The WNBA can expect a new era in media scrutiny with the arrival of heralded rookie Caitlin Clark, and the league has already drawn fire in the preseason for how it has handled broadcasts.
Pardon the Interruption‘s Tony Kornheiser threw another log on the scrutiny fire Friday, asking something many fans were wondering: Why did the WNBA have Clark’s home debut Thursday night available only on the WNBA League Pass?
Granted, it was a preseason game, and there are different standards for preseason games than regular season games in all sports, as there’s less interest. Yet Clark is changing the rules. More than 13,000 fans turned out for that home debut. There’s been intense interest in all things Clark-related — even her practices — since the Indiana Fever drafted her No. 1 overall in April.
In response to the prompt, “Caitlin Clark’s preseason home debut was _______,” Kornheiser responded, “Unwatchable.”
“It was unwatchable by me, I couldn’t find it anywhere,” Kornheiser said. “Mike (Wilbon), you told me during the game that it was only available if you had WNBA Pass. I said, ‘That’s insane. What are you doing? This is the most popular athlete in America. People want to see her. Every time she’s on television, the ratings spike … you have to put her out there for free. What is the WNBA doing?”
“It’s a terrible marketing blunder,” Kornheiser said. “You don’t do this to Caitlin Clark, you make sure you let her be seen by people.”
As noted, it’s not the first criticism the WNBA has faced this preseason regarding its broadcasts. On the first night of the preseason, the league apologized for airing only the Indiana-Dallas game on its app, despite showing every game being available.
Clark is prompting changes in the way the WNBA and its TV partners cover games. ESPN announced it is using a “WNBA Finals-level production setup” to cover Clark’s regular season WNBA debut on Tuesday. Tegna announced this week it is expanding its distribution of Fever games to more markets this season
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