Caitlin Clark stardom trumps $700 million MLB star, Olympics, Grammys, and NBA

Caitlin Clark's final college basketball game in the NCAA Championship drew nearly 20 million viewers on ABC.

Caitlin Clark stardom trumps $700 million MLB star, Olympics, Grammys, and NBA

Caitlin Clark drew more fans than Taylor Swift, MLB, Paris Olympics and NBA

Caitlin Clark was named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year for the simple reason that she was the leading torch bearer for women’s sports with the massive audiences she pulled in the WNBA. But prior to doing all that, she was also the major draw for college basketball.

Her 2023 NCAA Championship battle against Angel Reese‘s LSU set the tone when the game saw 9.9 million viewers tune in. In the following season, most of those fans were getting a preview of what was to come as she kept setting new records in the NCAA.

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Then came the Iowa vs LSU rematch in the NCAA Elite Eight this year that drew 12.3 million viewers. The following Final Four battle against Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies saw almost two more million fans tuning in.

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All that led to what would be her final game in college basketball. Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes lost to the unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA Championship game. However, the real winners were ABC, who managed to have 18.9 million viewers tune in to their network.

That game ended up being one of the top 100 watched broadcasts of this past year. Sportico released a list based on Nielsen data where that 2024 NCAA Championship game ranked 76th. It might be low when compared to the NFL and the US Election based broadcasts.

However, it was still above the likes of the MLB World Series featuring $700 million-star Shohei Ohtani. It also beat the Paris Olympics as well as the Grammy Awards where Taylor Swift picked up her record tying fourth win for Album of the Year. Quite a feat for a 22-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa.

Caitlin Clark leaves NBA in the dust

The list showed that the US Presidential Elections along with the Paris Olympics saw the NFL lose out on several spots on that list that they usually dominate. Those along with the MLB World Series was touted as reasons for the decline in the NBA’s opening day viewership.

However, one cannot deny the fact that Caitlin Clark’s final college basketball game trumped anything the NBA produced in 2024. The Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks was a sorry affair as they continued the decline of seasons past.

Even LeBron James and Steph Curry battling on Christmas Day could not match those numbers. In addition to that, Clark’s debut WNBA season saw her consistently drawing bigger numbers than what the NBA regular season could.

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These statistics further prove the point that the Indiana Fever superstar is a major draw. If she can continue to pull audiences, the WNBA could soon get out of its loss-making days. All they need is more stars who can help spread the viewers to other teams.