Why Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever Falling to 0-4 Hurts the WNBA
Yesterday, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever fell just short again against the undefeated Connecticut Suns 88-84. This makes the Fever the worst team in the WNBA at 0-4 to start the young season. Not only are the Fever losing games, but they have lost each contest by an average of 18 points a game. With that said, in those games, the WNBA has achieved multiple records to start the season. Fever games have already set the record for TV viewership and ticket revenue, in a WNBA game in some of its early games. However, the WNBA is failing to protect Caitlin Clark and her national stardom which could result in this spike in WNBA attention only being temporary.
The WNBA purposely stacked the Fever’s schedule with tough opponents to start the season to show a national audience that other players in the WNBA are really good by making Clark struggle. However, by the WNBA doing this, they may be killing their best opportunity for national relevancy. In contrast, the NFL is protecting their young star athletes like Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears by giving them an easy schedule so they can get some confidence and additionally look dominant early on. People like to get excited about instant-impact star players and not necessarily just watch good teams. The WNBA is banking on making Clark look vulnerable against good WNBA teams like the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Suns early in the season with the hope that people will start following WNBA teams since they look like seriously talented athletes compared to Clark. However, the WNBA is failing to understand as an organization that people don’t just watch teams because they are talented and successful. Instead, people follow other successful people. It’s because of stars and their polarizing nature in sports that people either love them or hate them which drives media attention. Patrick Mahomes, Micheal Jordan, and Aaron Judge are examples of stars who drive popularity for their respective leagues because of their polarizing nature from their great success. Star talent is what drives league popularity and helps create storylines that get talked about, not overall team success.
When evaluating this theory in the context of women’s basketball, look no further than the previous women’s March Madness tournament. The South Carolina Gamecocks were undefeated and ended up decisively winning the National Championship as well against Iowa, but they had no individual star players on the team. In the semi-finals, the Gamecocks played against NC State and got 7.2 million viewers. However, Iowa with Caitlin Clark and UConn with Paige Bueckers got double the viewership in their semi-final game at 14.4 million viewers because the game featured star players on both sides.
Since the tournament, Clark has gotten tons of media attention, become the first overall draft pick in the WNBA Draft, and has signed numerous endorsement deals that reflect her national stardom. However, with Caitlin Clark struggling in the opening of the WNBA season, it calls into question if the WNBA is doing a disservice to itself by not protecting the only real star that is making them nationally relevant. Clark through four games has averaged 17 points, four rebounds, and five assists. However, she has committed seven turnovers a game, which is the most in the league, and is shooting only 41% from the field and 34% from three which is well below how a shooter of her caliber should be performing. If the WNBA is not careful with how it manages its sudden rise in national attention thanks to Caitlin Clark, then this may only be a temporary success for the WNBA.
