How Caitlin Clark Is Shaping WNBA’s Economic Future

“No league is ever about one player,…”

“… but in this case, Caitlin brought tens of millions of new viewers into the W. And there’s no denying that impact.” That was WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, summing up what’s now widely called the CC Effect. Because things were never like this in the W.

When the WNBA launched in 1997, it wasn’t chasing profit. Approved by the NBA governors, it was built to provide a platform.

Meanwhile, the men’s game was in a different league, booming in ways the women’s side could only imagine. In the same year the W tipped off, MIT economists Jerry Hausman and Gregory Leonard published a study. “A significant portion of an NBA team’s revenue can be traced to Michael Jordan,” read their report in the Journal of Labor Economics.

The research found that Michael Jordan generated $53 million for other teams during the 1991–92 season, which would now translate to $121 million! His presence was an economic engine fueling the entire league. Fast forward to now.

The WNBA has its own Jordan-like moment. Caitlin Clark, in her own way. But she didn’t bring magic overnight.

CC shattered records even before she turned pro. Her NCAA scoring run made casual fans tune in. People who had never watched women’s basketball suddenly couldn’t look away. And it was rewarded in her WNBA debut, drawing over 2.1 million viewers across platforms. The league’s most-watched game in over two decades.

And as Nancy Lieberman put it: “I did my job. Taurasi did her job. Bird, Catchings…everybody had a hand..in the growth of women’s basketball. But what Caitlin did in college, she got you watching. She got the average person watching.”

Yes, it took years of grinding, growth, and loyal fans to build the foundation. But these last two years? That rocket ship of growth doesn’t take off without Caitlin Clark.

The Caitlin Clark effect on and off the court

Caitlin Clark’s rookie season was historic in every sense:

But this story isn’t just about what she did on the court—it’s about her impact off the court, and that’s what makes her even more special. “She’s doing economically what Tiger Woods did for golf. He changed the attendance. He changed the ratings. He changed the purses,” was Nancy Lieberman’s bold claim, and fair to her, she isn’t wrong.

The “Tiger Effect” has been undeniable since Tiger Woods burst onto the scene in the late 1990s, with his presence alone driving TV viewership up by an estimated 30-35%, according to former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson. And now, we’re seeing similar groundbreaking numbers with Caitlin Clark. From jerseys to sellout crowds to TV ratings, Clark accounted for 26.5% of the WNBA’s economic engine last year.

To put this phenomenon into perspective, Judd Cramer, an economics lecturer at Harvard, points out the dramatic rise in media rights valuations and franchise values across women’s sports since Clark’s senior year at Iowa.

The WNBA is now projected to generate $925 million in expansion fees by 2030. Just a year earlier, the league secured a historic $2.2 billion TV deal for the next 11 years, guaranteeing $200 million annually.

Speaking of valuations, the Indiana Fever’s worth skyrocketed by 273%, climbing to $335 million, the third-highest in the league. They now trail only the New York Liberty at $420 million and the Golden State Valkyries at $500 million. According to the same Sportico report, the collective valuation of WNBA teams has surged to $3.5 billion, with the average franchise now valued at $269 million—a massive leap from the $96 million average just a year ago in 2024.

Did you know? The 13 WNBA franchises jumped in value by an average of 180% in the past year, more than twice the largest year-over-year growth ever recorded by any major sports league.

While her rookie season was nothing short of extraordinary, this year, the WNBA truly felt her absence.

As Nancy Lieberman put it, “I think ratings have gone down over 500%.” Now, while that number might be a bit of an exaggeration, the drop has still been staggering. After Caitlin Clark injured her left quadriceps, nationally televised WNBA viewership plunged by 55%, according to Nielsen ratings. And it didn’t stop there, the Fever’s national TV games also saw a 53% decline, slipping from an average of 1,810,000 viewers before her injury to just 847,000 after.

The kind of impact Caitlin Clark has had on the league comes down to the magic she creates on the court. From logo threes to no-look dimes, she can do it all. Fans turn up to watch her games just like they do with Stephen Curry and LeBron James. As long as Clark is on the floor, the WNBA will keep drawing more eyeballs. As former ESPN executive John Kosner sums it up, “I think every commissioner in every sport wishes he or she had a Caitlin Clark.”

Cathy has her Queen, and in this game, protecting the Queen means protecting the future of the league.