The Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry continues to be a goldmine for the WNBA and its TV companions.
Sunday’s matchup between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever drew 2.302 million viewers on ESPN, the most-watched WNBA telecast in 23 years.
If it seems like that is Groundhog Day, the identical two groups additionally completed that feat simply final week, with 2.25 million viewers on CBS for final Sunday’s recreation in Indianapolis.
Whereas CBS is in about 15 million extra houses than ESPN, this previous week’s recreation was in a barely higher TV window — 4 p.m. ET in comparison with midday — and it was a one-point recreation because the Sky erased a 15-point deficit to win 88-87.
Moreover, the sport had the ESPN hype machine behind all of it week.
Of the thrice the Fever and Sky have performed this season, Indiana received the primary two matchups whereas Chicago received the third; neither crew has damaged serve and overwhelmed the opposite on the highway.
They play for a fourth and last time within the WNBA common season on Aug. 30 in Chicago.
Monday, Magic Johnson in contrast the rivalry between Reese and Clark to the storied historical past he had with Larry Chicken.
“Once I take into consideration Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese’s influence on the sport, they remind me a number of Larry Chicken and me. Our first assembly, Indiana State vs. Michigan State, within the NCAA Championship set the all-time viewership file for males’s basketball. Caitlin and Angel’s 2023 NCAA Championship matchup and their 2024 Elite Eight video games have been the very best viewership data on the time,” Johnson wrote on X.
“Larry and I heightened the NBA’s total recognition. The Lakers and Celtics offered out arenas all through the league and elevated tv viewership exponentially. The upper viewership numbers led to the NBA signing considerably bigger TV contracts which then led to increased salaries for the gamers,” Johnson continued.
“Caitlin and Angel at the moment are doing the identical factor, promoting out arenas and rising the viewership. They’ve taken girls’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV offers on the horizon, the WNBA is now ready to barter increased TV contracts and improve salaries for the entire gifted gamers.”
Clark’s Iowa crew famously misplaced to Reese’s LSU squad in final yr’s school basketball nationwide championship recreation, earlier than avenging the loss within the Elite Eight this yr.
The 2 had beforehand squared off a number of instances earlier than that, together with three video games between Iowa and Maryland over the pair’s first two seasons in school, earlier than Reese transferred to LSU, and not less than as soon as in AAU ball after they have been in highschool.