My Take On The Caitlin Clark Drama: Part 1

      I know this isn't Philly sports news, but its on every sports commentators' mouths at the moment, so I'll join as well.

    Caitlin Clark is the hottest name in sports right now. Having been related to Michael Jordan, Clark is supposed to be the savior of the league. The face of a struggling business in the WNBA, because let's be honest: the WNBA stunk. And I'm saying stunk in the past tense, not stinks but stunk. With the arrival of Clark however, I've been following the Indiana Fever and their games, especailly yesterday against the Mystics, are actually pretty fun. But before Caitlin Clark, the WNBA was the most mocked league on the planet. For example, this roast on twitter: 

            "I'm so mad. I had 2 WNBA tickets in my car and today someone broke into my car and now there are 4 WNBA tickets." 

    I mean, that's just cold. 

    Or the fact that the NBA has 21.8 million subscribers on YouTube compared to the WNBA's 317, 000. Or the impressive amount of WNBA low-light reels. (Here are just two here and here.) In fact, YouTube is chock full of these lowlights. And you might be saying: "ummm...the NBA has lowlight and blooper reels as well..." But the difference is, although the NBA has several bloopers and lowlights, they also have an insane amount of highlight reels. Alley oops, ankle breakers, vicious blocks, and logo threes compensate for any bloopers. The WNBA simply doesn't have that amount of highlights, and doesn't have that luxury the NBA does.

Photo Credit: USA TODAY

     According to Essentially Sports, there have been eight female player who have contributed to the 37 total dunks in WNBA history. According to RunRepeat, the 2018-19 NBA season featured 11, 393 dunks. The WNBA's best team, the Aces, averaged 92.8 points per game in the 2023 season. The NBA's worst points per game team, the Grizzlies, averaged 105.8 points this past season. Bottom line is, the NBA is just more a fast paced, exciting league that will draw a bigger fan base. 

    According to Statista, WNBA games draw an average of 6, 615 fans in 2023. That's a small number compared to the 10, 869 fans in 1998, when the WNBA was a new thing. According to ESPN, the NBA averaged 18, 324 attending fans in 2024. However, when Caitlin Clark is playing its different, especially for TV. When Caitlin Clark was drafted, an average of 2.45 million people watched, destroying Diana Taurasi's record of 601, 000K fan's watching her drafting. (Sporting News)

    The WNBA has seen its share of struggles, and difficulties, but now they have a chance. They've always wanted more money, and Clark can be the answer. However, they aren't treating Clark with as much respect as you would think. Jealousy and anger seem to be ruining their best chance. But I'll save that bit, for part 2. 

The above photo was taken from a USA TODAY article. Image taken by David Butler II/ USA TODAY sports. Image used for commentary.

 

 Source links: 

    https://www.sportingnews.com/us/wnba/news/caitlin-clark-tv-ratings-wnba-viewership-records/4f55c44f4a0965aa14e72fa7

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236737/wnba-average-attendance/

https://runrepeat.com/82-stats-on-dunks-in-the-nba 

https://www.essentiallysports.com/wnba-basketball-news-which-wnba-player-has-the-maximum-dunks-in-league-history/ 

https://x.com/xChexxy/status/1409218078601220098