The WNBA is having a moment, and Caitlin Clark is leading the way. The No. 1 overall pick of the Indiana Fever made her regular season debut on Tuesday night, and while the on-court results for the former Iowa Hawkeye showed that she'll have to endure a learning curve in her rookie season, the TV ratings proved that by her presence alone, Clark has already catapulted the WNBA to new heights.
ESPN announced that the game between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun set a network ratings record that had stood for almost 20 years. The game, which was broadcast on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+, drew an average of over 2.1 million viewers, with a peak of 2.3 million. This marked a huge increase of about 60 percent more viewers than the previous record-holder, a 2004 game that featured the pro debut of Diana Taurasi with the Phoenix Mercury.
Clark's performance gave glimpses of what has made her the most anticipated rookie in WNBA history, but it also showed that she'll find the sledding much tougher in the pros than she did in college. Clark led the Fever with 20 points, but she was extremely inefficient in doing so, thanks in large part to the defense of Dijonai Carrington and her Sun teammates, who held Clark to just 5-15 shooting from the floor and 10 turnovers. Clark finished the game with a plus-minus of minus-13 as the Fever lost 92-71.
It may take some time for Clark to turn the Fever into winners, but her impact on the WNBA has already been seismic
Indiana finished last in the Eastern Conference last year, which was what put them in position to draft Clark in the first place. The team's 13-27 record was the second-worst record in the entire league (and an inverse of the 27-13 record of the Sun), and even that was a drastic improvement over the previous year when the Fever went 5-31.
The Fever haven't made the playoffs since 2016, but the presence of fellow No. 1 overall pick and 2023 unanimous WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston helped Indiana more than double its win total last year, and with Clark now added to the mix, even better things should be in store for the franchise in the near future.
Even though Clark and the Fever took their lumps on opening night, the game was still a smashing success for the WNBA and validation of the surge in popularity that women's basketball has experienced recently. Viewers who tuned in to see Clark may have been disappointed with the outcome, but the fact that so many people watched the first regular season game of the year is a fantastic bellwether for how much room the league has to grow.
The Fever will play their second game tonight, and this one will be an even tougher test, as the defending Eastern Conference champion New York Liberty, led by Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, come to Indiana for the first game of a home-and-home. Clark's home debut will no doubt result in a delirious crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and viewers at home can watch on Amazon Prime to see if she and the Fever can bounce back from their opening night loss.
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