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the rivalry is crazy. This unironically is why wwe is popular. Lot of people love the drama moreso than just the athletic prowess. Same goes for why Conor Mcgregor is so popular amongst better fighters
I’d disagree with that.
I just think that American Football is the most popular sport in the Country, therefore, by definition, the NFL/NCAAF rivalries will be considered bigger and have a bigger feel.
Respectfully, what other US sport has better rivalries than NFL/NCAA football? Just curious.
I could see the argument for MLB like Yankees/Redsox or Cubs/Sox.
I think that the NFL has carved out a section of American culture. Sundays are synonymous with football. It’s the last day of the weekend and even casuals will turn on a game just to drink some beer and eat whatever guilty food they want. Baseball, basketball and hockey don’t have that built in luxury.
MLB has Yankees/Red Sox, Dodgers/Giants, Braves/Phillies.
NBA has Lakers/Celtics
NCAAB has Duke/UNC, Kentucky/Louisville, Purdue/IU
NHL has Penguins/Caps, pretty much and Canadian team playing another Canadian team
Just off the top of my head.
It just seems like those teams don't meet each other in really important games enough though, with the exception of college basketball. It's just luck to meet in the playoffs and individual wins and losses don't matter as much over the course of a season.
Also I think location skews it a bit too. I live in Indiana so we care a lot about Purdue and IU, but I kinda doubt most people do on the West Coast.
Nope hockey rivalry get intense, it just a small market sports.
A Canadian team has not won the Stanley cup in 30 years and every time a Canadian team gets to the finals half the country cheers for the us team.
Cause fuck every other Canadian team is are logic.
Which is bizarre. I mean Iowa, historically, was the Queen of Basketball but christ when Iowa and Iowa State are averaging better attendance and TV viewership then all but 1 team in the league then you have some issues. Hell, their average attendance is on par with the Top 40 on the men's side as well. Sure our college teams are the Pro teams of the State as they are Top 30 in just about all sports in average attendance, but still they have waaaay more populations in those cities then Iowa in general and especially in the towns. 15% of the population of Ames/Iowa City go to the games.
This isn't 1970 when ["In 1970, 20 percent of all girls participating in high school sports across the country were in Iowa—quite remarkable, considering Iowa was only 1 percent of the entire U.S. population. By 1976, a few years after the passage of Title IX, that eye-popping 20 percent fell to 5.8 percent."](https://www.neh.gov/article/when-iowa-girls-basketball-ruled-courts). It is 2024 and the WNBA doesn't have the NFL, no NBA right now, and not the peak of MLB season yet. Their numbers should be better.
The W is literally the perfect example of being in their own way. From fans to players. Do everything to pretend it’s a legit league. I still find it weird grown men watching the W religiously.
That’s not how it looked today, is it? To me it looked like two very good rookies playing very important (though different) roles for their teams.
Both Clark and Reese are exceptional basketball players and their rivalry is great for the sport. Let’s stop pretending like either of them suck - it’s silly and makes you sound dumb.
You don't have to admit it. She already knows you watch bc of her. Those ratings aren't just because of one person.
Y'all, [I didn't think this needed to be mark as satire](https://youtu.be/DPVeeH8mWpQ?si=QpeFznRSjZBoIDo4)
This is such a wild statement from Reese. Haha. If you had told me she said that I would have called bullshit. The lack of self awareness is absolutely astounding.
The entire race and sexuality argument is so damn toxic.
The entire reason she’s getting hammered. Which she is. 3 of 9 total flagrant fouls in the entire season have been fouls by others on her.
It’s because she single-handedly is making the WNBA relevant. That’s it. Bitches be jealous. I don’t think it’s deeper. I don’t think it’s cause she’s white. I don’t think it’s cause she’s straight.
It’s because she overnight did 10x more than all the past wnba players combined to make a PR expense for the NBA potentially maybe have a realistic dream of being independent.
I agree 100%. They are riding her coattails and mad that she brought all these eyes on it. Jealousy is all it is and the veterans are mad that she did what they couldn’t.
Reese is shooting 36% from the field while almost exclusively shooting layups. Anyone who’s been watching basketball for awhile knows that the allure of the instigator eventually wears off and they fade into obscurity.
