Caitlin Clark named Time’s Athlete of the Year

Caitlin Clark – who helped draw crowds to arenas around the country and drive up viewership numbers in her final year of college and then in her rookie year in the WNBA – has been named Time’s Athlete of the Year.

Clark, 22, helped continue in 2024 the growing popularity of the WNBA and women’s college basketball, wowing fans with her long-range shots and crisp passing.

In her debut season with the Indiana Fever following a stellar career at Iowa, Clark took home the Rookie of the Year award and was named to the All-WNBA first team – the first rookie to do so since 2008 – during the 2024 season.

The Fever superstar also set rookie season records for both points and three-pointers made and became the first rookie to get a triple-double.

As well as scoring, Clark also set the all-time WNBA league record for assists in a single season and the most dimes in a single game.

In her final season in an Iowa Hawkeyes uniform, Clark set the NCAA Division I women’s basketball scoring record and then broke Hall of Famer Pete Maravich’s record across all of Division I.

This also was the first year when the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game had higher viewership than the men’s title game, when powerhouse South Carolina completed an undefeated season with an 87-75 win against the Hawkeyes. With 18.9 million viewers, South Carolina-Iowa outrated games in this year’s NBA Finals and the World Series.

Meanwhile, ratings for the WNBA regular season and postseason – not just games involving Clark – were up.

The WNBA delivered its most-watched regular season in 24 years, while the WNBA Finals, where the New York Liberty outlasted the Minnesota Lynx, was the highest-viewed WNBA Finals in 25 years.

Additionally, the WNBA had its highest total attendance in 22 years. The September 19 game at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, between the Fever and the Washington Mystics set a WNBA single-game attendance record of 20,711.

It was one of three games to draw at least 20,000 fans this season, along with 20,366 for Indiana vs. the Las Vegas Aces on July 2 and 20,333 for Indiana vs. Washington on June 7.

The Fever’s total home attendance in 2024 was 340,715 – a single-season record for a WNBA team.

Last week, Clark debuted in Sportico’s highest-paid female athletes list, with her earnings totaling $11.1 million. Just a fraction of Clark’s earnings comes from her WNBA salary, which was $100,000. The rest is from endorsements.

CNN’s Thomas Schlachter contributed to this report.

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