“Good to be back.” If Caitlin Clark wouldn’t have posted this after her return following 19 days of nursing her left quad strain, the league would probably have. For the fans and teams, it is understandable. The sophomore, with her offensive firepower, brings heat to the Indiana team which went on to lose 3 of 5 games, having lost her scoring average of 19 points per game at that point. As for the WNBA, we’ve seen this story before. Remember when last year the Connecticut Sun eliminated the Fever from the playoffs in round one itself? 

While Clark’s game 2 against the Sun brought in a 3.4 million peak audience for ESPN, the 2023 Finals re-match between the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces was still stuck at 929,000 viewers. Even New York Liberty’s Finals Game could not match the numbers, bringing in 1.2 million viewers. But while these are last year’s numbers, we also have proof of how ‘Clarkonomics’ impacted the WNBA when the reigning league ROTY missed five games for the Fever this season:

• WNBA ratings for nationally televised league games dipped by 55% since Clark’s injury after the New York Liberty loss.
• Nationally televised Fever games went down 53% in her absence.
• This calculates to roughly 1.8 million viewers pre-injury and just under 850,000 viewers post-injury.
• Teams playing Indiana, and the team itself, had to reduce ticket prices with Clark on the sideline.

And her return? Blasting on all cylinders, she handed the Liberty their very first loss of the season at home in classic Caitlin Clark way. So, when the Iowa alum controls so much buzz around her, it’s hard not to notice. One in particular, is the NBA legend Matt Barnes, who is a complete fan of the No. 22’s threes and even more of her passes. And when the topic was who does it better between Clark and her arch-nemesis Angel Reese, he had a simple choice.

On the latest episode of his show ‘The Skip Bayless Show’, the host asked Barnes, “How do you explain her impact? What are you seeing?”

“I think she has the Tiger Woods effect. The way he put golf fans in a craze. Whether you are golf fan or not, you tuned in and you wanted to learn about the game because he’s so incredible. I think she has that effect… She is must-watch TV. I think, when she was hurt a few weeks ago, they said viewership dropped by 52%. You know what I mean. She has teams that you know, when she comes into town, they’re going to bigger arenas to play in, and she’s selling out. And their ticket surges have been going crazy. Her jersey sales are going crazy. What I like about her is her explosion on this set is benefitting all the ladies that play in this current game.

What Barnes mentioned about The Caitlin Clark Effect is actually true; and can sometimes come as a heartbreak for the fans. So far, at least five WNBA franchises have shifted their games to a bigger arena to accommodate more fans. However, the ticket prices have also surged for the same. Moreover, as per Front Office Sports, “A message posted to the teams’ shared online store announced that, “Due to the extremely high volume of online orders, we’re temporarily scaling back the number of products listed on our website to ensure we can fulfill existing orders as quickly as possible.”

With the Pacers also competing in the Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Fever set to appear in their very first Commissioner’s Cup on July 1, the jersey sales are more than understandable… and understandably unmanageable to keep up with. In fact, Todd Taylor, President of business operations for Pacers Sports & Entertainment also gave his thoughts on the jersey situation.

“It’s impossible to prepare for something like this. We scaled back the number of products available online because we’ve been getting 1,000 orders per night online—often multiple items per order. Each day we need to restock the store so we have merchandise available for games.”

So, while Angel Reese has certainly improved the face of the game, the point guard’s influence has clearly eclipsed hers. Including when it comes to fandom. And this was again visible when she missed five games in a row for the very first time since her high school career.

Analyzing The Caitlin Clark Effect

After the New York Liberty loss, the Indiana Fever superstar suffered a left quad injury. Following intense pain in left leg, the 23-year-old underwent an MRI that revealed quadriceps strain. Bad news for the team in terms of their star player missing, but also for the league in general. For context, some reports had the league break the $1 billion mark in player-related revenue. The epicenter of the said revenue model? Caitlin Clark.

As the report revealed that the Des Moines native projected revenue could be up to $875 million. But her absence harmed WNBA TV ratings by a significant margin. According to USA Today, nationally televised WNBA viewership was down 55% since her injury. Additionally, her own team also suffered off the court as their viewership was down 53%. Yes, from averaging 1,810,000 viewers to accounting only 847,000 is a monumental drop.

Even though CC and Reese are creating their path in their own way, the Catlin Clark Effect has a tangible impact. This not only relates to her team but extends to the WNBA as a whole.