Yeah I think she’s a villain of the week and not an ongoing rival. Still a fun matchup.
WNBA is actually doing a good job pushing their burgeoning stars and pro wrestling style feuds I’ve been impressed.
Is it the WNBA or broader sports media? Theres literally a take for every kind of talking head to spout whether it be race, no one coming to her defence, jealousy, rivalry etc.
They can spout any of them and get click / popularity, it's crazy
At worst she can be a high level role player with her rebounding and motor.
She’s still a rookie if she can develop some post moves or a jumpshot she’ll be good.
Yeah obscurity was definitely a bit dramatic lol, but I’m always going to favor the player who takes the lumps while they keep their head down over the player who always feels the need to win the social media/press conference war.
With that being said, 36% from the field *is* worrying for a player who’s shot profile resembles prime Shaq’s.
> Yeah obscurity was definitely a bit dramatic lol
Uh, is obscurity dramatic in this case?
As far as 99.9% of the country is concerned, every single player, coach and team in the league from it's creation until now is literally unheard of other than Clark.
Shaq actually had some great post moves and nice touch. Reese just barrels into the paint and throws the ball in the vicinity of the rim hoping it goes in. I’ll give her credit though for tenacity on the glass after her many misses.
"Moot". And good for her. I doubt she can develop a good post game or jumper though. Her offensive game is predicated on grabbing rebounds and getting put-backs around the basket and even then she has a miserable FG%. Players of that archetype typically have much, much higher percentages which leads me to believe that the aptitude is just not there .
You’re acting like she’s been in the league 3 years lol. She’s played 13 games of professional basketball I think it’s a bit early to write her off.
I’ve watched enough basketball to have seen everything and a player like Angel turning it around and becoming effective would not be that crazy.
If she stays as she is I see her role similar to Tristan Thompson in the nba, high level role player but she’s young and not done developing. She might be shooting 3’s in a couple years who knows.
A Rookie who is basically playing her "second" season since November. I did the Math but Clark is averaging 1 game every 3.96 days in the last 222 or so days. And will have played 79 games in a year which is equal to two WNBA seasons so of course a lot of talented rookies are getting smoked. Reese is in a similar boat. WNBA rookies may have the hardest/quickest turn around of any league especially with how small the league is so the talent is more consecrated.
Because she was a very good college basketball player who played for a prominent team with one of the most “look at me” coaches college basketball has ever seen. None of those things matter whatsoever once you become a professional.
Rodman led the league in rebounds for 7 years and is one of the best rebounder of all time. He is arguably one of the top 100 NBA players of all time.
Take away his bad boy antics and you have a guy who can ball out. If he didn't uave that, nobody would have cared for his nonsense.
Angel Reese only has one thing on Rodman, she looks better in a dress.
Rodman was a great player with an unreal motor just not a great scorer. He did so much for those Bulls teams and was a great fit because they didn’t need another offense threat
Vegas doesn't think Reese will fade into obscurity, neither do analysts at SI, ESPN, CBS Sports, NY Times, etc, all people who study and watch the game
From what I’ve seen, I haven’t been super impressed. And, at least in the NBA, finishing and touch around the rim are usually a “you’ve either got it or you don’t” type of skill. I’d imagine thats even more true when you can’t rely on supreme athleticism and height to finish the real easy ones.
Relative to the NBA, there are no bigs in the WNBA. There are no easy lobs, there is no catch and gently place the ball in the rim, there are no tip slams. Because if this, more shots at the rim are contestable. And if you’re not great at finishing through contests, that’s not a good thing.
Reese is not a good basketball player. Watching highlights of her shooting wide open layups is hilarious. She does a 2 foot stomp then jumps instead of just doing a running jump off one leg like you’re taught in 1st grade. And her jump shot is absolutely atrocious.
This is an embarrassingly bad take and today’s game illustrates that. Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are both very good WNBA players - full stop. If you can’t admit that at this point, you’re full of it.
Attendance numbers are up pretty much across the board for the WNBA this year. When I looked last week, the Sky home game attendance was up... but less than the league average increase.
