In her new book, Christine Brennan delves into Caitlin Clark's journey from college standout to WNBA icon, exploring her transformative impact on women's sports.

A recently released book, 'Caitlin Clark and the Revolution of Women's Sports' by Christine Brennan, delves into the career and influence of WNBA player Caitlin Clark. The book highlights Clark's role in boosting attendance and television ratings for women's basketball, noting that her presence has drawn unprecedented crowds and viewership, even surpassing some men's events.

Brennan's reporting also addresses the broader cultural and social implications of Clark's popularity, including discussions about race and representation in the WNBA. The book suggests that while Clark's spotlight has brought attention to the league, it has also helped elevate the visibility of other players, particularly Black athletes who have historically received less recognition.

New book shines spotlight on Caitlin Clark's impact on the WNBA

From the moment her name was called during the WNBA draft, Katelyn Clark has been one of the most prominent faces of the league, helping shatter attendance records and ratings. And now a new book on her game, Katelyn Clark and the Revolution of Women's Sports, takes a deeper dive into the former Iowa Hawkeyes career and where she's headed next. Joining us now is the author of that book, award winning sports journalist Christine Brennan. And Christine, I'm so excited to talk with you about this book. I have it here. I have been reading it. It's been on my bedside table. You spent months reporting on this book. What makes Katelyn such a compelling cultural figure beyond just women's basketball? Liz, great to be with you. And you know what? She's a basketball player, right? Of course, she plays basketball. But she's really an entertainer. And that's what takes us to a whole new level. When she is shooting from the next county and the ball is going in the hoop, when she is throwing those shots up and there's no prayer of them going in, she's sideways, her legs askew. And that goes in, or those beautiful passes, length of the court, quick running. She says she loves to sprint. I talked to Katelyn, asked her about 40, 50 questions for the book. And she was great and forthcoming on everything. The way she plays, the fun, the joy, that's an entertainer. And that's entertainment. And that's what transcends sports. And that's where grandmothers and grandfathers in the produce section who are talking about their evening plans and making sure to watch the fever, very similar to the way it was with Tiger Woods. I covered him the length of his career. Same thing, where people who couldn't care less about golf watch Tiger. Same here. And that's why we see the incredible record TV ratings and attendance and just the national outpouring of love and fandom for this one 23-year-old athlete, Katelyn Clark. OK, you just mentioned some of those TV ratings. And Scripps News owns, we have the same parent company as ION, which now airs a lot of those basketball games, the Women's League. More Americans watched the Women's College Basketball Championship that she played in in April 2024 than watched the men's final the next day. It was 18.9 million viewers for the women, 14.8 million viewers for the men. How has Katelyn Clark as a player increased the eyeballs on these televised WNBA games? Statistics, as you mentioned, Liz, these statistics are eye-popping. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime, that people were lined up outside in January and February from some of our biggest arenas across the Big Ten in the country, like it's a Springsteen concert or Taylor Swift or Beyonce, to watch a woman play basketball. Hours and hours in the cold in Maryland and Ohio and in Michigan, Indiana, to watch her play college basketball. And that's all translated now to the WNBA. My favorite statistic in the book, the fever home attendance for her first year, her rookie year when Katelyn Clark arrived, the average home attendance for the Indiana fever in Katelyn Clark was higher than the average home attendance for five NBA teams. Think about that. Wow. I mean, to be able to say that sentence shows the sea change in our country. Title IX is 53 years old. The nation has fallen in love with what we've created with our daughters and our nieces and the girl you wave at on the driveway as she's lugging her volleyball gear and then she's going to change to her soccer gear in the car and then go play lacrosse. This is a national phenomenon. Katelyn Clark really is much more than just a sports story. She's one of the most famous people in the country in any way. Transcending the sport, this is a cultural and historic story. 100 years from now, people will be studying the rise of women in America, women presidents throughout the 30s, 40s, 50s. All of them, the common denominator, they learn those life lessons, winning and losing at a young age, teamwork and sportsmanship, because of Title IX. And Katelyn Clark, born in 02, got full blast Title IX. And the nation falling in love, as I said, with what we've created, giving our girls the opportunities that for generations we only gave to our boys. Katelyn Clark is the epitome of all that. And she recognizes that, it seems, in the conversations that you had with her. She pays homage to the women that came before her. I want to talk a little bit about the race dynamic in the WNBA, because you write in the book that the WNBA is about 74% black or mixed race with a sizable gay population. Katelyn Clark is a straight white woman. Do you think that she would be garnering this much attention if she was a black player, a black woman? As you know, I asked that question of a panel, and I have that in the introduction to On Her Game. And every single person on the panel, all of them, people of color, dear friends of mine, I was the only white person and I was asking the questions, all agreed, yes, it would be different, it would be less. That's, I think, no surprise to most people listening to us, right? But I do think this, that what she does, by bringing the eyeballs and bringing the spotlight for the first time ever, I cover the WNBA in the 90s, Liz. I cared very much. I go on radio shows defending women's basketball, defending women's WNBA and the college, covering women's final fours, covering the WNBA. And so many people would laugh, especially men, right? Oh, it's not a good product, they're below the rim, they're rolling around, there's jump balls. And, you know, we saw a lot of that. Well, the change here is that now those same men are wearing 22 jerseys, not just to games, those guys are going out in public, going to the gas station and the grocery store, in their 22 jerseys. What happens there is, as those eyeballs, as that spotlight follows Katelyn Clark, it also shines on all of those wonderful players, most of them black, who deserved attention for years, never got it from the male-dominated mainstream sports media. They're getting it now. Asia Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell, Aaliyah Boston, so many of these great players who were ignored, now they're getting the attention they deserve. The rising tide lifts all boats. There's the positive within this very fraught racial conversation that I deal with all of that, including amazing voices like Dr. Harry Edwards, the great civil rights advocate, Brianna Scurry, the goalkeeper, first black superstar of the women's national soccer team. Their voices in the book to try to explain this and why the WNBA was so unprepared for this moment. But yes, it's finally happening now for these black players as well. Well, I highly recommend people read this book. You write it, obviously, from a fact-based journalist standpoint, but it's also got great anecdotes and stories about it. I'm really enjoying it. Sports journalist and author Christine Brennan, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

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