There's no question that Caitlin Clark has made an impact on the WNBA this year on the court. But even off the court, her influence is still being felt.
WNBA ratings have plummeted since the Connecticut Sun eliminated Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever from playoff contention more than a week ago. Game 2 of that series, which ultimately led to Indiana's loss, became the most-watched WNBA game in cable history.
Now that Clark is out of the picture, we can see that her absence is having a dire impact on WNBA ratings.
Game 1 of the series between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty, a rematch of the 2023 Finals, featured the defending champion Aces and a team from the country's largest media market (New York), with an audience of 920,000. The number of spectators remained at 929,000, although the attendance remained at 9,000. Even half of what Clark won in his last game.
Even Clark's first playoff game drew 1.84 million viewers, nearly double the viewership of the Aces and Liberty.
The number of viewers for the second game between the Fever and the Sun reached 3.4 million.
“The regular season game between the Fever and Mystics on September 19th at Capital One Arena set a WNBA single-game attendance record of 20,711.” new york post report.
Caitlin Clark was involved in all three WNBA games with over 20,000 fans.
Clark arguably had the most impact on the WNBA's ratings and attendance of any player in the league in its history.
That didn't stop the media from trying to credit Los Angeles' Cameron Brink and Chicago Sky's Angel Reese with the credit for the league's meteoric rise. However, those explanations failed because the facts are stubborn and Brink only played briefly before being injured. Reese had never been in a match that set ratings records, unless she faced Caitlin Clark.
Enthusiastic fans have made it clear that they want the team to surround Clark with better talent to help them make more of an impact in the postseason. Looking at the ratings without Clark, the WNBA is probably rooting for the same thing.
