"Not actually the draw" - WNBA fans surprised by Caitlin Clark's absence seemingly not affecting viewership numbers

WNBA fans reacted to the latest data revealing that, despite Caitlin Clark's absence, the league's average viewership was on the rise. Clark often gets credited for drawing attention to the league. However, Clark has played only 13 of the Fever's 27 games this season.

According to the Front Office Report, despite Clark's absence, the WNBA viewership was up 21%. Moreover, other teams (non-Fever games) also saw a massive increase of 37%. What was even more surprising was that, despite Clark being out of the lineup, the Fever's viewership was up 7%.

The data left some fans surprised. Reacting to the post on X, a fan boldly questioned if only Clark had the ability to pull big crowds.

"What is tells me is that Caitlin?Clark is not actually the draw like what i've been saying," the fan wrote.

Some fans noted that the viewership was up without Clark having barely played in her sophomore season.

"Clark has barely played this season," the fan wrote.

Another fan questioned why Clark was getting all the credit for viewership.

"She's barely played this year, but let's be honest, you don't watch enough to know this."

One of the fans claimed that the ratings were up when both Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark had been out with injuries. A fan wrote:

"A Reeseless and Clarkless game btw lol."

Caroline Fitzgerald, who hosts "The Business Case For Women’s Sports" podcast, commented with some solid data, questioning the narrative around Clark being the only draw in the league.

"Some people that think Caitlin Clark is the *only* draw in the WNBA. That's simply not true," she said. "Viewership is up for the 2025 WNBA season - averaging 794K viewers per game, and +21% over the 2024 average - despite Clark missing 13 games due to injury."

Meanwhile, a fan claimed that the viewership was up because of Angel Reese:

"AR effect."

A fan said that players could use to leverage in CBA talks:

"Very good stuff so far. WNBA players keep shooting themselves in the foot on a lot of issues, but this is an area they have ammo in the CBA talks, even if a lot of the viewership success is due to one team."

Sophie Cunningham boldly claims Caitlin Clark as the face of the WNBA

Is Caitlin Clark the best player in the WNBA? Some fans and pundits wouldn't even think twice before giving that title to A'ja Wilson or Napheesa Collier. However, it would be hard to argue against Clark's brand value, which has been largely beneficial to the league, leading many to crown her the face of the WNBA.

Clark's Indiana Fever teammate, Sophie Cunningham, and West Wilson co-hosted the inaugural episode of their "Show Me Something" podcast on Wednesday. During the podcast, Cunningham claimed that Clark was the face of the league, and it pissed her off if anybody denied that.

"It really pisses me off when people say she isn’t the face of the league," Cunningham said. "What! No there is really good people in our league. I'm not discrediting them, like we have some badasses in our league. Hell yeah to that. I'm all for that." "When people try to argue that she’s not the face of our league or if our league would be where we're at without her, you're dumb as s***," Cunningham added. “You’re literally dumb as f***."

Earlier this month, The Athletic conducted a poll among nearly 40 non-rookie players, representing one-third of the league across all 13 teams. 58.3% said that Caitlin Clark would be the face of the league in the next five years. JuJu Watkins, who is still in college, came in at the second spot. She received 17.9% of the total vote.

Edited by Krutik Jain