What is it with the WNBA and sportswriters? Why are they determined to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs? I speak, of course, of Caitlin Clark, who has not made the WNBA profitable—that may be impossible—but has made it popular, dramatically raised player salaries, and increased lucrative product endorsement deals. There is greater interest in the WNBA than ever before, and Clark continues to set league records. When the Fever play, auditoriums are sold out. Yet this happened:
On Tuesday, the WNBA announced that the league just had its most-watched first round ever across all networks, averaging 1.3 million viewers over 10 games on ESPN, Prime Video, and USA Network. The most-watched of those games was the finale of the Las Vegas Aces’ 2-1 series win over Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever.
Shortly after the announcement, Yahoo Sports posted a graphic on X to celebrate the WNBA’s viewership news, but it didn’t include Clark or any player from the Fever, which frustrated some fans.
The Fever didn’t make it to the final round, but that’s not really the point:
Still, some fans and analysts felt that because this post was celebrating the first-round ratings record that Clark played a large role in achieving, she should be included despite the Fever’s loss.
“No Caitlin Clark on the graphic about WNBA playoff ratings,” OutKick reporter Dan Zaksheske wrote in response to the post. “For the record, the Fever’s lowest-rated playoff game outdrew every non-Fever first-round broadcast. Clark games averaged double the rest of the games.”
And with Clark and the Fever gone, that trend continued:
Graphic: X Post
Fans noticed:
Graphic: X Post
And Clark wasn’t in the top five in voting for the league’s most valuable player, despite averaging 22.3 points and 8.3 assists in every game, the first player in WNBA history to achieve that.
Combining her own baskets and free throws with the points teammates scored from her assists, Clark created an average of 41.2 points per game. According to the WNBA’s own end-of-season review, that was the highest average in league history.
Clark also had five games scoring at least 30 points and 10 assists, again the highest in league history.
Her best performance came against Seattle on July 17, when she scored 45 points and had 10 assists. It was the first 40-point, 10-assist game the WNBA had ever seen.
Dan Zaksheske of Outkick Sports explains:
Caitlin Clark received one first-place vote for WNBA MVP after producing a season nobody in the league had managed before.
And that might not even be the most ridiculous part of the results. Nineteen voters didn’t put her on their ballots at all. [skip]
Clark appeared on 55 ballots, receiving one first-place vote, six second-place votes, 20 third-place votes, 16 fourth-place votes and 12 fifth-place votes. She finished with 212 points, well behind Miles’ 442 and Mitchell’s 287.
Wilson had an outstanding season and a compelling case to win. But apparently, more than a quarter of the voters watched Clark this year and decided five other players deserved recognition ahead of her.
I’d love to hear those explanations.
So would I. One could argue this is just a player new to the league paying her dues. If she keeps playing so well, surely Clark will be crowned MVP sometime in the future, right? I wouldn’t bet on it.
It’s a rare game that Clark hasn’t been outright assaulted. Sophie Cunningham, a good player and smart woman who won’t back down when attacked for speaking common sense, gained fame when she had enough and began physically defending Clark from arguably criminal hits. There has been much lip service about the negligent, incompetent officiating that has allowed that to continue, but little or nothing has been done.
It comes down to jealousy. Caitlin Clark, a white, straight woman, entered the WNBA after a stellar college career and immediately transformed the league. She’s a once-in-a-generation talent, and the tide that has lifted every boat. In a league dominated by resentful, even hostile, black lesbians that, pre-Clark, couldn’t fill even tiny gyms, that’s got to hurt, and it takes mature, thoughtful people to overcome such blatant hostility, which explains why the pre-Clark league has done so poorly: people obsessed with woke politics rather than basketball and unattractive in character don’t inspire fans. Great players who love the game, play it joyfully, don’t rub politics in fans’ faces, and practice sportsmanship do.
Fans will keep filling auditoriums and tuning in for Fever games because Clark gives them what they want: a great player who elevates the game, a model of merit that rational people can appreciate. That’s not to say there aren’t other great players in the WNBA. But until they, and the league, can acknowledge and honestly support someone like Clark, the WNBA will never be profitable.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog isStately McDaniel Manor.
