The WNBA has Broken Out

Author’s note: This sports section has information as of May 14th. To pursue more updated information about Bush athletics you can go to BushBlazersAthletics.com. For more information on sports, you can go to ESPN.com. 

I had attended WNBA games before, but this one was different. On May 22, 2024, at Climate Pledge Arena, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement. The Seattle Storm were hosting the Indiana Fever in an early season matchup. The game was thrilling, a 85-83 win by the Storm thanks to a Jewell Lloyd 32 point game. It was a spectacular sports experience thanks to an electric crowd and a close matchup. However, the focus in the arena that night was not the Storm, it was the fifth game ever by young phenom Caitlyn Clark.

Born in West Des Moines Iowa, Clark starred in high school basketball, earning All-State honors each year. As a senior, she averaged 33.4 points and was ranked consistently in the top five of the 2020 College Recruiting class. She had originally verbally committed to Notre Dame but switched to Iowa to play for her home team in the Hawkeyes. Her college career was as dominant as her high school career. She led the league in points as a freshman, and finished her college career with spectacular accolades. She is the all-time leading scorer and three point shooter in history, won the player of the year award twice, and was First-team All-American every year she was in college. Clark is not only a generational talent; she might be the most accomplished collegiate athlete ever. All of this garnered national attention as well. Iowa games drove historic levels of viewership over her final two seasons. Her matchup against Ohio State, in which she surpassed Pete Maravich to become the highest scoring college athlete ever, averaged 3.39 million viewers. This is easily the greatest viewership numbers of any WNBA regular season game ever. Once Iowa made March Madness, viewership continued to grow. Every single Iowa game broke records to become the most viewed in the history of the round. This all led to the national championship game, where Clark played South Carolina, drawing 18.9 million viewers. It was not only the most watched Women’s basketball game ever, it was the most watched basketball game in any level since 2019. The “Caitlin Clark Effect” was reshaping how people watched women’s basketball.

Once the Indiana Fever won the 2024 WNBA draft lottery, there was no doubt about who would be the number one overall pick. Caitlin Clark was heading to Indianapolis for her WNBA career. The Caitlin Clark Effect continued throughout her rookie season; every Fever game saw a spike in viewership and attendance. 

Shakira Austin, a Washington Mystics center, feels this effect: “Last year, we had peaks in attendance, peaks in sales and tickets, and it just shows that people have been dedicated to this sport.” The WNBA is the fastest growing brand in professional sports. The league’s annual revenue nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024.  Ticket sales jumped 93%, with the Indiana Fever’s seeing a 1300% increase. The 2024 WNBA finals were the most-viewed in WNBA history. The Golden State Valkyries will debut in 2025 as the 13th WNBA team, and there’s an additional expansion team heading to Toronto in 2026. 

Basketball is a sport that is, by nature, star driven. Like the NBA’s rise in the 1980s field by Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the WNBA’s growth is fueled by its star power. In football or soccer, there are always 22 players on the field at once. Meanwhile, with only 10 players on the court in basketball, individual brilliance—like Clark’s—is more visible and impactful. Furthermore, the style of each basketball player is significantly more discernible, and the best personalities in basketball are on full display. The difference between a Center like A’ja Wilson and a Point Guard such as Caitlin Clark is incredibly clear. The personalities of basketball stars are on display more than in any other sport, and the emergence of Caitlin Clark has given viewers new reasons to watch the WNBA.

Unfortunately, it will always be difficult for the WNBA to emerge from the NBA’s shadow. The NBA owns the WNBA as one of its five sports leagues. The revenue stream of the WNBA runs through the NBA, making it difficult for the WNBA to profit. Broadcast revenue flows through the NBA. This was helpful for WNBA when it started, as it could use the NBA’s deals with networks like ESPN to showcase its product early in the league’s history, however now this structure will make it difficult for the league to profit on its new popularity. This has affected the players' payrolls. The WNBA gives around 10% of its revenue to the players, while the NBA gives 50% of its revenue to its players. 

The WNBA will grow if it continues to showcase its young stars. After a dominant March Madness title run, University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers was drafted first in the 2025 WNBA Draft to the Dallas Wings. Bueckers represents the next wave of WNBA talent, with NIL experience and national recognition. Moreover, the current college basketball landscape will help develop more talent, as explained by economist Daniel Kirschner: “The energy and attention around this group of athletes is also a function of how stardom has developed in the NIL era in a way that connects the success of the league with the success of the sport at the college level.” While its growth is limited to the success of its players, the WNBA’s future is brighter than ever. With Caitlin Clark leading a wave of rising stars, the league’s recent growth is just the beginning.