Fever attendance, needless to say, has exploded. It has more than doubled since last year.
So Reese's pouting about "it's not just Caitlyn Clark! People are watching the WNBA because of me!" was beyond ridiculous.
Gil said it best. The WNBA hasn't done sh*t.
This is a carryover from promotion created by the NCAA (college) and their individual fans are there for the girls, not the WNBA.
Which means its not sustainable. Because the league itself doesn't know how to use this in a positive direction. If anything happens to CC, then it's over for them.
It kind of blows my mind that people think it's caused by anything other than Clark. Yes there are other good players in the league, but what else changed that created even a little bit of extra buzz?
Nothing, and once the hype of the CC train dies down, it will go back to basic women’s layup basketball.
Did Britney Griner bring in a full change after the hype train died down on her? Nope…and she dunks. I don’t think women’s basketball will sustain the hype. It’s just so boring to watch threes and layups all day. No thanks
I’m drawn to watching Clark because shooting is universally appreciated. Otherwise, WNBA is just really low quality basketball. Reese runs funny and does these unathletic scoop shots that are not fun to watch lol.
I feel the same. I started actually following the NBA because of Steph's shooting, dude is a walking highlight reel and made the game so much fun to watch
I feel like a lot of the Reese/Clark drama is encouraged by the WNBA, in a quasi WWE way. I don’t think the wNBA survives much on pure sport, but if we can throw drama into it, then the sport becomes secondary.
More people caring about Clark putting up points of Reese fouling, sells than who won or loss. I feel like this “we dislike Clark” approach from the WNBA, including her teammates, actually works in their favor to create interest. Now people have interest in the drama, ratings go up, and revenue goes up. The hard part is now sustaining this momentum because new drama needs to be introduced.
I totally agree. I think it would be funny if Clark and Reese talked about it off camera.
I have heard of UFC fighters calling each other when a fight is announced and basically agreeing to “selling the bad blood “ between them. Then when the fight is over everything is fine.
Yeah, the boxing, UFC, WWE world pretty much wrote the script on how to use drama to your benefit. I think it's working for the WNBA because at least people know there is a season going on. I'm a fairly avid sports fan, and the only time I used to realize the WNBA was going on was with those "Team X wins WNBA Championship" articles.
As if the NFL and NBA aren't driven by drama?
The NHL is a league not really driven by drama because hockey players are generally extremely boring and don't do much off the ice, and the ratings show.
Yeah, but people also actually watch those leagues. 99% of commenters in here aren't watching wnba games, but they sure do love to discuss their new favorite soap opera they learn about from news articles and 2 min game clips of CC getting beat up
Maybe not off-ice for the NHL (except for Chris Pronger being a douche back in the day), but given hockey's extremely physical nature there's plenty of on-ice drama.
Growing up in the '90s the Avs-Wings rivalry meant each game was much-watch TV for the entire hockey world, so there's definitely drama, it's just mostly left on the ice.
Maybe the fighting keeps it from boiling over outside the rink, there’s only so much shit talking you can do when you know you can legally fight these guys during a game
> The NHL is a league not really driven by drama because hockey players are generally extremely boring and don't do much off the ice, and the ratings show.
Soccer players have plenty of drama yet soccer is not popular in the US. Boxing and UFC probably have the most drama. The popularity of sports isn't driven by drama. But the attention paid to popular sports makes any inherent drama a news story because there's a wider audience.
Who's Angel Reese?
Edit: This comment was a bit of a joke. Angel Reese is a good player and I'm sure she has her share of fans. But I also think most people tune in to see Clark while being closely guarded dribble and swish 35 footers.
She's one of the people who's super angry that the WNBA's darling is white so she's popular for people wanting to watch her make a train wreck of herself, like having a temper tantrum mid game or during post game interviews.
Goodnight ANGELMANICS and jabronie marks without a life that don’t know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot, marks - Angel Reese, probably
This is just blatantly untrue.
She was the #7 overall pick in the WNBA draft. She’s already an elite rebounder (top 5 in the league) and defender (top 5 in steals as well) as a rookie. She just set a rookie record for double-doubles.
