Thank you, Caitlin Clark — for everything

• Quick Guide: List of Aussies in the WNBA in 2025
• How to watch every WNBA game in Australia in 2025
• Super 6: Biggest must-see games of WNBL26

Dear Caitlin Clark,

During the past week, my family has been lucky enough to attend two WNBA games.

First, a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the Aces defeated your Fever. And then a special day at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, where Candace Parker’s famous number 3 jersey was officially retired by the Sparks.

Reading articles, following socials and watching vision on screen from Australia is one thing, but being on the ground to see it all unfold in person was, well, out of this world.

So, we wanted to tell you all about it through our lens.

In fact, we decided that based on everything we’ve now seen with our own eyes in the home of the WNBA — it should rightly be delivered as somewhat of a ‘thank you’ letter.

A thank you letter to the person who is changing everything for women and sport globally.

You, Caitlin Clark.

Just to be clear, this is not another Caitlin Clark article.

We know you’ve read them all. “The Caitlin Clark Effect”, “Caitlin Clark Changing the Game”, Caitlin Clark Transforming the WNBA”, and the thousands of other articles that have been written in the space of the last 18 or so months.

That’s not what this is.

Where did it start?

Since your final season in the NCAA with Iowa in 2023, where women’s college basketball broke all kinds of attendance and viewership records, things have been changing. And quickly.

From the casual fan who started watching more regularly, to the fan who’d never turned it on and was suddenly on Amazon buying your shirts — things changed.

By the time you reached your final season in Iowa, the women’s basketball team had gone from averaging 5,138 fans to 14,914 - surpassing the men’s team for the first time (9,961).

In your debut WNBA season last year it corresponded to a 1,300% increase in ticket sales, a 264% increase in average game attendance (Indiana Fever) and 1,200% rise in merchandise sales — amongst other things.

According to Forbes, you’ve contributed more than 25% of the WNBA’s total revenue in 2024.

Growth of Women’s Basketball and WNBA

Last Friday on June 27, this year’s number one draft pick Paige Bueckers took the court in front of a sold-out American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

It was the largest ever recorded crowd for a professional women’s basketball game in Texas.

The Dallas Wings lost to the Indiana Fever by 8 points, with you not in the line-up due to injury. But the result didn’t matter.

Fans may not have seen what they intended when they purchased tickets months ago, however Bueckers’ scored a season high 27 points, her sixth 20-point game of the season.

The 2025 number 1 pick, who came into the league under the spotlight herself after her championship winning NCAA season with the UConn Huskies, has also faced some media attention, but nothing like yours in your second season.

Bueckers is quite an unassuming character who, for the most part has been quietly plying her trade in Dallas — a far cry from what Clark faced just over 12 months ago when she entered the WNBA.

Bueckers, like most players, was asked on game day against the Fever about you and what it meant to have so many fans coming out to watch her play.

This season, it’s a question that has become a touchy subject, some players suggesting that you aren’t the only reason people are attending, and defending themselves and the league in a bid to remove you from the brightest spotlight.

Bueckers answered swiftly, authentically, and her response was not only classy — but accurate.

‘Everybody is coming to watch Caitlin and it’s just brought so many more eyes to the game.’

‘People are coming into it for Caitlin and end up fans of so many other athletes.’

She’s right.

You are getting people through the doors, into arenas, and drawing attention to screens. But when people do turn up — they are seeing Bueckers, reigning MVP A’ja Wilson, and Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier — and they’re not only coming back, they’re falling in love with the sport.

Caitlin Clark and All-Star Game Voting

You don’t have to look too much further than the recent fan-led WNBA All-Star game voting.

You received 1,293,526 votes (yes, more than 1.2 million votes).

You broke your own record for the second consecutive year — 700,735 in 2024.

To put it into perspective, prior to your first season in the WNBA, the top 30 vote getters for the All-Star game tallied 1.17 million votes combined.

Beyond that though, your overall vote tally just proves what impact you are having more broadly on the league.

Your opposing All-Star game team captain Napheesa Collier tallied a touch over 1.1 million votes. In 2023, she received 30,000.

When we interviewed A’ja Wilson last week in Vegas, we asked her what she thought of the huge number of votes coming in for the All-Star game this year.

“I personally don’t really look at the numbers,” she said.

“But any time that we can get people engaged and interested in growing our game, I’m all for it. It’s pretty cool to see people come out and support it.”

Last year the All-Star game drew a record breaking 3.44 million viewers on ABC.

With the game headed to Indianapolis on July 19th, 2025, your home city, that record is set to be broken again.

Caitlin Clark Effect is Changing Women’s Sport Forever

It’s wrong to think you are changing women’s basketball alone.

“The Caitlin Clark Effect” has amplified women’s sport — not just women’s basketball.

We’ve all heard the names Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady — but none of them have single handedly had the impact on the landscape of a sport like you have.

Sure, you have brought women’s basketball the attention it deserves — but more importantly, you continue to shine a light on why women’s sports can challenge men’s sports when it comes to popularity.

People are now willing to spend money on women’s sport. To invest. To support.

Only a week ago on June 23, 2025, the USA celebrated the 53rd anniversary of Title IX. A landmark piece of legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

53 years is not a long time, and even since it passed back in 1972, women have struggled to be “seen” in sports.

There is no doubt equity in sports isn’t there yet, interest is growing, but progress has been slow.

But you are leading a new wave of excitement and interest in women’s sports around the world.

This year Major League Baseball (MLB), one of the largest sporting organisations in the world, invested seven figures into a new professional women’s softball league.

It’s the first time MLB have partnered with a women’s professional sports league and they have called it an “investment” into a sport that has seen an explosive rise in popularity through the Women’s Softball College World Series.

Established in 2012, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) shattered multiple viewership records last year, with more fans than ever tuning in either in person or online. They attribute a significant part of their growth to the increase in partners that have joined the league.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) celebrated it’s second season in 2025. They saw growth in attendance, doubled their merchandise sales from 2024, and league partnerships grew by 50%.

ESPN has just announced a new five-year media rights agreement to broadcast the Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL).

While some may not attribute the overall growth of women’s sport to you, there’s a link.

Finally people are committing through investment into women’s sport and can see the popularity.

Finally, it is clear people not only will but want to watch women’s sport.

After years of being told quite literally through coverage and media narratives that men’s sport is much watch, now we are getting the choice.

And the numbers are telling us exactly where people are choosing to tune in. Women’s sports.

So, thank you Caitlin. Thank you for changing the culture of sports. For changing the narrative and for helping the rest of us challenge the age-old story that suggest men’s sport is more important than women’s sport.