The Rookie versus The GOAT produced some viewership magic for the WNBA.
Last week’s much-anticipated meeting between Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi turned out to be a big ratings winner. The Indiana Fever’s 88-82 win over the Phoenix Mercury on June 30 averaged 1.9 million viewers, the second most-watched WNBA game in the history of ESPN only behind the Fever against the Chicago Sky on June 23 (which averaged 2.302 million viewers on ESPN and was the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years). The Fever-Mercury game peaked at 2.7 million viewers. (WNBA games airing on ABC have naturally drawn more viewers but this is a very impressive number for a cable-only game.)
What makes this particularly interesting, as Sports Media Watch first noted: The game was the most-watched WNBA game to ever involve Taurasi, who first entered the league in 2004. Sports Media Watch noted Taurasi’s previous most-watched WNBA game was her career debut against Connecticut in May 2004 which averaged 1.43 million viewers. The most-watched non-WNBA game featuring Taurasi came in 2012 when 10.2 million viewers watched the U.S. women win gold in London on NBC.
The league has been fueled to new viewership heights this season, led by Clark and a rookie class casual sports fans have shown interest in. Sports…