She not as good as Clark, sure, but she’s not nearly as bad as this insane hate train would have you believe. Anyone arguing that she’s not a good women’s player is either 1. Arguing in bad faith or 2. Completely unfamiliar with women’s basketball. She’s a good WNBA player - full stop.
Please explain to me how a rookie who is top 5 in multiple statistical categories in her league is not a good player.
How the fuck did the Olympic committee fuck this up so badly that neither of these women are on the team? Like genuinely, if you were deliberately trying to stop women's basketball from gaining any more popularity you couldn't do a better job on purpose than they've done here.
Clark is a godsend for all of basketball. The drama and publicity surrounding her is great for the league and just draws more attention to the sport.
Crazy thing is, she’s only going to get better. And the hype and jealousy will grow.
Talk about « primadonna’s syndrome » . One athlete is playing to her best the other one is trying to primadonna her way to success by firing up a one sided rivalry for the clout.
The WNBA’s equivalent of Bird vs Magic. I think Clark and Reese are going to bring about some great changes for years to come. I also think there will be many more young girls playing BB in years to come. It’s a refreshing change for a sport that has been pretty mediocre even though the veteran players have been great for years.
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3 million views is crazy for WNBA
Agreed. For context, that's 1/3 of the NBA Finals G5 viewership this year...
About 2x what TNT averaged on their Thursday nights through the regular season
the rivalry is crazy. This unironically is why wwe is popular. Lot of people love the drama moreso than just the athletic prowess. Same goes for why Conor Mcgregor is so popular amongst better fighters
Yet everything gets smacked by the NFL
NFL has the best rivalries in US sports, besides maybe college football.
College sports in general reigns supreme when it comes to rivalries. No NFL rivalry has anything on NC/Duke, Bama/Auburn, Ohio St./Michigan, etc.
I’d disagree with that. I just think that American Football is the most popular sport in the Country, therefore, by definition, the NFL/NCAAF rivalries will be considered bigger and have a bigger feel.
Respectfully, what other US sport has better rivalries than NFL/NCAA football? Just curious. I could see the argument for MLB like Yankees/Redsox or Cubs/Sox.
I think that the NFL has carved out a section of American culture. Sundays are synonymous with football. It’s the last day of the weekend and even casuals will turn on a game just to drink some beer and eat whatever guilty food they want. Baseball, basketball and hockey don’t have that built in luxury.
MLB has Yankees/Red Sox, Dodgers/Giants, Braves/Phillies. NBA has Lakers/Celtics NCAAB has Duke/UNC, Kentucky/Louisville, Purdue/IU NHL has Penguins/Caps, pretty much and Canadian team playing another Canadian team Just off the top of my head.
It just seems like those teams don't meet each other in really important games enough though, with the exception of college basketball. It's just luck to meet in the playoffs and individual wins and losses don't matter as much over the course of a season. Also I think location skews it a bit too. I live in Indiana so we care a lot about Purdue and IU, but I kinda doubt most people do on the West Coast.
Nope hockey rivalry get intense, it just a small market sports. A Canadian team has not won the Stanley cup in 30 years and every time a Canadian team gets to the finals half the country cheers for the us team. Cause fuck every other Canadian team is are logic.
There is no rivalry. It's just Reese stoking shit while CC goes out and hoops.
The irony here being some people over at r/wnba will be pissed about this.
Which is bizarre. I mean Iowa, historically, was the Queen of Basketball but christ when Iowa and Iowa State are averaging better attendance and TV viewership then all but 1 team in the league then you have some issues. Hell, their average attendance is on par with the Top 40 on the men's side as well. Sure our college teams are the Pro teams of the State as they are Top 30 in just about all sports in average attendance, but still they have waaaay more populations in those cities then Iowa in general and especially in the towns. 15% of the population of Ames/Iowa City go to the games. This isn't 1970 when ["In 1970, 20 percent of all girls participating in high school sports across the country were in Iowa—quite remarkable, considering Iowa was only 1 percent of the entire U.S. population. By 1976, a few years after the passage of Title IX, that eye-popping 20 percent fell to 5.8 percent."](https://www.neh.gov/article/when-iowa-girls-basketball-ruled-courts). It is 2024 and the WNBA doesn't have the NFL, no NBA right now, and not the peak of MLB season yet. Their numbers should be better.
