Caitlin Clark leaves WNBA legend in little doubt with telling seven-word statement

WNBA legend Sue Bird has summed up Caitlin Clark’s incredible impact on the WNBA, which has seen a huge rise in popularity and media interest in 2024

Caitlin Clark is the single biggest factor behind the WNBA’s recent boom, according to Sue Bird.

The league was heading the right direction prior to Clark being the number one pick in April’s draft, with viewing figures for 2023 up on the previous year. But Bird says Indiana Fever sensation has put the foot to floor in terms of the WNBA’s development, which has seen interest spike to never-scene-before levels.

Appearing on The Deal podcast, Bird summed up the 22-year-old’s impact in a seven-word statement: “She poured gasoline all over that thing.”

All of a sudden, this player named Caitlin Clark comes,” said Bird, 44, who spent her entire career with the Seattle Storm and is now a part-owner of the organization.

“And the way I frame it is, fire was going, it was burning. And it was burning brighter.

“Even if you look at the 2023 viewership in the WNBA Finals, it was way higher than 2022. It was starting, the fire was there, but Caitlin came, and she poured gasoline all over that thing and just took it to another level.”

Sue Bird with Caitlin Clark (Image: Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Bird’s assessment is backed up by numbers with the WNBA enjoying its most successful year in terms of viewership and ticket sales. The league attracted an all-time record of more than 54 million unique viewers across its broadcast networks, which include ABC, CBS and ESPN.

A record 22 regular-season games averaged at least one million viewers while the season as a whole saw 136.29 million hours of coverage consumed across all national networks.

Clark has truly transcended her sport. And this week she has been taking part in The Annika Pro-Am event, playing with Annika Sorenstam and LPGA Tour Player of the Year Nelly Korda. Despite one tee-shot hack which narrowly avoided striking a patron, Clark is a handy player, although the court, rather than the course, was always her true calling.

Nelly Korda (green skirt) looks shocked as Caitlin Clark hits a wayward tee shot (Image: @FroemelAndy/X)Speaking ahead of The Annika, she said: “When I got into high school, I knew basketball was my future. I loved it, and I wanted to practice it. I think that was different.

“I wanted to get better. I wanted to spend time working on my game. That was probably what set that apart from all the other sports I played.

“[The other sports] were just fun with my friends. I was really competitive, but I didn’t take extra time out of my day to work on my game and be better than everybody else. I think that’s what helped me figure out the path I wanted to take.”