The ‘Caitlin Clark Effect’ continues. But she is not alone. The Angel Reese-Clark story, which kicked off back in 2023, has not lost its fuel yet. The NCAA Championship Finale was not just a showdown for the two collegiate stalwarts, but a warning to the world about what was coming their way. When they clashed once again in the 2024 Elite Eight, the curiosity drew an average of 12.3 million people on ESPN, peaking at 16.1 million viewers. Bringing the same energy to the professional world, they have taken the W’s broadcasting networks by storm, giving them another example of what rivalries can do to a sport.

According to a recent tweet by Cassandra Negley, the ION network, whose parent company is $174M worth E. W. Scripps Co, has seen a whopping 133% year-on-year audience growth along with 23.37 million total reach and 3.7 million streaming hours. And at the heart of these exceptional numbers is the Clark-Reese rivalry. The ION network streams games exclusively on Fridays and has 7 games that have gone past the 1 million mark. Among them, the most-watched matchup has been the Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky held on August 30.

The Fever’s fourth and final road clash with the Sky held at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena was the most-watched game of the 2024 WNBA season. The hosts had a chance to level the regular season series with the Fever, who led by a 2-1 margin. Their last game had drawn about 2.3 million viewers, becoming the most-watched W game in 23 years across all networks. Thus, all this culminated in the August matchup, once again, becoming a fan favorite.

The Fever’s 100-81 victory at Chicago’s home saw the viewership peak at 1.92 million viewers for ION while having an average of 1.6 million viewers, thus becoming the most-watched game in this W’s regular season on the network. The other 6 games that topped more than 1 million viewers and found a notable mention also involved Clark, with those against the Phoenix Mercury also finding a place twice, most probably due to the narrative set between the veteran Diana Taurasi and the rookie. Meanwhile, even the WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert had acknowledged the positive effects of the Clark-Reese rivalry.

Cathy Engelbert considers Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry as the center of attraction

The NBA wasn’t so popular until Magic Johnson and Larry Bird arrived. Since their entry into the league, the two helped amp up numbers in the NBA. Their rivalry was particularly fiery since the two had an NCAA history. Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans’ win over Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores helped the former to be drafted as the number one overall pick in the 1979 NBA draft with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bird then got drafted by the Boston Celtics, who won the Championship in 1981, while Johnson’s Lakers got it back in 1982. From there on, the two teams were often at the forefront, trying to outwit the other with their display, and soon Bird-Johnson rivalry made the NBA a popular sport.

Taking cognizance of the same, Engelbert compared their rivalry to that of Clark-Reese and how the duo has helped the game grow. “But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another,” Engelbert has recently stated.

Perhaps, television networks will be thankful to the officials for marketing Reese and Clark as rivals. Meanwhile, the Indiana guard has made it clear from her side that the games against Reese are just another basketball game. What do you think about the two rivals and their contribution to the W?