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Athlon Sports
Latest Numbers Show Just How Valuable Caitlin Clark Is To WNBA's Bottom Line
By Michael Gallagher,
2024-07-27
In the 27-year history of the WNBA, the league has never seen a player like Caitlin Clark.
The Indiana Fever rookie phenom is helping set ratings, attendance and merchandise records, and her rising star is exactly what the WNBA needed.
“I'm not going to deny the Caitlin Clark effect,” WNBA chief growth officer Colie Edison told the IndyStar . “And we've really seen it most importantly in viewership, you know, our average viewership numbers are over 1.2 million.
“That sort of growth is important because we're opening the aperture and bringing in new fans. So Caitlin was really a catalyst to bringing in a lot of new fans, as well as our other rookies, who came in through NCAA into this draft. It's been an amazing draft class to watch.”
Team WNBA guard Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles against U.S. Women's National Team during the WNBA All Star Game at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 20, 2024.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Clark is must-see TV.
Her Fever have been involved in the 12 most-watched games in the WNBA this year. She participated in the WNBA All-Star game, which drew a record 3.4 million viewers and peaked at 4.1 million viewers. Those numbers topped the 2023 All-Star game by 300%.
The Fever also lead the league in attendance this season with an average of 16,898 fans per game, which is nearly 4,200 more fans per contest than the New York Liberty, the No. 2 team in the category. The Fever have even had to move games to larger venues to accommodate the high demand for tickets to see Clark play.
In fact, Clark’s popularity has drawn such huge numbers for the WNBA that the league is getting $2.2 billion over the course of its 11-year broadcast deal ($200 million per year) with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon that starts with the 2026 season.
The league could make an extra $60 million per year in a separate broadcast deal that includes CBS, Ion and other networks.
“(Television) partners are recognizing the value of what this audience brings to their platforms,” WNBA Chief Marketing Officer Phil Cook told the IndyStar. “We are a distinctive audience. This isn't just the same fans that are watching all sports. We have this distinctive audience, our athletes deliver distinctive products.”
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