ESPN Brags About WNBA Ratings Without Caitlin Clark, But Not Telling Whole Story

The WNBA continues to post strong TV ratings, even without a certain Indiana Fever superstar. Caitlin Clark has been out since injuring her right groin in a win over Connecticut on July 15 and has missed half of her team's games this year with multiple injuries.

Obviously, Clark is the biggest draw in the WNBA. When she wasn't able to suit up for the All-Star Game, viewership dropped by over one-third from the 2024 version in which Clark participated. On Sunday, Clark's Fever defeated the Seattle Storm, 78-74, in a game showcased during the very important 3 p.m. ET window on ABC. ESPN PR boasted that the game drew an average of 1.6 million viewers. 

This is a great number for the WNBA, there's no question. But we can't pretend that Clark's absence isn't hurting the league's viewership. Of course, numbers are up over 2024 – part of the reason is that the Fever are featured in nearly every ABC game. Even without Clark, people are drawn to her team – particularly budding star Sophie Cunningham. 

That being said, in 2024, the most-watched ABC game was a contest played in August between the Indiana Fever and Seattle Storm. Sound familiar? Last year, when the two teams met in August on ABC, the game averaged 2.23 million viewers. This year, without Clark, the game averaged 1.6 million. That's a nearly 30% drop in viewership. 

Keep in mind, as well, that many fewer WNBA games were featured on major networks last season compared to this one. Viewership naturally increases when games are on ABC, CBS, and ESPN versus, say, ION or NBA TV. In other words, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison when looking at this year's numbers over last year. 

WNBA TV ratings are holding strong even with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark sidelined, but the league is clearly losing out on viewership without its lone superstar on the court.

(Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)

The WNBA recently noted that viewership is up 21% compared to last year and non-Fever games are up 37%. What they failed to mention, though, is that they are simply averaging viewership across all networks. Again, more games on CBS and ABC/ESPN means more raw viewers. ESPN and CBS WNBA games are up 3% and 5.5%, respectively. 

But when we look at specific data points – like this year's All-Star Game without Clark versus last year with her – we can see a clear drop when Clark isn't on the court. It's great news that the league has managed to continue to draw over one million viewers with Caitlin Clark injured, but let's not pretend that ratings wouldn't be higher if she were on the court. 

In fact, the most-watched game on ESPN came when Clark and the Fever hosted the Chicago Sky in their opening game. It drew over 2.5 million viewers. 

Clark has helped the entire league draw more interest and attention, even when she's out with injury. Can they keep that up over the long haul? Color this reporter skeptical.