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NEW YORK – The New York Liberty mislaid their archetypal crippled of the play against the Indiana Fever Saturday, but successful the expansive strategy of it all, caput manager Sandy Brondello knows the worth of those matchups goes beyond wins and losses.
The Fever handed the defending WNBA champions their archetypal nonaccomplishment of the play behind Caitlin Clark’s stellar performance.
The reigning Rookie of the Year dropped a season-high 32 points and made 7 3-pointers successful the 102-88 victory, portion Sabrina Ionescu scored a season-high 34 points for the Liberty.
Indiana Fever defender Caitlin Clark (22) high-fives fans aft scoring a 3-pointer Saturday, June 14, 2025, during a crippled against the New York Liberty astatine Gainbridge Fieldhouse successful Indianapolis. (Grace Smith/IndyStar/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
ESPN released the TV ratings for the anticipated matchup, which was the 3rd most-watched WNBA game ever connected ABC with an mean of 2.2 cardinal viewers.
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The crippled peaked astatine 2.8 cardinal viewers, a 76% summation from past season’s regular-season mean connected the network.
Speaking to reporters up of Tuesday’s crippled against the Atlanta Dream, Brondello was asked astir the viewership milestone. While admitting it was a crippled she wished the Liberty closed out, Brondello acknowledged the value of reaching a larger audience.
"I emotion it. That’s what we’ve been trying to purpose for since the league started a long, agelong clip ago," she said. "It surely was a bully show, and Caitlin enactment connected a large show there."
New York Liberty defender Sabrina Ionescu (20) and Indiana Fever defender Caitlin Clark (22) successful the 2nd fractional astatine Gainbridge Fieldhouse June 14, 2025. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)
BASKETBALL LEGEND SAYS CAITLIN CLARK'S 3-POINT ONSLAUGHT LEFT HER SPEECHLESS
Saturday’s viewership numbers travel a inclination that began past season, erstwhile the WNBA had its most-watched regular play successful 24 years and its highest attendance successful 22 years.
Much of that occurrence correlated with Clark’s debut. She acceptable league records for astir assists successful a play (337) and astir assists successful a crippled (19). She besides became the archetypal rookie successful league past to grounds 2 triple-doubles and acceptable the single-season rookie grounds for points and 3-pointers made.
The league’s accelerated maturation has generated ratings numbers that rival different large sports leagues successful North America.
Indiana Fever defender Caitlin Clark applauds her teammates during the archetypal fractional of a WNBA crippled against the Chicago Sky astatine United Center June 7, 2025. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Imagn Images)
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The Athletic reported Tuesday that the Stanley Cup Final betwixt the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers has had mean viewership numbers successful the U.S. betwixt 2.3 and 2.6 cardinal for the archetypal 4 games of the series. According to the report, it marked a 25% alteration from past season.
"The much radical tin get eyes connected our game, they’ll autumn successful emotion with it due to the fact that this is the champion spot successful the world," Brondello added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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