- April 7, 2025
- Trending
For all the lazy narrative pushers who claim Caitlin Clark’s popularity is simply because she is white, this one is definitely going to sting. There were 10 million more
The 2024 Women’s College Basketball National Championship pulled an all-time record of 18.9 million viewers. This year? Not even half of the amount (8.5 million viewers) tuned in to watch fellow whitey Paige Bueckers and U Conn beat Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks.
I really hate playing the race card but when almost every other media outlet and the WNBA itself talk about Caitlin Clark, they claim that she’s actually not that “special” of a basketball player and is only popular because she’s a Middle America white girl.
Obviously, that’s ridiculous to say in the first place. Bringing up race is the lowest form of conversation and honestly, the WNBA players, coaches, and fans that push that narrative are some of the biggest morons the basketball world has ever had to deal with. It is what it is. They are completely wrong, and the numbers prove it yet again.
And then Caitlin Clark didn’t show up… and neither did 10 million viewers.
I’m going to need all the race baiters who explain Caitlin Clarks popularity simply because shes white to explain why 10 million more people watched her last year than Paige Bueckers(also white) this year. I’ll hang up and listen pic.twitter.com/KBKzUCpfVJ— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 8, 2025
Yes, women’s basketball has seen significant growth over the past few years. But for some reason, instead of recognizing and appreciating the individual mostly responsible for that rise, a lot of former players and media members feel the need to tear Caitlin Clark to shreds any time her name is mentioned.
It’s like they all get off on discrediting after everything she has done for the game and women’s sports in general and that doesn’t make any damn sense.
This year’s South Carolina–UConn matchup was supposed to be the game.
The clash of the titans. Geno’s redemption arc. The juggernaut undefeated season. Paige Bueckers, finally healthy, leading her team to glory.
ESPN and the blue check mafia couldn’t wait to tell us this was going to be “just as big, if not bigger” than last year’s Iowa–South Carolina title game
.
And look, this isn’t about disrespecting Paige. She’s a baller. She finally got her ring. That ladder moment cutting down the net was straight out of a movie. But let’s not act like the women’s game is anywhere near the same without Caitlin Clark in it. Because it’s not.
The numbers do not lie. The ratings do not lie. The ticket sales, merch, and social media engagement, good or bad, do not lie. There’s Caitlin Clark and then there’s everybody else.
Caitlin Clark was must-see TV every single time she stepped on the court. She had NBA players, celebrities, and literal bar fights breaking out over her games. She shifted the entire conversation around women’s basketball for four straight years.
And the second she left the college stage? Viewers (obviously) fell off a cliff.
So go ahead and spin your race narratives. Go ahead and ignore the facts. But at the end of the day, the Caitlin Clark Effect is real—and it’s measurable if you will just take a few seconds to look at the numbers in front of you.
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