'First Take' hosts blasted by WNBA legend

It’s no secret that ratings in the WNBA this season have been at their highest when the Indiana Fever and star rookie Caitlin Clark are involved. But even after the Fever’s exit early on in the postseason, ratings have been overwhelmingly positive in comparison to previous years. That’s a fact that many sports media personalities, including ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, have failed to acknowledge.

Throughout the entirety of the postseason, which includes the Fever and Caitlin Clark, the WNBA has seen an average of 970,000 viewers over the course of 17 total games, a 142 percent increase from the last postseason .

When you look at specific games without Clark, ratings have still largely been positive. Game 3 of the semifinals between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty averaged 994,000 viewers, which marks the most viewership in a WNBA semifinal game in 22 years .

This still of course ranks behind many of the regular season games that Clark took part in that averaged over 1 million viewers. Unfortunately, some talking heads in sports media have focused on the decrease in viewership without Clark more than the significant jump that the league as a whole has taken over the past year even without Clark.

Former WNBA star Sue Bird addressed the lack of recognition the league has received this postseason after the Fever were eliminated, calling out the likes of Smith and Shannon Sharpe specifically for this.

“Viewership numbers with Caitlin Clark are astronomical,” said Bird on her podcast, A Touch More , with Megan Rapinoe. “She is a big draw, she brings in all the things. We know this, we’ve said this. And yes, the games that she’s not playing have lower viewership. But in the WNBA playoffs, we’ll use the semifinals as an example: the WNBA playoff semifinal games where Caitlin is obviously not in it because her team lost, are still breaking records from previous years. Are still cracking a million viewers.

“These numbers are still really high, and they are still really meaningful. And they still show and tell a story of the viewership that is being gained in the WNBA. And yet some people continue to flip that.

“Those people, I’ve seen Stephen A. Smith talk about it. I’ve seen Shannon Sharpe talk about it. What I don’t understand is they work for ESPN. So why are you hating on a business you are in? It’s not that they can’t be critical of certain things. They can have their opinions. But I don’t understand the framing of that.”

Both Smith and Sharpe have indeed openly spoken about the postseason ratings in a negative light after Clark’s elimination.

“Let’s just say the ratings aren’t the same with Caitlin Clark now being eliminated,” said Smith on his podcast last week . “Game 1 of the Aces-Liberty matchup on Sunday drew an average of 929,000 viewers. It’s a good number for the WNBA on an NFL Sunday. However, that was down nearly 50 percent from last Sunday’s Fever-Sun contest. Not only was viewership down, but attendance was as well.

“Do you want me to just say I told you so? Or are you willing to say Stephen A., you did tell us? Caitlin Clark is the golden goose. Not most, not all, but some people spent time resenting her for it. You wanna give love, give shine to others. Just say what you really feel.”

Sharpe also focused on the attendance drop that Smith alluded to without Clark.

“All I know is when Caitlin Clark was eliminated, the attendance dropped,” Sharpe recently said on his Nightcap show alongside Chad Johnson .

Neither Sharpe nor Smith mentioned the year-over-year increase for the league as a whole. So clearly, neither talk show host is telling the entire story about WNBA viewership, and Bird very clearly has a very fair gripe when it comes to how both are covering the sport.

[ Lyndsey D’Arcangelo on X ]

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