Caitlin Clark-less WNBA All-Star Game sees TV rating plummet vs. 2024

The WNBA All-Star Game ratings saw a dip in 2025 compared to the 2024 version of the game, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. The game this year featured Team Clark vs. Team Collier.

Last year, Caitlin Clark, who did not play due to injury in this year’s game even on her own aptly named team, led the WNBA All-Star game interest when her and teammates played the Olympic Team. Without her in action, plus a different setup, the ratings fell.

Last season, there were 3.44 million viewers for the WNBA All-Star Game. This past weekend, it dipped 36% down to 2.19 million viewers, per the report. Team Collier defeated Team Clark, without the second-year superstar, 151-131 Saturday night.

The larger issue surrounding the WNBA is their current CBA negotiation. The players came out for warmups sporting tee-shirts saying “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”

Clark took an apparent shot from fellow all-star Kelsey Plum, who described the shirts postgame with Sabrina Ionescu. She claimed Team Clark wasn’t quite on the same page with the statement at first.

“It was a very powerful moment,” Plum told reporters after the game. “As players, we didn’t know that that was going to happen. It was a genuine surprise. The T-shirt was determined this morning. Not to tattletale: zero members of Team Clark were very present for that.”

Granted, that stirred social media debates about whether or not WNBA players deserve the same pay as NBA players, which spiraled into the semantics of what they actually meant. With expansion in the league, players feel if franchises are much more valuable these days, they feel they are owed a bigger piece of a growing pie.

“WNBA All-Star capts. Napheesa Collier & Caitlin Clark addressing the media right now,” Annie Costabile of FOS said via X during All-Star Weekend. “Both have fielded questions on the CBA. Clark said players are fortunate to have lucrative deals off the court, but they’re fighting for better W paychecks as the league continues to grow.”

Currently, each WNBA team works with a salary cap of $1,507,100 per team. There is also a required minimum to spend, coming in at $1,261,440. Not a huge difference between the cap and floor, meaning teams are usually working with a tight budget.

Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings is currently the WNBA’s highest-paid player. She signed a three-year deal worth $725,952 back in 2023 for an average annual value coming in at $241,984. Orgunbowale is the only player to surpass the $700,000 total.

Since the WNBA came to fruition back in 1997, there has never been a lockout. Deals have continually gotten done and seen plenty of basketball played. Maybe there is a first on the way as players are looking to solve what they believe is a major issue.