Caitlin Clark’s eye-popping effect on WNBA attendance, TV ratings

Even as you know Caitlin Clark had a profound effect on how many people watched the WNBA this season, the numbers written out are remarkable.

With the WNBA regular season concluded and the playoffs set to start on Sunday, the numbers of how many eyeballs she delivered both on TV and in the arenas have emerged.

Fox executive Michael Mulvihill reported Friday that Clark’s games on TV averaged 1.178 million viewers, nearly tripling the audience for all other WNBA games, which averaged 394,000.

Associated Press reporter Tim Reynolds shared the attendance figures.

Fever games averaged 16,084 fans this season, nearly doubling non-Fever games which averaged 8,552.

“That’s an 88% difference. That’s Caitlinmania,” Reynolds wrote.

Reynolds also broke it down team by team, showing the attendance when they hosted the Fever as compared to other games.

The biggest disparities were in Atlanta and Washington.

Dream games averaged 17,592 fans when they hosted the Fever, as compared to 3,316 for all others.

The Mystics drew 20,522 fans when the Fever were in town, and averaged 4,988 for the rest of their games.

The Dream and Mystics typically play in smaller venues, but moved Fever games to the Hawks’ and Wizards’ arenas when Clark came to town.

The smallest differences came in Chicago, Connecticut and Dallas, which play in smaller arenas and did not move to bigger ones for the Fever.

Earlier this week, Clark’s teammate, Kelsey Mitchell, credited Clark with creating a halo effect that also brought her much more recognition for her All-Star-level performance this season.

“I think the reality of it is that I don’t think people wouldn’t have known without [Caitlin Clark]. Shoutout to Caitlin. … I think she’s just done an unbelievable job of bringing, obviously, her own fans and people that support her,” Mitchell said.

“You know, for me, I kinda laugh at it and embrace it at the same time because I’ve always kind of flew under the radar. I’ve always kind of been that person, that player — very conservative. I’m very introvert. So, now I get to see the flip side of it, and it’s kind of funny. I can laugh about it because I know it’s come from a genuine place.

“But I embrace it from the standpoint of, like, people, you know, [are] not guaranteed to see me play and now that they do, I just hope I do right by it. I just hope I don’t eff it up.”

The Fever begin their first round playoff series against the Sun on Sunday at 3 p.m.