From the moment her name was called during the WNBA draft, Caitlin Clark has become one of the most prominent faces of the league, helping to shatter attendance records and ratings. A new book, "On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports," takes a deeper dive into the former Iowa Hawkeyes star's career and where she's headed next.
Christine Brennan, who was elected the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media, wrote the book.
Brennan notes that Clark is more than a basketball player; she’s an entertainer known for her exciting playing style, including long-range shooting and creative assists.
"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," Brennan said. "I covered him the length of his career, same thing, where people who couldn't care less about golf watched 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."
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Brennan noted that there has been a sea change in how women's sports are viewed. One example is how Indiana Fever home games last year attracted a larger average attendance than five NBA teams.
"The nation has fallen in love with what we've created with our daughters and our nieces and the girl you wave at in the driveway as she's lugging her volleyball gear and then changing to her soccer gear in the car before going to play lacrosse. This is a national phenomenon. And Caitlin Clark really is much more than just a sports story," she said.
One subject Brennan touches on in the book is the issue of race and how Clark is able to draw significant attention in a league that is predominantly Black. Brennan said there is general agreement that Clark's rise to stardom would have been different had she been Black. However, Brennan sees Clark's addition to the league as a positive for all players.
"It also shines on all of those wonderful players, most of them Black, who deserved attention for years but never received it from the male-dominated mainstream sports media. They're getting it now," she said. "A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston—so many of these great players who were ignored—are now getting the attention they deserve. The rising tide lifts all boats."
