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The WNBA, capturing excitement around Caitlin Clark, boasts more viewers than ever
NPR
By Becky Sullivan
Published June 11, 2024 at 4:00 AM EDT
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Caitlin Clark, the heralded Indiana Fever rookie, signs autographs after a game against the Washington Mystics that was attended by more than 20,000 fans, the highest attendance for a WNBA game in 17 years.
Greg Fiume
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Getty Images
Caitlin Clark, the heralded Indiana Fever rookie, signs autographs after a game against the Washington Mystics that was attended by more than 20,000 fans, the highest attendance for a WNBA game in 17 years.
More than 400,000 people attended WNBA games in the month of May, and more than half of them were sellouts, the league announced Monday — making it the highest-attended month for the WNBA in well over two decades.
Viewership, too, is up across all of the league’s broadcast and streaming platforms and among a variety of demographics, including young viewers, the WNBA said.
The numbers, released by the league, show that WNBA has been able to capitalize on the extraordinary burst of interest in women’s basketball that had emerged in recent years around college basketball and especially the former University of Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
Clark, now 22, was drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever in April. Since then, the Fever — which drew about 81,000 fans across its entire 2023 season — surpassed that total in its first five home games of the season.
Clark also drives attendance at away games. On Friday, in Washington, D.C., more than 20,300 people came to Capital One Arena to watch the Fever take on the Washington Mystics. No two WNBA teams have more losses between them, but still the attendance marked the WNBA’s most-attended game since 2007, according to Across The Timeline.
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