Jemele Hill makes ‘irresponsible headlines’ about impact of Caitlin Clark’s WNBA ratings before proving her point

Sunday’s WNBA playoff game between the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces was the league’s most-watched semifinal game in 22 years.

The game drew an average of 929,000 viewers, 60% more than last year’s semifinal.

The numbers from last year’s WNBA Finals rematch caught the attention of Jemele Hill, who appeared to be trying to say something about Caitlin Clark.

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“And yet I keep seeing irresponsible headlines claiming the WNBA playoffs are canceled because there is no Caitlin Clark.” Hill wrote about X.

Despite historic numbers for the WNBA, one can argue that the ratings would have been much higher had Clark played.

After Clark drew a WNBA record 1.84 million viewers for their first playoff game against the Connecticut Sun on September 22 as part of an NFL Sunday, the second game followed with another record 2.54 million viewers. Clark and the Indiana Fever lost both games, however, sending Clark home for the offseason.

The attendance for Game 2 was more than double what the Liberty and Aces saw earlier this week.

However, Hill admitted viewership would be higher with Clark, although she meant “irresponsible headlines.”

“Would the ratings be higher if she were there? Naturally. But you know what? [an NBA] The final would be rated higher if it was Lebron vs. Steph. Or if large market teams were involved. So what? That’s the headline.”

WNBA first-rounder Nika Muhl has stretched off the court after suffering a freak injury during a game overseas

Still, it’s historically been good for any WNBA playoff game that hasn’t involved Clark. It was better than any TV numbers for the finals between the two teams last year.

Both games also fell well behind some of Clark’s regular games in terms of attendance. In early September, Clark’s Indiana Fever played in front of a television audience of 1.26 million viewers in a game against the Minnesota Lynx that was played concurrently with a Friday night Week 1 NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers.

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Clark was named the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year on Thursday, receiving 66 of the 67 first-place picks. Angel Reese received the remaining vote.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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