Caitlin Clark's Impact on WNBA Viewership & Growth

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00:00We're talking about giving Kaitlyn Clark some flowers for how she helped grow the game.

00:07I was also talking about a number of games that the Indiana Fever were a part of that

00:11had 2 million plus viewers outside of the 3.3 that watched Game 5 of the Lynx versus

00:16the Liberty.

00:17So talk to us about the growth this season, Coach.

00:21The growth has been tremendous.

00:22And if you think about the growth of the WNBA, it started last year in the 2023 season off

00:27the heels of the National Championship game between Iowa and LSU.

00:32So I'm not surprised at the growth.

00:34Now the amount of growth is probably something that's tremendous.

00:37But to me, it was the fact of how well Kaitlyn Clark played, you know, from the jump, getting

00:4220 points and three assists in her first game.

00:46That team's struggling early on.

00:48But I'll tell you what, Casey.

00:49And I don't know if you were asking me this.

00:51There was one game that I remember so well.

00:54And that is, I think it was an 83-78 game.

00:56It was a Saturday afternoon game versus the Liberty where Kaitlyn Clark literally put

01:01the team on her back on national television and led them to a big win over the WNBA champion.

01:07So the play of Kaitlyn Clark has been absolutely sensational.

01:10And what's great about it, Casey, is not just the fact that she brought the viewership.

01:15She brought the game with her.

01:17You know what I'm saying?

01:18It's kind of like when you watch like the old XFL and everybody wanted to see it because

01:21they wanted to see, is this, was it going to be any good?

01:25Same thing you say about the product.

01:27Kaitlyn brought the goods.

01:28And I'll tell you this right now, she is, in my opinion, right now, a top five player

01:34in the world.

01:35I'll even say this, going into next season, she's the number three player I have in the

01:39WNBA.

01:40I have obviously Asia Wilson going first, close, Stewie too, Kaitlyn Clark three, Nafisha

01:47Collier four.

01:48Okay.

01:49I do not hate that.

01:51I was wondering when I was going to hear Collier's name, but you're right.

01:53And I actually love the fact that you mentioned that she brought the game.

01:57Now, something else that Kaitlyn Clark deserves some flowers for is the fact that she elevated

02:01the players around her.

02:02I mean, we saw, I believe Kelsey Mitchell start to step up her game and be able to match

02:07pace with Kaitlyn Clark, Kaitlyn Clark's ability to see some of these passing lanes was pretty

02:11tremendous.

02:12I mean, I started looking at some highlights over the course of the season, just kind of

02:16seeing some of the poetic ways that Kaitlyn Clark started setting up her teammates, the

02:20behind the back passes coming in close to the net, setting them up perfectly to kind

02:25of see lanes that weren't seen there beforehand, helping her team have these strong starts

02:29to put stronger teams on their heels very quickly and out the gate.

02:33So as coach mentioned, she was able to bring the game up.

02:36She was able to continuously bring up her game, specifically elevate the people around

02:41her and make the viewers not only come, but retain the viewership to be excited about

02:45what the WNBA season had to offer.

02:47Now, when we do get a chance after the break to continue talking with coach, there's another

02:52rookie that we have to talk about.

02:53It's going to be Angel Reese, somebody who was also so destructive defensively, but had

02:59an unfortunate season ending injury, which, you know, we don't know what those numbers

03:02could have looked like.

03:03But we could actually picture the trajectory that Reese was going to be on the buy in when

03:07it came to the Chicago Sky, the respect for the head coach, there was just so many things

03:12playing into the success of Angel Reese, if not for that injury.

03:16I think she deserves a lot of conversation around her name as well.

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