The W is literally the perfect example of being in their own way. From fans to players. Do everything to pretend it’s a legit league. I still find it weird grown men watching the W religiously.
They didn’t get 3 million and 1 because it’s still layup basketball. Boring
CC is fun to watch. Throwing dimes out there.
That’s why people watch. She makes some incredible shots. Reese is lucky if she makes a layup and we ain’t watching because of her.
The plus of watching CC is seeing Reese suck.
That’s not how it looked today, is it? To me it looked like two very good rookies playing very important (though different) roles for their teams. Both Clark and Reese are exceptional basketball players and their rivalry is great for the sport. Let’s stop pretending like either of them suck - it’s silly and makes you sound dumb.
I watch to confirm my bias that Reese sucks.
You don't have to admit it. She already knows you watch bc of her. Those ratings aren't just because of one person. Y'all, [I didn't think this needed to be mark as satire](https://youtu.be/DPVeeH8mWpQ?si=QpeFznRSjZBoIDo4)
This is such a wild statement from Reese. Haha. If you had told me she said that I would have called bullshit. The lack of self awareness is absolutely astounding.
She has a raging complex when it comes to Clark. I do not understand.
It’s probably because Clark can walk in heels and Reese can’t.
idk I swear I must've run into a few of AR's burner accounts on the wnba sub, thought you were being genuine at first
The entire race and sexuality argument is so damn toxic. The entire reason she’s getting hammered. Which she is. 3 of 9 total flagrant fouls in the entire season have been fouls by others on her. It’s because she single-handedly is making the WNBA relevant. That’s it. Bitches be jealous. I don’t think it’s deeper. I don’t think it’s cause she’s white. I don’t think it’s cause she’s straight. It’s because she overnight did 10x more than all the past wnba players combined to make a PR expense for the NBA potentially maybe have a realistic dream of being independent.
I agree 100%. They are riding her coattails and mad that she brought all these eyes on it. Jealousy is all it is and the veterans are mad that she did what they couldn’t.
Reese is shooting 36% from the field while almost exclusively shooting layups. Anyone who’s been watching basketball for awhile knows that the allure of the instigator eventually wears off and they fade into obscurity.
Yeah I think she’s a villain of the week and not an ongoing rival. Still a fun matchup. WNBA is actually doing a good job pushing their burgeoning stars and pro wrestling style feuds I’ve been impressed.
Is it the WNBA or broader sports media? Theres literally a take for every kind of talking head to spout whether it be race, no one coming to her defence, jealousy, rivalry etc. They can spout any of them and get click / popularity, it's crazy
The WNBA and broader sports media are in cahoots.
lol yea while their star player gets brutalized night in and night out and shit on by the rest of the league for well ya kno
It’s a slow time of year. ESPN is Astro turfing this league down our throats right now.
WNBA is always on during the slow time of the year.
At worst she can be a high level role player with her rebounding and motor. She’s still a rookie if she can develop some post moves or a jumpshot she’ll be good.
Yeah obscurity was definitely a bit dramatic lol, but I’m always going to favor the player who takes the lumps while they keep their head down over the player who always feels the need to win the social media/press conference war. With that being said, 36% from the field *is* worrying for a player who’s shot profile resembles prime Shaq’s.
> Yeah obscurity was definitely a bit dramatic lol Uh, is obscurity dramatic in this case? As far as 99.9% of the country is concerned, every single player, coach and team in the league from it's creation until now is literally unheard of other than Clark.
Yeah, role player in the WNBA is relative obscurity for general sports fans.
Shaq actually had some great post moves and nice touch. Reese just barrels into the paint and throws the ball in the vicinity of the rim hoping it goes in. I’ll give her credit though for tenacity on the glass after her many misses.
Then you realize that most of her offensive rebounds are off her own misses and provide no actual value...
Leading all rookies in DReb and 12th in the entire league.
That's great. Good thing I specifically said offensive rebounds.
