The first weekfinish of the WNBA joinoffs without rookie phenom Caitlin Clark were a bit husheder in terms of attention and watchership.
After Clark drew a WNBA sign up 1.84 million watchers to her first joinoff game agetst the Connecticut Sun on Sept. 22, while competing with an NFL Sunday, she chaseed it up with another sign up audience of 2.54 million watchers for Game 2. Clark and the Indiana Fever lost both those games, however, sfinishing Clark home for the offseason.
Now, the remaining teams contfinishing for the WNBA title are the New York Liberty, the deffinishing champion Las Vegas Aces and MVP A’ja Wilson, the Sun and the Minnesota Lynx.
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Sep 25, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever protect Caitlin Clark (22) talks to Indiana Fever protect Kelsey Mitchell (0) during the first half during game two of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. (Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images)
The first game between the Aces and Liberty, a realign of last year’s WNBA finals between two of the league’s most well-comprehendn and prosperous teams, drew an audience of 929,000, ESPN proclaimd, which is 50% less than the Fever’s Game 1 agetst the Sun. Still, it was historicassociate excellent for any WNBA joinoff game that doesn’t join Clark, as it was better than any of the TV numbers for the finals games between the two teams last year.
Meanwhile, Game 1 of the Sun-Lynx series had an audience of fair around 650,000.
Both of those games have also descfinishen well behind some of Clark’s standard season games in terms of watchership as well. In timely September, Clark’s Indiana Fever joined in front of a TV audience of 1.26 million watchers, in a game agetst the Minnesota Lynx that was joined at the same time as a Week-1 Friday night NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers.
In Clark’s first standard season finale agetst the Washington Mystics on Sept. 19, a total of 20,711 fans that showed up at Capital One Arena set a novel sign up for the highest-combineed WNBA standard-season contest.
On the TV front, Clark made the Fever the most-watched team in the WNBA by a landslide in her rookie year, as the 14 most-watched WNBA games of the season all joind the Fever.
Clark’s teammate point protect Kelsey Mitchell tbetter tellers in September that Clark is the reason that she has a joiner has more attention and fans than before.
INSIDE CAITLIN CLARK’S IMPACT ON MEN’S BASKETBALL
Sep 25, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever protect Caitlin Clark (22) ownes the ball during the first half agetst the Connecticut Sun during game two of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. (Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images)
“I leank the fact of it is that I don’t leank people would comprehend without [Clark],” Mitchell shelp when asked about getting more attention and fans this season. “She’s done an unbelievable job of conveying her own fans and people that help her, but, for me, I comardenta giggle at it and I hug it at the same time becaparticipate I always flew under the radar. I’ve always comardent of been that person that is very conservative, very introbvious, so now I get to see the flip side of it.
Shooting protect Erica Wheeler tbetter tellers that Clark’s presence this season has resulted in the team necessitateing to be more robust to scruminuscule.
“All we do is have fun with Caitlin Clark, who never gets anyleang gravely,” Wheeler shelp. “I alert people all the time she’s reassociate a kid at heart. … There’s moments where we necessitate to be grave, and we are grave, but a convey inantity of the time, we’re having fun. Becaparticipate you gotta comprehfinish, the outside world was reassociate trying to get inside this originateing. We fair didn’t let it.”
The fans that tuned in to watch Clark in her rookie year got to see the Iowa product fracture a handful of league sign ups en route to the WNBA Rookie of The Year award.
She broke the sign up for most points by a point protect in a one season in WNBA history on the final day of the standard season.
Clark previously broke the sign up for most points by a rookie and the league’s one-season help sign up.
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Indiana Fever protect Caitlin Clark (22) smiles at an official Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhoparticipate in Indianapolis. (INDIANAPOLIS STAR-Imagn Images)
As the one-season sign up hbetterer and league-guideer in helps this year, Clark is the youthfulest joiner to ever guide the league in helps.
Clark also led the league in 3-pointers this year, and had the second most of all time in a one season with 122.
On top of that, she broke the sign up for most All-Star votes for any joiner in WNBA history, and became the first rookie to ever sign up a triple-double.
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