Clark has superstar crossover potential
How big a star can Caitlin Clark be?
More people watched Monday night as the Iowa senior guard and her teammates dispatched LSU in the NCAA tournament’s Elite Eight than have ever watched any women’s college basketball game.
Yes, that includes all NCAA title games and those on broadcast networks. According to Nielsen, ESPN drew a whopping 12.3 million viewers on average for the Hawkeyes’ 94-87 win, which broke the record of 11.84 million set by the 1983 title game between Louisiana Tech and the University of Southern California.
But wait, there’s more about Clark being the biggest women’s basketball draw ever. In Nielsen’s current metered era (since 1988), the previous record was set by last year’s NCAA title game between, you guessed it, Iowa and LSU, when the Tigers won 102-85 and the telecast drew an average of 9.9 million on ABC and ESPN2.
But wait, there’s more. Monday’s Elite Eight nightcap on ESPN between the University of Connecticut and USC had an average audience of 6.7 million, making it the fourth-most watched women’s college basketball game since 1995. The three ahead of it all included Clark.
Which leads back to the original question about Clark, as well as some other questions. Now what? How does women’s basketball capitalize on a generational star like Clark? Can the sport capitalize on it?
The numbers will likely be bigger come Friday at the Final Four in Cleveland, when Clark’s Hawkeyes face UConn, with the Huskies led by their own standout guard in Paige Bueckers.
Clark announced ahead of senior day at Iowa last month that she would not return for a fifth college season — she had that option because of the NCAA’s blanket waiver granted to athletes early in the COVID-19 pandemic — and would instead make herself available for the WNBA draft, which is April 15 in New York. LSU star Angel Reese made her own declaration Wednesday via a Vogue story and photo layout.
Here’s another question: Could Clark and Reese be the WNBA’s version of Bird and Magic for the next decade?
Not sure if the carryover is there, but the numbers are enormous. Heck, Mondays are normally dominated by WWE vehicles, especially on cable. But ESPN’s leadup studio show — on women’s hoops, people — and the midnight “SportsCenter” recapping the Monday hoopla beat each hour of WWE.
Maybe this is a singular point in time as the cosmic tumblers click for women’s college basketball, but what is Clark’s ceiling as an A-list sports star?
She already has monster endorsements with monster clients including Gatorade and State Farm. Moreover, she has an undeniable national appeal, and in a vacuum for women athletes in general
and women who play basketball in particular, that will cross over to pop culture. If the Hawkeyes win it all — and especially if they do it against an unbeaten South Carolina, which must get past North Carolina State in Friday’s first national semifinal to reach 37-0 — “Saturday Night Live” would be foolish not to have her host.
She will walk away with more ESPYs (if that counts for anything) than the Dream Team.
My seventh-grade daughter watched almost every minute of Clark’s magnificence Monday, and when it ended, she wanted to know when the Hawkeyes played again.
That’s drawing power across generations, friends, and there may have been better and more accomplished women’s college basketball players in my lifetime, but none who have been appointment TV.
Heck, dare I say it, Caitlin Clark — if the cards fall right — could be Taylor Swift with 3-point range.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.