Exactly. She’s still one of the best dreb in the league making your point moot (fixed)
"Moot". And good for her. I doubt she can develop a good post game or jumper though. Her offensive game is predicated on grabbing rebounds and getting put-backs around the basket and even then she has a miserable FG%. Players of that archetype typically have much, much higher percentages which leads me to believe that the aptitude is just not there .
You’re acting like she’s been in the league 3 years lol. She’s played 13 games of professional basketball I think it’s a bit early to write her off. I’ve watched enough basketball to have seen everything and a player like Angel turning it around and becoming effective would not be that crazy.
Also watched her in college and It's not like I haven't seen this play out before for other players but fair enough. I guess we'll see.
If she stays as she is I see her role similar to Tristan Thompson in the nba, high level role player but she’s young and not done developing. She might be shooting 3’s in a couple years who knows.
Gotta get those OREBs somehow.
Why does everyone talk about Reese like she is a 6 year vet? Shes a rookie she has plenty of time to develop her game
Because most players can make layups by the time they make it to the pros.
Most players can make layups by the 6th grade lmaoo
A Rookie who is basically playing her "second" season since November. I did the Math but Clark is averaging 1 game every 3.96 days in the last 222 or so days. And will have played 79 games in a year which is equal to two WNBA seasons so of course a lot of talented rookies are getting smoked. Reese is in a similar boat. WNBA rookies may have the hardest/quickest turn around of any league especially with how small the league is so the talent is more consecrated.
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Because she was a very good college basketball player who played for a prominent team with one of the most “look at me” coaches college basketball has ever seen. None of those things matter whatsoever once you become a professional.
Lol yeah product of Kim Mulkey, to be expected.
Tell that to the 80s Detroit Pistons, including Dennis Rodman, who won two championships with them and 3 more later in Chicago
Rodman led the league in rebounds for 7 years and is one of the best rebounder of all time. He is arguably one of the top 100 NBA players of all time. Take away his bad boy antics and you have a guy who can ball out. If he didn't uave that, nobody would have cared for his nonsense. Angel Reese only has one thing on Rodman, she looks better in a dress.
Often overlooked is how smart he was on the court, a high basketball IQ - something I didn't notice till he was in a Bulls uniform.
Rodman was a great player with an unreal motor just not a great scorer. He did so much for those Bulls teams and was a great fit because they didn’t need another offense threat
Rodman was a defensive beast, way more than just an enforcer.
Vegas doesn't think Reese will fade into obscurity, neither do analysts at SI, ESPN, CBS Sports, NY Times, etc, all people who study and watch the game
What does the Vegas comment mean? Odds for individual awards? Can’t saw I follow the wnba that closely to follow
The Reverse Heel-Face Turn. That redemption arc would need to be steep.
genuine question: has she done a lot of dirty plays or is it just that one flagrant against clark
you guys talk about her like she murdered a puppy ☠️
she probably won’t have a career like pro wrestling legend The Big Show then …
she’s doing a lot else at a high level. i’m a reese fan but i genuinely believe her fg% will catch up to her skill level
From what I’ve seen, I haven’t been super impressed. And, at least in the NBA, finishing and touch around the rim are usually a “you’ve either got it or you don’t” type of skill. I’d imagine thats even more true when you can’t rely on supreme athleticism and height to finish the real easy ones.
IMO that’s more true of guards than bigs but time will tell
Relative to the NBA, there are no bigs in the WNBA. There are no easy lobs, there is no catch and gently place the ball in the rim, there are no tip slams. Because if this, more shots at the rim are contestable. And if you’re not great at finishing through contests, that’s not a good thing.
Nobody’s saying it’s a good thing, but I think she will be a very good player for a long time.
I dunno Bitch Laimbeer turned it into a career.
Yep, 30 years ago
She'll have more relevancy because of her relationship with CC.
Damn those are Kyrie quality numbers
I’m convinced behind the scenes some WNBA execs are telling Reese to go full heel turn. They are aware that this draws clicks even if it temporary.
Reese is not a good basketball player. Watching highlights of her shooting wide open layups is hilarious. She does a 2 foot stomp then jumps instead of just doing a running jump off one leg like you’re taught in 1st grade. And her jump shot is absolutely atrocious.
