Everywhere that Caitlin Clark passes, the audiences are a hit. This was the case during its adventure in the NCAA tournament, where every game Iowa State played set a new record only to be broken in the next round. The final won by South Carolina was even followed by an average of 18.7 million viewers.
Same thing in the WNBA with first the audience record for a Draft: 2.45 million viewers saw the Indiana Fever choose Caitlin Clark in first position. Then, unsurprisingly, his first official match against the Connecticut Sun was a hit: 2.13 million Americans in front of their screens.
It is the best score in the women's league for 23 years and the best audience since an opposition between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Houston Comets in 2001, which brought together 2.45 million viewers.
Ahead of the NHL playoffs
For ESPN, however, it is an absolute record for a women's league meeting. The old record dated from 2004 with the debut of Diana Taurasi (1.43 million viewers).
All sports combined, the meeting between Indiana and Connecticut ranks third place on Tuesday evening in the United States, behind the two NBA conference semi-finals, Knicks-Pacers and Nuggets-Timberwolves, but ahead of the NHL playoff meeting between the Bruins and the Panthers.
As for the absolute record for a WNBA meeting, it dates from 1997 with an average of 5.04 million viewers who followed the first meeting in the history of the women's league between the Liberty and the Sparks.
