Caitlin Clark is a certified box office hit.
Clark’s WNBA playoff debut drew a historic 1.8 million viewership, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.
For a better perspective, last season’s WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty averaged 728,000 viewers, the most-watched WNBA Finals in 20 years, per ESPN.
Clark, despite an underwhelming playoff debut, has surpassed that, proving once again her star power has made the Indiana Fever and WNBA must-see TV.
The downside of it is the record viewership saw the Fever rookie sensation held off by the Connecticut Sun’s defense to 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting. Clark was abysmal from behind the arc, hitting only 2-of-13.
The Sun’s game plan to zero in on Clark and get physical with her was evident early on when DiJonai Carrington poked her in the eye in the first quarter.
No foul was called.
The Sun took a 1-0 lead with a 93-69 blowout win against Clark and the Fever.
Clark did not use the incident as an excuse for her poor shooting night.
“Obviously, she got me pretty good in the eye,” Clark told reporters after the loss. “I don’t think it affected me. I got good shots, they dididn’t go down. It’s a tough time for that to happen.”
Game 2 is September 25 at the Mohegan Sun Arena, which is expected to draw bigger viewership with Clark looking to rebound and keep the Fever alive in the best-of-three playoff series.
Caitlinmania
The ratings for Clark’s WNBA playoff debut exceeded those for her regular-season games by more than 600,000 viewers.
Fox executive Michael Mulvihill reported that Clark’s games on TV during the regular season averaged 1.178 million viewers, per The New York Post. Clark’s games tripled the viewers for all other WNBA games, which drew an average of 394,000.
Clark’s arrival has transformed the once-moribund Fever franchise into the most popular team in the WNBA.
According to Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds, Fever games around the league averaged 16,084 attendance per game while non-Fever games only drew 8,552 per game, a stark 88% difference.
Reynolds dubbed the phenomenon “Caitlinmania.”
WNBA attendance this season …
Average, Fever games: 16,084.
Average, non-Fever games: 8,552.
(That’s an 88% difference. That’s Caitlinmania.)
Here’s a breakdown of what teams averaged at home in Caitlin games and non-Caitlin games:
Clarks’ season finale against the Washington Mystics on September 19 was the largest in WNBA history, drawing 20,711.
The game was played at Capital One Arena, the Wizards’ NBA home court, to accommodate the record crowd. The Mystics’ home court at Entertainment & Sports Arena has a capacity of only 4,200.
Caitlin Clark’s Historic Season
Clark, the No. 1 overall draft pick, finished the regular season with averages of 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game this season, breaking several rookie records along the way.
Clark had the most assists for a rookie, dishing out 337. She also broke the single-game record for assists with 19. She also became the first rookie to record a triple-double and hit the most 3-pointers with 122, which is the second most in any WNBA season by a player.
According to ESPN, Clark’s 337 points were also the most points by any point guard in a single WNBA season. She was also the first WNBA rookie to be named Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month in the same month and to produce 20+ points, 15+ assists and 5+ rebounds in a game.
Clark was unanimous Associated Press Rookie of the Year. She is also the favorite to win the official WNBA Rookie of the Year, which will be announced later this week, over her rival, Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese.
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Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Playoff Debut Draws Historic Viewership: Report