Caitlin Clark’s regular season debut was the most watched WNBA game on ESPN ever!
Caitlin Clark’s first regular season game in the WNBA was a winner for the league.
Caitlin Clark‘s debut for the Indiana Fever drew 2.1 million viewers across all platforms on Tuesday night, making it the most-watched WNBA game on ESPN.
Viewership peaked at 2.3 million viewers for the game between the Fever and Connecticut Sun. The Sun prevailed 92-71.
The game was the most-watched WNBA game since the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets averaged 2.45 million viewers on NBC for a 2001 Memorial Day contest.
The previous most-watched WNBA game on ESPN networks was for the 2004 WNBA debut of Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi, which drew an average of 1.43 million viewers.
This regular season opener broke the record by a large margin.
The disappointing part is how the refs nearly ended the game and the WNBA in the first quarter. Clark who seldom was called for fouls in her NCAA record-breaking days, was called for two fouls in the first five minutes. This caused Clark to be timid the rest of the game and took her out of the game when she was in there forcing her to be very cautious in her play.
Neither of the first fouls called on Clark were fouls and she was called for two more questionable fouls later in the game. Despite this, Clark ended up leading scorer in the game with 20 points (well below her NCAA average of 32 points a game).
The refs were horrible as many people noted and the coach’s response was to do nothing.
5 takeaways from Caitlin Clark’s debut
1. Christie Sides needs to be fired
2. Caitlin Clark needs to have the green light to shoot whatever shots she wants
3. Aliyah Boston needs to step her game up
4. Refs called too many bad fouls on CC
5. Bluder could be the next coach pic.twitter.com/rT52VBiuqj— World Exposure Report Women’s Basketball (@WorldExposureWB) May 15, 2024