NEW YORK — ESPN’s broadcast of the Connecticut Sun’s game against No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever had the highest viewership for a WNBA game on the network.
The Sun’s 92-71 win over the Fever in Clark’s WNBA debut on the league’s opening night for the 2024 season Tuesday drew an average of 2.1 million viewers on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+, including a high of 2.3 million viewers between 7:45 p.m. and 7:59 p.m. That topped ESPN’s previous mark of nearly 1.5 million viewers for a game between Connecticut and the Phoenix Mercury on May 22, 2004, in Diana Taurasi’s rookie season.
Tuesday’s second game between Phoenix — with Taurasi tipping off what could be her final season — and the two-time reigning champion Las Vegas Aces averaged 464,000 viewers.
The two games averaged 1.28 million, a 192% increase over the league’s average last year for broadcasts on ESPN.
Clark set the NCAA’s all-time scoring record at Iowa last season, and she was a big reason why a record 18.9 million viewers tuned in last month to the Division I women’s national championship game, which her Hawkeyes lost to unbeaten South Carolina.
Clark’s addition to the WNBA has already been a big boost for the league. The WNBA draft had record viewership, and three teams have already moved their games to bigger arenas to keep up with the demand for tickets to watch the sharp-shooting guard play.