Caitlin Clark, Fever vs. Liberty Was ABC's Most-Watched WNBA Game of All Time | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Michael King The New York Liberty's 91-80 win over Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on Saturday set a new all-time viewership record on ABC for a WNBA game with 1.71 million viewers.
ESPN PR provided more details on a successful opening weekend doubleheader, which also featured the defending champion Las Vegas Aces playing the Los Angeles Sparks.
ESPN PR @ESPNPRABC delivered its most-viewed <a href="">#WNBA</a> opening weekend doubleheader 🙌<br><br>🏀 <a href="">@IndianaFever</a> vs <a href="">@nyliberty</a> | 1.71M viewers<br>🏀 <a href="">@LASparks</a> vs <a href="">@LVAces</a> | 1.34M viewers <a href="">
Clark, a two-time reigning consensus national player of the year who set a legion of records during her time at Iowa, finished with 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds in the defeat.
Clark was a big draw on the collegiate stage, but that's turning out to be the case in the pros as well.
Clark's WNBA debut on May 14 at the Connecticut Sun served as the most-watched WNBA game in 22 years, per Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. ESPN PR later revealed that it was the most-watched WNBA game on network platforms in league history.
Per Spotify's Bri Lewerke, the Fever and Liberty game brought in over $2 million in ticket revenue at a soldout Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, which has a capacity of close to 18,000 fans.
In college, Clark's Hawkeyes were a huge draw, most notably when they played undefeated South Carolina in the national championship:
ESPN PR @ESPNPR'24 <a href="">#NCAAWBB</a> Natl. Championship ended the season with a bang on ABC & ESPN<br><br>🏀18.7M viewers, peak 24M<br>🏀Up 89% from '23 & 285% from '22<br>🏀Most-watched basketball game (men's or women's, college or pro) since '19<br>🏀Most-watched sporting event since '19 (excl. football & Olympics) <a href="">
Prior to that, Iowa's 71-69 win over UConn in the Final Four hit 14.2 million viewers on average with a peak of 17 million. That was also an all-time viewership record for women's college hoops, albeit for just two more days before Iowa-South Carolina crushed it.
Now Clark is setting WNBA viewership records. Her team is off to a tough 0-4 start, although it has had tough matchups against the Liberty (twice) and Sun (twice), who are a combined 7-0. The Fever will now visit the Seattle Storm on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET in search of win No. 1.