REVEALED: Caitlin Clark causes WNBA rankings to fall by way of the ground as followers flip off after her rookie season ends

Tv rankings for this season’s WNBA playoffs have plummeted within the wake of Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever’s elimination final week.

Clark’s rookie season got here to an finish when the Fever suffered a second straight defeat on the Connecticut Solar final Wednesday, a outcome which dumped them out of the playoffs within the very first spherical.

A file WNBA viewers of two.54 million tuned in to look at the 22-year-old’s season draw to a detailed in Connecticut, whereas a earlier file of 1.84 million watched the primary sport of the sequence on September 22.

But with Indiana not within the competitors, the primary weekend of WNBA playoff video games with out Clark did not drum up the identical curiosity.

The primary semifinal showdown between the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces – two of the league’s hottest and profitable groups – drew an viewers of simply 929,000, in accordance with ESPN (by way of Fox Information).

That determine is 50 per cent down on the Fever’s Recreation 1 towards the Solar, which additionally had an NFL Sunday to compete with.

However, whereas it’s no match for the numbers generated by Clark, the Liberty and the Aces’ opening semifinal battle really introduced in additional viewers than any of final season’s finals video games between the 2 groups.

In the meantime, Recreation 1 of the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Solar’s semifinal had an viewers of roughly 650,000.

Each of the semifinal video games additionally fell considerably under plenty of Clark’s common season video games by way of viewership; with the Fever’s conflict towards the Lynx raking in 1.26 million viewers final month.

That sport was additionally performed on the identical evening and concurrently a Week 1 NFL showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Inexperienced Bay Packers.

Clark, some of the profitable school athletes of all time, has introduced unprecedented ranges of consideration to girls’s basketball since shifting as much as the WNBA this 12 months.

She has made the Fever the most-watched WNBA group by an extended distance, with the 14 largest TV audiences of the season all involving Indiana.

The previous Iowa sensation was just lately topped WNBA Rookie of the 12 months following an unimaginable debut season within the large leagues.

She averaged 19.2 factors, 5.7 rebounds, and led the league in assists with 8.4 per sport. Clark additionally led the Fever to their first playoff look since 2016.

Within the season-ending loss to the Solar, the Fever famous person scored 25 factors, including 9 assists and 6 rebounds. She additionally departed with one other file after changing into the primary rookie ever to have pulled off a 25-5-5 sport within the postseason.