Caitlin Clark Effect Still Being Felt, As UConn's Final Four Title Game Ratings Show

While Caitlin Clark might not have been playing in Sunday's South Carolina versus UConn national title game, it's clear that interest in the sport is still rising, even if the ratings from Sunday's game were down. 

There has always been a question whether the women's game could continue to capitalize on the previous two years ratings bonanza. According to Sports Media Watch, ratings for Sunday's national championship game between the Huskies and Gamecocks were down 55% from last year's game featuring Catilin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes. 

The report states that UConn's blowout win over South Carolina averaged 8.5 million viewers, which is down from last year's game that averaged 18.9 million viewers. While this is obviously a dramatic drop, it was only a 14% drop compared to the 2022 championship game that featured LSU and Iowa. 

If you take Catilin Clark out of the conversation, the women's game has clearly grown over the years, considering that the 2023 title game that featured South Carolina and UConn delivered 4.85 million viewers, in a game that was only broadcast on cable. 

While the ratings for this year's game will certainly draw a strong comparison to the previous two years, I would imagine folks at the NCAA will be satisfied with the overall ratings for this year's game. Dating back to 1988, Sunday's game was the most-watched game not featuring Clark in women's college basketball history, which is under the Nielsen metric. 

While the game was somewhat close until midway through the second half, UConn held a 20-plus point lead to start the fourth quarter, which obviously had folks turning the channel. 

There is no denying the impact Caitlin Clark had on women's basketball, and while the sports it hoping to catch