Caitlin Clark has become a well known name in the basketball world. The 21 year old took the spotlight as the top scorer in women’s basketball this season and currently has 3,218 points. She has attracted much attention toward her fellow Hawkeyes and is credited with bringing them to the Final Four last year. It’s been questioned what makes Clark so different from other athletes on her level, but that’s just it- no one is on her level. She was the leading scorer both her freshman and sophomore year, and then had one of the best seasons in college basketball history last year, which drew a number of fans in.
It isn’t just her basketball talent that makes it easy to like her but also the amount of times she’s squashed gender norms in the sport industry. After 2.9 million viewers tuned in to watch the NCAA women’s championship tournament last year and witnessed Clark’s impressive performance, tickets for the women’s Final Four skyrocketed and were THREE times more expensive than mens. When ESPN aired the final matchup between Iowa and LSU, 10 million viewers tuned in to watch Clark, and the rivalry between her and LSU’s Angel Resse. The amount of viewers surpassed all sports game attendance in the past that had been televised- both men and women. Women’s basketball was one of the many female sports that hadn’t been covered across tv, social media, etc. as much as men’s games were in the past so this was a big deal. The Final Four game was broadcasted on a Sunday last year and had more viewers than any of the football games also occurring during that time, which made people finally realize the need for networks to start showing women’s games. The public’s plea for women’s sports to be covered more across television led to the NCAA and ESPN to announce a media deal that “elevates women’s sports to unprecedented levels’ ‘. ABC began broadcasting more sports like volleyball and gymnastics which also saw an uproar of viewers.
Women will always have to work harder towards success because of society.It’s not easy for any of these hard-working women to get the attention they deserve, but there is hope that things will start to change. Athletes such as Caitlin are breaking the boundary between men and women’s sports games. Media coverage for women’s sports has tripled and it’ll only go up from there with these great players. Clark has even starred in a couple commercials for Nike and State Farm which will for sure get her name out there as well as her fellow basketball players and team.
