The Caitlin Clark effect is real.
The proof is in the NCAA Tournament’s record-setting ratings for the women’s game and in the WNBA’s scheduling.
The league announced that the Indiana Fever, who hold the No. 1 overall pick in next Monday’s WNBA Draft, will have 36 of its 40 games featured by the WNBA’s national broadcast and streaming partners.
Though the Fever haven’t officially selected Clark, she’s widely expected to be the top pick next week. This comes as no surprise, considering a final collegiate season filled with glass-shattering achievements, including becoming the NCAA Division 1’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Pete Maravich’s record that stood for an incredible 54 years.
The WNBA is capitalizing on the momentum Clark generated with her record-breaking college career at Iowa. This excitement is only amplified by her teaming up in Indiana with last year’s number one pick, Aliyah Boston, the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year, who played her college ball at South Carolina.
The first games of the Fever’s regular season will appear on major networks like ABC, ESPN, or Prime Video. Throughout the season, Indiana’s games will be broadcast across a variety of channels, including ABC (2 games), ESPN (5 games), ESPN 2 (1 game), CBS (2 games), CBS Sports Network (1 game), ION (8 games), Prime Video (4 games) and NBA TV (13 games).
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.