John Mc/Purdue/Flickr

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark shoots a three pointer in a 2023 Hawkeye game against Purdue. Clark, the number one overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, has already had a tremendous impact on the growth of women’s basketball.

Falling short of a National Championship in 2023, Caitlin Clark and Iowa women’s basketball entered the 2023-24 season with vengeance to cut down the nets in April.

While it did not fall into fruition, Clark, arguably the biggest female athlete in America at the moment, accomplished much more than what was left on the court.  

While the 6’0” guard did take her Hawkeyes to back-to-back national championship game appearances and set the all-time NCAA Division I record (for both men’s and women’s basketball) for scoring, her impact on the sport is so much greater.

With everyone in the country talking about her, Clark was able to garner millions of spectators, including an ESPN record for any game men’s or women’s with 18.9 million viewers in the 2024 National Championship. Truly paving the way for her sport, the most impressive part is how the women’s tournament competed with and surmounted the men’s tournament in terms of excitement.

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The 2023-24 NCAA women's basketball season vastly outperformed the 2022-23 campaign. This year's National Championship, between Iowa and South Carolina, was the most watched women's basketball matchup on record.

Many fans, including senior Evan Dupler, tuned into the women’s bracket just as much as the men’s.

“It was definitely the talk around town, talking about both [tournaments] and the star players coming out of it. [The women’s tournament] seemed more interesting than the past couple of years.”

Clark was selected first overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft to the Indiana Fever, where she will look to continue to grow the sport of women’s basketball around the country. For the Lower Dauphin student population, at least, that has already been achieved. 

Sophomore Cole Duffy explained, “I think that Caitlin Clark is a generational talent and I will be tuning into all of her big games. I think that, as a result, the WNBA will greatly increase in viewership.” 

Dupler added, “I think if they keep getting this kind of publicity, people will tune in and watch it.”

Considering that the WNBA relies on the NBA for substance and backing, the emergence of Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese as household names is phenomenal news. Between the added merchandise sales upon their arrival into the league, tickets and viewership, an increase in revenue is certain. 

In time, the WNBA could become one of the premier sports leagues in America. If there will be any player to thank, it will be the Fever’s #22, who has transcended the impact of women’s sports.