Fever star Caitlin Clark offers a surprising reason for NBA's ratings decline

Caitlin Clark joined Travis and Jason Kelce for the latest episode of their podcast “New Heights,” where she was asked about the declining NBA ratings. The WNBA star shared an interesting opinion on the league.

“Honestly, like, I feel like the average basketball fan doesn’t understand how good NBA players are and they think it looks like they’re not trying. I promise you they’re trying, they’re just so good, like that’s why it looks like they’re not trying,” she explained.

She went on, “Obviously, the physicality of the league has changed a lot, and I wasn’t around when it was like much more physical, and maybe people want more like beef and physicality, and people think it’s gotten soft, but I think that’s also because the skill has just changed.” Clark noted that basketball is constantly evolving, “It’s going to be different than when MJ played. It’s going to be different in 10 years than it is now.”

While she admitted that it was hard to “put [her] finger on why it has gone down,” she acknowledged that the NBA‘s ratings also have to compete with the dominance of football, especially during the fall. “Football is just, you know, that’s America’s favorite thing,” Clark explained.

Reports from the first two weeks of the 2024-25 NBA season indicated double-digit declines in viewership for ESPN and TNT broadcasts. However, the ratings for Christmas Day were a bright spot. According to Nielsen, the NBA’s five-game slate on Christmas Day averaged 5.34 million viewers, marking an 87 percent increase from Christmas Day 2024. It also became ESPN’s most-watched Christmas Day since 2019, when the network drew an average of 5.34 million viewers.

see also

What makes the NBA and WNBA different? A detailed look at their key distinctions

Clark was key for a historical year for the WNBA

Last season, Clark played a pivotal role in the growing popularity of the WNBA. According to Forbes, nationally televised games averaged 657,000 viewers, marking the highest viewership in the league’s 24-season history. Clark’s games with the Fever drew an impressive 1.18 million viewers on average, far surpassing the 394,000 viewers for all other games.

Meanwhile, the WNBA reported its highest total attendance in 22 years, with 2,353,735 fans attending games—an increase of 48% compared to the previous season. The league also saw a dramatic rise in sellouts, with 154 games sold out, a 242% jump from the 45 sellouts the season before.

After earning WNBA Rookie of the Year honors and guiding the Indiana Fever to their first playoff appearance since 2016, Clark is now setting her sights on leading the team to a championship in her second season as a professional.