athlete’s impact on viewership

From Caitlin Clark’s ability to represent strong female athletes to Jared Mccain’s ability to bring in a younger crowd, a new wave of sports fans have been formed. Many sport surrounded fan bases aren't just built off of the love for the sport, but also from seeing the athletes you admire and look up to on the big screen. 

This year, the Indiana Fever drafted Caitlin Clark from the University of Iowa to play for The Women’s National Basketball Team (WNBA). Clark’s star status while playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes caught the attention of many, drawing in a crowd of 18.9 million (ESPN Press Room) for the final between Iowa and South Carolina. This game became the most watched women’s college basketball game of all time. Eager to see where Clark’s basketball career would go, 2.45 million (TIME) fans, new and old, tuned in to watch the WNBA draft, including Samo student Kaveh Naini (’26).

“The way she was fully able to take control of the game in college during March Madness was really interesting to watch and I was interested in seeing how her game would translate to the WNBA,” Naini stated. “She reminded me of watching a young Stephen Curry and it sparked my interest in the league [WNBA].”

Clark and other rookies such as Angel Reese, a player on the Chicago Sky, have had major impacts on the overall increase in viewership of the WNBA. Clark and Reese have been rivals since their times playing college basketball, and fans anxiously awaited to see them compete in a regular season game. The much anticipated game took place on June 23 bringing in 2.3 million viewers (NY Times), marking the most viewed WNBA game in over 23 years. 

Over the past couple of years, Major League Baseball has caught the attention of many Japanese baseball fans and American fans alike. Although Japan has their own popular baseball league, the Nippon Professional Baseball, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s performance in the MLB’s World Series escalated the popularity and viewership of this sport by millions. Game two of the Yankees versus Dodgers World Series game drew in an average of 15.9 million Japanese viewers (MLB), making it the most ever viewed post season game in the country. Game one of the series had an average of 14.9 million viewers in Japan (MLB), making it the second most watched game in the country.