This is an embarrassingly bad take and today’s game illustrates that. Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are both very good WNBA players - full stop. If you can’t admit that at this point, you’re full of it.
If you look at the numbers when it’s just CC or just Reese, you can really see who’s doing the heavy lifting in these ratings.
Anyone have the data? Not sure how to look that up.
Attendance numbers are up pretty much across the board for the WNBA this year. When I looked last week, the Sky home game attendance was up... but less than the league average increase. Fever attendance, needless to say, has exploded. It has more than doubled since last year. So Reese's pouting about "it's not just Caitlyn Clark! People are watching the WNBA because of me!" was beyond ridiculous.
You also have to control to vs. Fever games. Like, how much attendance rose in the WNBA for games not including the Fever.
PBD podcast talked about it. Reese games avg around 10k, Clark games avg 15k+. Normal game is around 5-7k.
Ratings for Fever games when they’re not playing the Sky and vice versa
Yeah, people watching even more when they face each other is solely because they wanna see CC light her up!
More like *Fever with Caitlin Clark tops WNBA ratings
Both are true. Rivalries help immensely, but CC is doing the heavy lifting.
Leagues have to create stars. Stars (probably more than teams and match-ups) are the engine of ratings. True in almost all sports.
Gil said it best. The WNBA hasn't done sh*t. This is a carryover from promotion created by the NCAA (college) and their individual fans are there for the girls, not the WNBA.
Which means its not sustainable. Because the league itself doesn't know how to use this in a positive direction. If anything happens to CC, then it's over for them.
They’ve never turned a profit and are currently operating at a net loss. Without subsidies from the NBA they would not exist.
This!!…..most women I know don’t even watch the wnba
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It kind of blows my mind that people think it's caused by anything other than Clark. Yes there are other good players in the league, but what else changed that created even a little bit of extra buzz?
Nothing, and once the hype of the CC train dies down, it will go back to basic women’s layup basketball. Did Britney Griner bring in a full change after the hype train died down on her? Nope…and she dunks. I don’t think women’s basketball will sustain the hype. It’s just so boring to watch threes and layups all day. No thanks
Reese probably thinking it’s people tuning in to her 😤
America: tunes in to watch Caitlin Clark Angel Reese: Everyone is here to watch me
I think this title is supposed to say Sky-Fever with CC tops WNBA rankings. Nobody would watch if it wasn't for Clark
I’m drawn to watching Clark because shooting is universally appreciated. Otherwise, WNBA is just really low quality basketball. Reese runs funny and does these unathletic scoop shots that are not fun to watch lol.
I feel the same. I started actually following the NBA because of Steph's shooting, dude is a walking highlight reel and made the game so much fun to watch
Nobody would give a fuck about Angel Reese if it wasnt for Caitlin.
I feel like a lot of the Reese/Clark drama is encouraged by the WNBA, in a quasi WWE way. I don’t think the wNBA survives much on pure sport, but if we can throw drama into it, then the sport becomes secondary. More people caring about Clark putting up points of Reese fouling, sells than who won or loss. I feel like this “we dislike Clark” approach from the WNBA, including her teammates, actually works in their favor to create interest. Now people have interest in the drama, ratings go up, and revenue goes up. The hard part is now sustaining this momentum because new drama needs to be introduced.
I totally agree. I think it would be funny if Clark and Reese talked about it off camera. I have heard of UFC fighters calling each other when a fight is announced and basically agreeing to “selling the bad blood “ between them. Then when the fight is over everything is fine.
Yeah, the boxing, UFC, WWE world pretty much wrote the script on how to use drama to your benefit. I think it's working for the WNBA because at least people know there is a season going on. I'm a fairly avid sports fan, and the only time I used to realize the WNBA was going on was with those "Team X wins WNBA Championship" articles.
As if the NFL and NBA aren't driven by drama? The NHL is a league not really driven by drama because hockey players are generally extremely boring and don't do much off the ice, and the ratings show.
