Caitlin Clark’s return to the WNBA this past weekend was a welcome sight to the Indiana Fever faithful, as well as to those who want to see the league continue to grow.
While there has been much gnashing of teeth over Clark’s impact on the league and its success, there’s no denying that she’s a driving force when it comes to TV ratings.
Recent reports indicate that the nationally televised viewership of Fever games decreased by 53%, and overall nationally televised WNBA ratings dropped by 55% since Clark suffered a quadriceps injury last month. That, of course, led to a fresh round of discourse around her value to the league. Regardless, as soon as it was announced that she would be back on the floor on Saturday for a nationally televised game against the defending champion New York Liberty, everyone was excited.
Clark returned in style, tallying 32 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds as the Fever handed the Liberty their first loss of the season.
It was an impressive return for the WNBA’s biggest name, and you can count ESPN’s Rebecca Lobo among those who continue to be blown away by what the former Iowa Hawkeyes star can accomplish.
“It means a lot more people are paying attention once again,” Lobo said on Monday’s First Take. “We know how much Caitlin drives ratings. We know how much Caitlin drives attention on the WNBA. For her to come back and do it in that way was just ridiculous.
“I’m sitting there at the end of the first quarter when she had that 38-second stretch where she drained deep three after deep three after deep three. I was just sitting there thinking, I’ve been around this league since 1997. I have never seen that in a WNBA game. Have we seen players go on runs? Of course, we have, but not like that, not where a couple of the three-pointers are from 30-plus feet.
“It was an exhibition by her after being out for 19 days to recover from an injury. Couple that with the other passes that she made and some of the other plays, it was just ridiculous. It’s not often that you’re watching the WNBA, or that I’m watching it, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I’ve just never seen this before.'”
There is little doubt that the ratings numbers for Saturday’s Fever-Liberty game will confirm everything Lobo is saying.
