NEW YORK — People are very interested in Caitlin Clark, and now that college basketball season is finished, she's heading to the WNBA Draft.
There's no suspense about whether the Iowa guard will be the top pick, but people are still excited about her joining the WNBA.
With record-breaking TV ratings for the NCAA championship game and nearly every other game she played this season, Clark is joining the WNBA at a good time. The league's TV deal is expiring next year, and that could lead to a big new contract for the WNBA.
The WNBA just had its most-watched season in 21 years, with an average of 462,000 viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, and CBS. The league also had its most-watched Finals in 20 years featuring Las Vegas and New York. The viewership was up 36% from the previous season. Attendance for games rose 16%—the highest since 2018. Adding Clark to the mix could make that number grow even more.
“When you're given an opportunity, women’s sports just kind of thrives,” Clark said. “I think that’s been the coolest thing for me on this journey. We started our season playing in front of 55,000 people in Kinnick Stadium, and now we’re ending it playing in front of probably 15 million people or more on TV. It just continues to get better and better and better. That’s never going to stop.”
Clark has inspired many young boys and girls to watch and attend college basketball games. The WNBA hopes that interest will continue into her career in Indiana, where she is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the draft Monday night. Fans traveled across the country to see her play in college, and nearly every road game Iowa played was sold out the past two seasons. Two WNBA teams have already moved their games against Indiana to bigger arenas.
“I know her shoulders are heavy because of what she has to give to women’s basketball. I just want to say we’re thankful. We’re thankful that she chose to play basketball,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “We’re thankful for the way she’s handled all of it. Her next step is the WNBA—I do think she can be that person that elevates us.”
She will definitely bring more people to Fever games, as the team was second-to-last in home attendance, averaging just over 4,000 fans. The Fever play in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which can hold 20,000 spectators. The team has not said how many tickets they’ve sold since they won the draft lottery to get the No. 1 pick.
If Monday night’s draft is any indication, the league sold all of its approximately 1,000 tickets within 15 minutes. The cheapest available ticket on one secondary market was over $165 this week.
