The popularity of women's basketball, and women's sports in general, skyrocketed in 2024, and there's no doubt that Caitlin Clark can be thanked for that.
Not only was Clark the most popular female athlete of the past 12 months, Time named her their Athlete of the Year, a title held by international stars such as Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods in recent years.
Clark started the year after his record-breaking college football career ended. As a senior at Iowa, he was a few months removed from losing the national championship to Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers, when Reese's taunt “You can't see me” was the unofficial start of a feud on and off the court (although. Clark, himself, will tell you there is no such thing between them). .
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Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark speaks to the media during a press conference at the launch on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)
Either way, the move has sparked a lot of discussion, which has turned into a culture war this summer with Clark as a WNBA player. That, however, did not come before he set the NCAA (men's and women's) record for most points scored in a college career and another national championship appearance.
In April, she became the No. 1 overall pick and when she stepped onto a WNBA court, a discussion began about whether her popularity was due to race. In fact, it was a claim made by WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, who said that Clark being White was “a big deal” when it came to Clark's popularity.
Throughout the season, however, Clark was able to shut down the noise about him off the court, even when it looked like he was attacked on the court by his opponents. The tough mistakes came amid allegations of racism from Indiana Fever and Iowa fans, a claim made by the aforementioned Reese.
But Clark had said over and over again that he was focused on basketball, and that seemed to be the case. In her rookie season, she not only broke rookie records, but also WNBA records that now held Clark's name.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts during a WNBA first round basketball game against the Suns, Sept. 25, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
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Clark's appearances in games have brought in historic audiences at both the collegiate and professional levels. The final three games of her college career were the most watched women's basketball games of all time. She also had several of her regular season games draw more viewers than WNBA playoff games, and her WNBA matchup with Reese was one of the most watched WNBA games.
WNBA teams even had to move to bigger arenas simply because of the demand for tickets drawn by Clark; Fever sold 90 times more tickets this past year than in 2023.
Clark was named Rookie of the Year for his historic campaign in which he set the record for most assists in a single season in league history. He carried the Fever to a playoff appearance after a slow start, and quickly became a double-double machine. He even set a single-game record with 19 assists. He was also the first player to record a triple-double, registering two of them.
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever celebrates during a game against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 24, 2024, at Crypto.com Arena in California. (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
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She received the most votes in the All-Star Game and was just the fifth in league history to make the All-WNBA first team.
It should be clear that Clark is on his way to an impressive career, and what's even more impressive is what he's done this year with all the outside noise.
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