Caitlin Clark, who played a pivotal role in boosting attendance at arenas and increasing viewership both in her final college season and rookie year in the WNBA, has been named Time’s Athlete of the Year.
At 22, Clark continued to fuel the growing popularity of the WNBA and women’s college basketball in 2024, dazzling fans with her long-range shooting and precise passing.
In her first season with the Indiana Fever, following an exceptional college career at Iowa, Clark was named Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the All-WNBA First Team—making her the first rookie to do so since 2008. She also set rookie records for points and three-pointers, and became the first rookie to record a triple-double. In addition to her scoring prowess, Clark set new WNBA records for assists in a season and in a single game.
During her final season at Iowa, Clark made history by breaking the NCAA Division I women’s basketball scoring record, and then surpassing Pete Maravich’s all-time Division I scoring record.
This year also marked the first time the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game garnered more viewers than the men’s, with 18.9 million tuning in to watch South Carolina’s 87-75 victory over Iowa. This viewership surpassed games from the NBA Finals and the World Series.
The WNBA also saw a significant surge in ratings this season, not only due to Clark’s presence but across the board. The league experienced its most-watched regular season in 24 years, and the WNBA Finals, where the New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx, drew the highest viewership in 25 years. Attendance figures soared, with the Fever setting a new single-season record of 340,715 home fans and breaking the WNBA single-game attendance record with 20,711 spectators at a game against the Washington Mystics on September 19.
Clark also made her debut on Sportico’s list of the highest-paid female athletes, earning $11.1 million—most of which came from endorsements, as her WNBA salary was just $100,000.
