Stephen A. Smith Sounds Off on Sheryl Swoopes’ Nike Legacy, Claims Caitlin Clark Helped Fever ‘Outsell’ $2.9B NBA Franchise

“Caitlin Clark is box office. She’s doing this. And instead of giving her credit, y’all tried to make it about, ‘oh y’all poo-pooing the old guard’… Nah, I ain’t gonna let it slide,” Shannon Sharpe was on fire as he again touched base on the issue that continues to persist in the WNBA world. The entry of CC brought in a viewership spike in women’s basketball, a phenomenon now dubbed the ‘Caitlin Clark effect.’ Unfortunately, not everyone has accepted her rise in status willingly, with many arguing that the legacies of those who came before her will diminish. With Sharpe having provided his take, it was now time for his ESPN co-host to take the mic.

Stephen A. Smith took a shot at the players and pundits who’ve attempted to take the Indiana Fever star down since her arrival. To his credit, the sportscaster explained that WNBA’s history is filled with athletes who’ve “bust their tails” to help the league rise. But Clark shouldn’t be blamed if hoops fans have simply chosen this current moment to turn their focus on women’s basketball. “The quality of basketball may have been up to snuff, and you had somebody as popular as Cheryl Swoops who had her own signature shoe had to deal with Nike and all of this other stuff but the bottom line is very few people gave a damn,” he said.

Smith highlighted that he understood the criticism, but continued, “What you have to respect, however, is that the paying customer, the audience, didn’t feel that way. They did not give a damn about the WNBA. For years. Is that fair to the ladies? No, it isn’t fair. It’s not right, but they’re the paying customer. You don’t tell them what they want, they tell you what they want.”

He concluded his remarks on the Stephen A. Smith Show, stating, “They (fans) really were not feeling the WNBA to the degree that they’re feeling the WNBA now, obviously, because of Caitlin Clark, who’s selling out games and got the Indiana Fever selling out games more than they sell out Pacer games.”

With the rise of the popularity of MJ’s ‘Air Jordan’ brand in 1984, Nike saw the potential to invest in hoopers. While it had started coveting NBA stars early, it didn’t reach the WNBA until 1996. Sheryl Swoopes had stood out as a one-of-a-kind player and her potential itself was enough for Nike to fully dive into women’s basketball, launching a series of ‘Air Swoopes’, a first of its kind.

Swoopes went on to record the league’s first triple-double, becoming the first 3-time MVP and WNBA’s first 3-time Defensive Player of the Year. Her 4 championship titles came in the first 4 years of her WNBA career! This, combined with her international success- 3 consecutive Olympic Gold medals with Team USA, had most fans calling her the ‘Female Michael Jordan.’

On the other hand, rookie Caitlin Clark hasn’t won any championship titles, and the Fever holds a 20-20 win record. But it is important to remember that times have changed from when Swoopes signed her exclusive deal with Nike. The advent of social media, along with people’s growing interest in college games, made CC popular from an early stage.

No one could deny that the 22-year-old was a beast with the Iowa Hawkeyes, breaking NCAA records set by Stephen Curry and Darius McGhee, and being named the Naismith College Player of the Year twice! No matter what opinions are held against the rookie, Caitlin Clark’s popularity is not going to diminish anytime soon. After all, for someone who can make the Fever games as popular as NBA games, the only path now is forward.

Viewership and ticket sales for Caitlin Clark’s Fever- Are they better than the Pacers?

The ‘Caitlin Clark Effect’ wasn’t just a term that was created because one hoops enthusiast was feeling bored. Rather, it was formed after analyzing the increase in the viewership of Fever games and the number of people who were willing to spend their money on a ticket. The Wall Street Journal had even gone on to call the player the ‘GOAT of TV Ratings.’ However, was the popularity she brought to the Indiana women’s side better than what the Indiana Pacers had during the recent season?

According to a report by executive Michael Mulvihill, the games featuring Caitlin Clark averaged 1.178 million viewers on television. This is almost 3x higher than the average for other WNBA games, which stands at just 394,000 viewers. For in-person attendance, the Fever games averaged 16,084 attendees, while other games only averaged 8,552.

Under normal circumstances, the Indiana Pacers would not be the right NBA franchise to use when making a comparison with the Caitlin Clark effect. After all, the franchise ranked 29th out of 30 NBA teams in total attendance during the recent season. Despite this, they performed slightly better, as Statista reported the Pacers’ average home attendance to be 16,526.

This was an increase from 15,648 from the 2022-23 run. While there are no proper figures to highlight the television viewership, one can presume that the Fever was successful in being almost on par with the $2.9 billion men’s basketball team, probably for the first time.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.