Brian Lawlor, the president of Scripps Sports and man in charge of ION Network and its local television stations, can’t help but notice the positive effect Caitlin Clark and newfound fans of the WNBA are bringing his way.
Lawlor, in an interview with Awful Announcing, discussed the network’s strategic focus on women’s sports, in particular, their move to purchase the rights to WNBA Friday night doubleheaders in 2022.
He tells the outlet that ION was “laughed at” over their plan because “there hadn’t been a single WNBA game that had had a million viewers in a decade or more before that.”
“The WNBA is bringing a new audience to ION, and ION is bringing a new audience and fans to the WNBA,” said Lawlor. “I think it’s been complimentary and beneficial to both.”
“I think one of the stats that continues to blow me away is that from 2008 to the beginning of this season, there wasn’t a single WNBA game that reached a million viewers, and now there’s been over 20 games this season that have reached a million viewers,” he added.
It’s Caitlin Clark And Everybody Else
Hmmm. What could have changed this past year that set up the ION Network for success? It’s gotta be that rookie class we hear so much about.
Lawlor and the outlet interviewing him do their best to add Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, Los Angeles Sparks’ Cameron Brink, and a handful of other rookies to the list of those deserving of credit.
And surely there is a dynamic there between Clark and Reese that is sparking interest. But the numbers don’t lie. ION’s ratings took off when along came Caitlin.
“So I think that the Fever and Caitlin are driving this loyalty that, just wherever they play, people want to watch, and I think they’re regularly fascinated by the skillset she has,” Lawlor explained. “We look forward to seeing what she can do in the future, and we have loved having her on ION eight times this season.”
“She’s an incredible star. She’s an incredible competitor. The fan interest in her is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he added. “She really is an amazing athlete, and the story is just fascinating.”
RELATED: Caitlin Clark Sets WNBA Rookie Scoring Record, Passing First Player She Met As A Kid: ‘Always A Fan’
Ratings Juggernaut
As Awful Announcing points out, seven WNBA games eclipsed the 1 million viewer mark on ION and every single one of them featured Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
The two most recent such games took place in September when the Fever faced the Las Vegas Aces this past Friday and a game against the Minnesota Lynx on the 6th.
The latter of which was particularly impressive due to it going head-to-head with other significant sports being aired. Awful Announcing points out that the contest against the Lynx went up against the NFL’s debut in Brazil and a US Open tennis semifinals with two Americans involved.
“It still drew 1.26 million viewers, one of the highest audiences of the season,” they wrote.
Clark is must-see TV at this point. Every night she’s doing something we’ve never seen before.
She just scored a career-high 35 points against the Dallas Wings on Sunday. She broke the WNBA rookie scoring record by passing a former league legend as well.
Just last week, she broke the WNBA single-season record for assists.
ION, unfortunately, doesn’t have the rights to any playoff games. One can only imagine what kind of numbers Caitlin Clark’s playoff appearances will draw for ESPN and ABC.
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