What’s Going On?… WNBA and ESPN Ignore Caitlin Clark Winning Two ESPYs – One That’s Historic
Guest post by Joe Hoft at JoeHoft.com – republished with permission
On Thursday night, Caitlin Clark won two ESPYs in this year’s award ceremony. One was historic. The WNBA and ESPN shrugged it off.
The WNBA continues its bias against Caitlin Clark by not reporting that this great athlete, and arguably the greatest women’s basketball player in history, had an incredible night last evening at the ESPYs.
Clark is one of only three athletes in the world to win two ESPYs at last night’s event.
Clark won best collegiate athlete – women and best record breaking performance. Fellow WNBA athlete A’ja Wilson won two awards as well as the Kansas City Chief’s star QB Patrick Mahomes.
What was not shared by ESPN and the WNBA is that Clark is the first woman to win the Best Record Breaking Performance ESPY in history.
Clark became the first woman to win the ESPY for Best Record-Breaking Performance, an award that’s been presented since 2001.
“I’m a little bit busy in Indianapolis,” Clark said via videotape. “It was a special year in women’s athletics.”
After making the decision to keep Clark off of the Olympic team the WNBA now shuns Clark’s great ESPY accomplishments.
Clark currently leads the WNBA in total points off of shots and assists.
I meannn… #CaitlinClark #ROTY #WNBA pic.twitter.com/llJWF968JD
— Leigh Lewallen (@leighlew3) July 7, 2024
The WNBA’s record of welcoming Clark to the league has been brutal despite Clark being a miracle for the dying league.
Three of the top six BASKETBALL games in viewership in 2024 included Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes, including the most watched basketball game this year, Clark and the Hawkeyes verses South Carolina in the Women’s NCAA Championship game.
Three of the top six most watched basketball games (MBB, WBB, NBA, WNBA) so far in 2024 have included the Iowa Women’s Basketball team. https://t.co/JJVu1f08Cx
— Kyle Huesmann (@HuesmannKyle) June 19, 2024
The top WNBA games in viewership on six networks all involve Caitlin Clark.
6 networks have set personal WNBA viewership records this season;
CBS: 2.25M Fever-Sky
ESPN2: 2.1M Fever-Sun
ABC: 1.7M Fever-Liberty
ESPN: 1.56M Fever-Sun
Ion: 1.02M Fever-Mystics
NBA TV: 430K Fever – Liberty
Caitlin. Clark. Effect.#WNBA pic.twitter.com/uoK3O3xcgg
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) June 18, 2024
But the league and the players are not impressed. They weren’t grateful for Clark bringing in millions of new eyes to the game, and they began to show it on the court almost immediately.
In a game in New York in front of the largest ticket sales in league history, 2023’s league MVP pulled one of the cheapest shots in sports history. “Never seen a savior of a league get treated like this”, Dave Portnoy from Bar Stool Sports shared.
Never seen a savior of a league get treated like this https://t.co/TXNEd4umbl
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) May 18, 2024
This was only the beginning. There was more, much more. In a game against Chicago, Clark was assaulted on the floor after being called a “B*tch” by a Chicago player.
ASSAULT!
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 1, 2024
Next the WNBA keeps Clark off the Olympic team and now they don’t even congratulate Clark on her ESPY wins and yet they did congratulate WNBA athlete A’ja Wilson.
The WNBA is showing why it is an awful league. Big mistake WNBA – Huge.
