Lakhasly

A slam dunk for women's sports: Caitlin Clark could be a game-changer for the WNBA.It's official.Though their individual statistics were exceptional, their teams needed otherworldly performances to overcome the headwinds that UConn (for the men) and South Carolina (for the women) posed.It reached its peak during the Final Four, when an average of 14.2 million viewers watched Iowa defeat UConn to reach their second consecutive National Championship game.It was even higher in the National Championship game, when an average of 18.7 million viewers tuned in to watch South Carolina defeat Iowa, denying Clark a national championship.To put these numbers into perspective, UConn versus Purdue in the men's National Championship game drew an average of 14.8 million viewers, nearly 4 million fewer than the women's final game.This was 1.9 million more viewers than Iowa's win over LSU in the Elite Eight.Caitlin Clark will now call the Indiana Fever her WNBA professional basketball home.The big question now is, will her unprecedented effect on women's college basketball be replicated in the WNBA?By comparison, both games featured the National Players of Year (Clark and Zach Edey), and both saw them lose to better teams.

A slam dunk for women’s sports: Caitlin Clark could be a game-changer for the WNBA.It’s official. Caitlin Clark will now call the Indiana Fever her WNBA professional basketball home. The big question now is, will her unprecedented effect on women’s college basketball be replicated in the WNBA?

Thanks to her, women’s college basketball saw an extraordinary surge in viewership during the 2023-2024 season. It reached its peak during the Final Four, when an average of 14.2 million viewers watched Iowa defeat UConn to reach their second consecutive National Championship game. This was 1.9 million more viewers than Iowa’s win over LSU in the Elite Eight. It was even higher in the National Championship game, when an average of 18.7 million viewers tuned in to watch South Carolina defeat Iowa, denying Clark a national championship. To put these numbers into perspective, UConn versus Purdue in the men’s National Championship game drew an average of 14.8 million viewers, nearly 4 million fewer than the women’s final game.

By comparison, both games featured the National Players of Year (Clark and Zach Edey), and both saw them lose to better teams. Though their individual statistics were exceptional, their teams needed otherworldly performances to overcome the headwinds that UConn (for the men) and South Carolina (for the women) posed.

Many would like to believe that women’s college basketball has arrived, earning its spot alongside the men’s game. Unfortunately, such a belief is likely to not be true. What elevated women’s college basketball this past season was Caitlin Clark. Her crisp passes into the paint and unprecedented three-point shooting range made her a spectacle to watch. She attracted a level of interest that compensated for the more measured speed of the women’s game compared to the men’s game and playing “below the rim” rather than “above the rim” (which the men’s game offers).

With Clark’s departure to the WNBA to join the Indiana Fever as their No.1 pick, the women’s college game is faced with the same headwinds it has traditionally had when competing with the men’s game for viewership.

There have been an abundance of star women’s college players over the years, 15 of which have scored over 3,000 points during their college careers. Yet scoring alone is insufficient to move an entire sport. Clark was a generational player and person, both on and off the court