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The WNBA officially started back up this weekend with some great games. The headliner was the Chicago Sky facing off against the Indiana Fever. It was the latest edition of the budding rivalry between the two franchises, thanks to the history between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. These two started their rivalry in college, and it has only gotten bigger with both of them in the WNBA.
The best thing about a high-profile rivalry? Eyeballs. Attention has never been bigger when it comes to the WNBA, and it has been largely due in part to the fact that the audience loves a storyline, and the rivalry between these two is the biggest storyline in the league. The Sky-Fever game was the most-watched WNBA game ESPN has ever seen on any of its platforms, with an average of 2.7 million viewers and a peak of 3.1 million.
Not only did that game see the highest viewership ESPN has ever seen for any individual WNBA game, but the weekend overall had the highest viewership for the WNBA on ESPN ever, with the Las Vegas Aces-New York Liberty game averaging 1.3 million and having a peak viewership of 1.9 million.
The game was not competitive, with the Fever rolling over the Sky toward a 93-58 win at home. However, the fact that the average viewership stayed at 2.7 million is a testament to how much attention Caitlin Clark and, by extension, her matchup against Reese have captured fans' attention across the sports landscape. It has already done a lot to grow the sport as well.
These two don't like each other, which is highlighted by tempers flaring from both benches after Clark fouled Reese hard on her way to the basketball in a play that was ruled a flagrant foul.
The WNBA needs to continue to capitalize on attention like this because it gets people talking, which will only help the sport grow and improve as an overall product. This attention is hard to replicate, and the WNBA has to capitalize where it can.