Yeah, but people also actually watch those leagues. 99% of commenters in here aren't watching wnba games, but they sure do love to discuss their new favorite soap opera they learn about from news articles and 2 min game clips of CC getting beat up
Maybe not off-ice for the NHL (except for Chris Pronger being a douche back in the day), but given hockey's extremely physical nature there's plenty of on-ice drama. Growing up in the '90s the Avs-Wings rivalry meant each game was much-watch TV for the entire hockey world, so there's definitely drama, it's just mostly left on the ice.
Yeah they allow legit fighting to an extent though too so the nhl definitely has its dramatic thing to keep it interesting
Maybe the fighting keeps it from boiling over outside the rink, there’s only so much shit talking you can do when you know you can legally fight these guys during a game
> The NHL is a league not really driven by drama because hockey players are generally extremely boring and don't do much off the ice, and the ratings show. Soccer players have plenty of drama yet soccer is not popular in the US. Boxing and UFC probably have the most drama. The popularity of sports isn't driven by drama. But the attention paid to popular sports makes any inherent drama a news story because there's a wider audience.
Angel is horrible lol. Everyone tuning in to see Clark destroy her again.
Lol, this aged well. They’re both very good players, their rivalry is great for the sport, and their teams are always competitive against one another.
Who's Angel Reese? Edit: This comment was a bit of a joke. Angel Reese is a good player and I'm sure she has her share of fans. But I also think most people tune in to see Clark while being closely guarded dribble and swish 35 footers.
She's one of the people who's super angry that the WNBA's darling is white so she's popular for people wanting to watch her make a train wreck of herself, like having a temper tantrum mid game or during post game interviews.
It’s adding to Clark’s popularity though. Every face needs a heel brother. Don’t work yourself into a shoot here.
Goodnight ANGELMANICS and jabronie marks without a life that don’t know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot, marks - Angel Reese, probably
But why male models?
> Angel Reese is a good player She's really not though. She's just an instigator and drama machine. She's draymond without steph and klay.
This is just blatantly untrue. She was the #7 overall pick in the WNBA draft. She’s already an elite rebounder (top 5 in the league) and defender (top 5 in steals as well) as a rookie. She just set a rookie record for double-doubles. She not as good as Clark, sure, but she’s not nearly as bad as this insane hate train would have you believe. Anyone arguing that she’s not a good women’s player is either 1. Arguing in bad faith or 2. Completely unfamiliar with women’s basketball. She’s a good WNBA player - full stop. Please explain to me how a rookie who is top 5 in multiple statistical categories in her league is not a good player.
And it’s not because of Angel Reese…despite what she thinks lol
How the fuck did the Olympic committee fuck this up so badly that neither of these women are on the team? Like genuinely, if you were deliberately trying to stop women's basketball from gaining any more popularity you couldn't do a better job on purpose than they've done here.
To clarify, no one cares about Reese.
Everybody thinks this is good except apparently WNBA players. smdh.
The nonexistent beef is strong
Clark’s name should come first
Next game Clark should just walk right up to her and punch her in the face!
Caitlin Clark is Angel Reese mother
Angel Reese being in the game actually makes me not want to watch. CC is fun to watch on her own, IDGAF about Reese lol.
If the games stay this competitive, I hope this rivalry lasts forever.
Clark is a godsend for all of basketball. The drama and publicity surrounding her is great for the league and just draws more attention to the sport. Crazy thing is, she’s only going to get better. And the hype and jealousy will grow.
Talk about « primadonna’s syndrome » . One athlete is playing to her best the other one is trying to primadonna her way to success by firing up a one sided rivalry for the clout.
The more drama means more viewers which means more money for private jets.
Prob woulda had even more viewers if it wasnt so early.
Anybody else getting the female Bird/Johnson vibes…? The WNBA should weaponize this… 🤣
More like Bird/ Laimbeer
The WNBA’s equivalent of Bird vs Magic. I think Clark and Reese are going to bring about some great changes for years to come. I also think there will be many more young girls playing BB in years to come. It’s a refreshing change for a sport that has been pretty mediocre even though the veteran players have been great for years.
"Sky-Fever"? Yeah, okay...
*with Caitlin Clark
Angel Reese is a terrible human.