In recent years, the popularity of women’s sports has increased significantly.

Caitlin Clark, and the phenomenon she helped create in college basketball, is certainly the most prominent example of this rise. Clark’s popularity and the tidal wave that washed over sports discourse, however, had ripple effects felt throughout different leagues.

College Basketball

Clark began to gain a foothold nationally during the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, which culminated with a matchup between Iowa and Angel Reese’s LSU that shattered viewing numbers.

As Reese and the Tigers were crowned national champions, ESPN viewership came in just a touch under 10 million — more than a 100% increase from the previous year's title game.

The Clark Effect held strong through 2024, too.

The final three games of Clark’s collegiate career set, and reset, viewing records: An Elite Eight rematch between LSU and Iowa drew over 12 million viewers; the Final Four meeting between Clark's Iowa and Paige Bueckers' UConn saw over 14 million viewers; and South Carolina’s title game triumph drew 18.7 million viewers, an 89% increase over ‘23.

The WNBA

The explosion of popularity in college hoops coincided with considerable growth professionally, too. The 2023 season, which began a month after LSU defeated Iowa, broke both TV and in-person viewing records for the league.

Clark’s arrival in the WNBA, with the Indiana Fever, in 2024 unsurprisingly led to rewritten records. ESPN's average viewership grew 170%, CBS's grew 86%, and the league’s attendance increased 48% (including an incredible 319% increase for Clark's Fever).

The league has shown no signs of slowing the momentum, either. After successive sellouts for preseason games in 2023 (Toronto) and ‘24 (Edmonton), Canada will get its first WNBA team, with the expansion Toronto Tempo set to join in 2026.

The PWHL

While the women's basketball scene was reaching new heights, professional women's hockey was laying a new foundation. After numerous failed and collapsed leagues, the Professional Women's Hockey League launched its first season in January 2024, with a trio of teams in Canada and the United States, respectively.

The six-team league, now in its second season, found solid ground quickly. Like viewership in college basketball, the PWHL set and reset attendance records in 2024, aided by ravenous Canadian fandom.

The Ottawa Charge set the bar, with over 8,000 fans for a January game against Montreal, before Toronto and Montreal took it all the way to 21,000 for an April clash. By season’s end, devout fan bases had been established, with the three Canadian teams in the top four for league attendance — joined by the eventual champions in Minnesota.

While Clark may have helped to start this rise, it’ll hardly collapse as she continues forward in her pro career. With stars like JuJu Watkins carrying the torch collegiately, and leagues like the PWHL just in their infancy, we can expect — and watch — as women’s sports continue to build on this momentum.

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