9, Bird criticized specific ESPN hosts (Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe) for disparaging the WNBA due to declining playoff viewership after Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were eliminated.
“Viewership numbers with Caitlin Clark are extraordinary. She is a major attraction,” Bird stated in the podcast.
“While the games without her may have lower viewership, the WNBA playoffs, particularly the Semifinals, continue to break records and attract over a million viewers,” she added.
During the WNBA Semifinals series, the most-watched game between the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun in Game 5 drew 984,000 viewers, according to Vanshay Murdock. Each game of the New York Liberty vs. Las Vegas Aces Semifinals series had over 900,000 viewers.
🚨WNBA PLAYOFF RATINGS 🚨
Liberty-Aces series: 🏀 Game 1 on ABC: 929K 🏀 Game 2 on ESPN2: 969k🏀 Game 3 on ESPN2: 994K (!!) 🏀 Game 4 ratings likely released tmr
Lynx – Sun series: 🏀 Game 1 on ESPN: 654K🏀 Game 2 on ESPN2: 668K 🏀 Game 3 on ESPN2: 885K (!!) 🏀… https://t.co/UlPkhw8gQ3
Bird further expressed, “These numbers are still impressive and significant, even without Caitlin… I’ve seen Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe discuss it, despite working for ESPN.”
“Why criticize something that ESPN is involved in?” she questioned. “The semifinal games have seen a 130% increase in viewership, even without Caitlin.”
Countless people (and even media sites!) have been framing the WNBA semifinals viewership numbers in a negative light, even when those numbers are up/setting records in a big way over last year and previous years.
I don’t get it.
Neither does Sue Bird: pic.twitter.com/pncisCCq9g
Bird makes a valid point, and it is expected that if the WNBA Finals surpass previous viewership records, her argument will be further supported.
