Chicago Sky forward Brianna Turner thinks it isn’t a coincidence that WNBA expansion and Caitlin Clark’s rise in popularity are seemingly happening in lock-step. Turner believes that can only help the exposure women’s basketball is getting.
Ask many basketball fans who they are watching right now, and there’s a pretty good chance that Caitlin Clark is on that list. The growth of women’s sports, and basketball, in particular, is hard to ignore. That will only continue when Clark joins the WNBA in April. The WNBA is seemingly growing in parallel and has plans to expand to 14 teams by 2025.
While promoting Fanatics’ Athlete Immersion Program — which helps expose athletes to possibilities outside of sports — Chicago Sky forward Brianna Turner shared with For the Win that sometimes it’s hard to believe just how much good exposure women’s basketball and the WNBA are receiving because of Caitlin Clark.
CBS Sports delivers the most-watched women’s college basketball conference tournament game ever on any network as the Big Ten Championship between Iowa and Nebraska averaged more than 3 million viewers and peaked with 4.450 million viewers in OT pic.twitter.com/wWDzdN6LWX
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) March 12, 2024
Here’s what Brianna shared with us about WNBA expansion and Caitlin Clark’s popularity coinciding:
“It’s really exciting. I think it shows how fast women’s sports are growing. Every year, you see, ‘Oh, this women’s team has this much more exposure.’ I feel like a lot of people just got introduced to basketball from seeing Caitlin Clark.
My biggest surprise has been how much so many different organizations are covering her. Without hesitation, they’re like, ‘Look at this deep three she made,’ and it’s from five years ago. That would [previously] be reserved for a women’s only account. But now, so many people see her. The exposure women’s basketball is getting is so great.
I look forward to Caitlin Clark fans supporting other fans and becoming fans of our league as they learn about its history.”
