No Caitlin Clarkno rating history.
Two-quarters of TV viewers in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship finals dropped sharply. There was no Clark in the game, UConn had broadcasts against UCLA and South Carolina to Texas on average to only ESPN’s 3.9 million viewers. According to a record 10.8 million viewers in 2024, it marks 64%. Front desk sports.
Still, even without Clark, this year’s semifinals are the second largest viewing in history, even with Clark’s improvements over the 2023 edition.
Click here for more sports reports on FoxNews.com
University of Iowa Hawkeye guard Caitlin Clark cheered with his teammates at the Top 10 Women’s Basketball Championship at the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers in Nebraska at the Top 10 Women’s Basketball Championships in Minneapolis on March 10, 2024 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. (Angelina Katsanis/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
But Clark’s popularity as a college player helped the sport peak this historic awareness last year that the women’s championship game between Iowa and Dawn Staley’s South Carolina was better than the first time ever men’s championship game.
With Clark in the WNBA, the Pro League benefited from the 2024 popularity.
Clark Her rookie yearas the most popular WNBA game this season, all games include fever. Most importantly, she broke the record for most All-Star votes for any player in WNBA history.
The impact of Caitlin Clark on men’s basketball
Indiana fever guard Caitlin Clark plays against Indianapolis’ Dallas Wings on September 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
In early September, Clark’s Indiana Fever played 1.26 million viewers in front of a TV audience during a game against the Minnesota Lynx, which was simultaneously broadcasting with an NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers.
On September 19, Clark’s first regular season final against the Washington Mystics set a new record for the highest WNBA regular season competition.
Clark drew WNBA records While competing with the NFL Sunday on September 22, she competed for 1.84 million spectators in her first playoff game against the Connecticut Suns. She followed an additional 2.54 million record audience to the competition.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Caitlin Clark, a fever in Indiana, spoke to the media at an introductory press conference at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on April 17, 2024. (Ron Hoskins/nbae by Getty Image)
However, after Clark’s fever season ended, the WNBA playoffs also saw a steep decline in the audience.
The first game between ACES and Liberty was last year’s WNBA finals between the two league’s most popular and successful teams, attracting a 929,000 spectators, 50% lower than the first game against Sun’s Fever.
Follow Fox News Numbers Motion Report on Xand subscribe Fox News Sports Grocery Newsletter.
