Dawn Staley: 'Caitlin Clark is the sole reason why viewership has shot through the roof for our game'

As Caitlin Clark went through her senior season, she not only set multiple records on the court, but also helped bring a historic audience to women’s basketball. The top three most-watched women’s college basketball games in history all involved Clark and Iowa, and they all came in the final three rounds of the NCAA Tournament, according to Sports Media Watch.

In that last game, though, Clark and the Hawkeyes came up short. Dawn Staley and South Carolina defeated Iowa to complete a 38-0 season and bring home a second national championship in three years. That title matchup became the most-watched sporting outside of the Olympics and football since 2019 as more than 18 million people tuned to ESPN.

South Carolina was the best team in the country all year, even with a revamped roster. But Staley knew why the ratings were surging – and it’s going to have an impact on women’s basketball for years to come after Clark went to the Indiana Fever as the No. 1 overall pick in this week’s WNBA Draft.

“Caitlin Clark is the sole reason why viewership has shot through the roof for our game. Sole reason,” Clark said Wednesday on The Bernstein and Holmes Show on 670 The Score in Chicago. “And I think the decision-makers are following suit in making sure that other games are being played besides Caitlin Clark because if you play Caitlin Clark, you’re gonna run up against somebody that you might find is pretty good. We were pretty good. Over 18 million people saw our national championship game.

“They’re tuned in to see Caitlin Clark, but what did they get? They got Caitlin Clark and they got South Carolina – they got Kamilla Cardoso, they got Ashlyn Watkins, they got MiLaysia Fulwiley, they got Tessa Johnson. They got a number of players that they can now cheer for.”

Dawn Staley: Caitlin Clark is ‘the greatest of her time’

As women’s basketball drew more eyeballs, the conversation about Clark’s success became more than just her logo threes and NCAA all-time scoring record. It shifted toward whether she needed to win a championship to be considered one of the greatest players in history – or maybe the greatest of all time.

To Staley, that conversation isn’t necessarily disrespect toward Clark. Instead, it’s a way to make sure new fans know some of the names to come before her. Players such as Cheryl Miller, Jackie Stiles and Breanna Stewart, among many others, helped pave the way.

That said, Staley argued Clark is in a class of her own for her time in college, and the discussion should now turn to the game as a whole rather than just one player. She pointed to the state of the game in 2020-21 to make that point when Clark was a freshman in the same class as another star who captivated the nation: Paige Bueckers.

“Let me say this. I don’t think other people are hating on Caitlin Clark. I think it was more respect for the history of the game,” Staley said. “It comes from that perspective because when you think of some of the greats – you throw around the greatest college basketball player ever, I think of Breanna Stewart, who won four championships. I do. I’m never gonna forget that because she banged it on our head all four years. And then, when I think about Caitlin Clark, I do think she’s one of the greatest. She’s the greatest of her time. She’s the greatest of her time. And I want women’s basketball to grow, and I’m not too shy about saying why it grows. She’s made it grow over the past two years.

“And I’m actually gonna go back to her freshman year when she was killing then when nobody wanted to talk about Caitlin Clark because Paige Bueckers was all of that – deserving so. But I saw Caitlin Clark, Caitlin Clark won my Dawn Staley Award her freshman year when everything was about Paige Bueckers. And that’s nothing to take away from Paige Bueckers, but it’s everything to say that we need to make sure that we’re telling the stories of our entire game. So sometimes, you have to go against the masses to really cut down and say what’s happening in real time.”