Caitlin Clark’s rookie year has seen the WNBA break all sorts of attendance, viewership and merchandise records, with the league attracting scores of new fans and receiving unprecedented media coverage.
Naturally, Clark’s impact on the financials of the WNBA has led some to pronounce her “the savior” of a league that previously struggled with its popularity.
However, veteran WNBA announcer Debbie Antonelli has refuted the theory that Iowa alum “saved” the league.
“The game didn’t need saving,” Antonelli said during the live telecast of Fever versus Wings on Sunday. “I don’t know who came up with ‘Caitlin was a savior’ — that’s not true. What the game needed was a disruption in the economic marketplace. And that’s what we’re seeing here. That’s why it’s been so fun to cover the Fever and watch Fever fans across the country.”
To Antonelli’s point, Fever fans have been flocking to arenas nationwide to cheer for Clark.
As of Sunday’s home finale against the Wings, Indiana’s games (including away fixtures) had pulled in a record 605,358 fans from 39 regular-season games (15,522 per game). To put things in perspective, the previous attendance record holder, the Mystics, drew 408,059 fans to their games in the 1999 season.
It was yet another momentous night for Clark Sunday as she scored a career-high 35 points to break Seimone Augustus’ record for the highest-scoring season by a rookie (744). The record was the latest feather in the cap of Clark, who had already set new benchmarks for three-pointers made (120), single-season assists (329), most double-doubles by a guard (14) and most rebounds by a guard (222).
With 761 points and counting, Clark will look to end the season on a high against the Mystics on Thursday. Thereafter, she will lead the Fever back to the postseason for the first time in eight years, where they could face either the Lynx, Sun or Aces in the first round depending on the final standings.
