Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut helps ESPN set viewership file for league sport on community

NEW YORK — ESPN’s broadcast of the Connecticut Solar’s sport in opposition to Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever had the very best viewership for a WNBA sport on the community.

The Solar’s 92-71 win over the Fever in Clark’s WNBA debut on the league’s opening night time on Tuesday drew a median of two.1 million viewers on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+, together with a excessive of two.3 million viewers between 7:45 p.m. and seven:59 p.m. That topped ESPN’s earlier mark of almost 1.5 million viewers for a Phoenix Mercury-Connecticut Solar sport on Could 22, 2004, in Diana Taurasi’s rookie season.

The second sport between Phoenix and the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces averaged 464,000 viewers, with the 2 video games averaging 1.28 million — a 192% improve over the league’s common final 12 months for broadcasts on ESPN.

Clark set the NCAA all-time scoring file at Iowa final season and he or she was an enormous cause why a file 18.9 million viewers tuned in to the nationwide championship sport, which her Hawkeyes misplaced to unbeaten South Carolina. Clark’s arrival to the WNBA has already been an enormous increase for the league. The WNBA draft had file viewership, and three groups have already moved their video games to greater arenas to maintain up with the demand for tickets to look at her play.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball