NEW YORK (AP) — The matchup between Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Dallas' Paige Bueckers on the WNBA's opening weekend averaged 2.49 million viewers on ABC, making it the league's second-most watched regular-season game on ABC or ESPN.
Dallas' 107-104 victory was also the 14th most-viewed sports event of the past week, according to numbers released Wednesday by Nielsen's Big Data + Panel. The top 12 sports programs were NBA playoff games.
Saturday’s game featured the last four No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft: Aliyah Boston and Clark of the Fever, and Bueckers and Azzi Fudd of the Wings. It was Clark’s first regular-season game since last July.
It didn’t top the 2.7 million viewers who watched the season opener last year between Clark’s Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky.
The top three most-viewed WNBA games on ESPN or ABC all featured Clark. A 2024 playoff game between the Fever and Connecticut Sun averaged 2.54 million.
The second game of the doubleheader — a rematch of last season’s final between Las Vegas and Phoenix — drew 1.15 million viewers. The doubleheader averaged 1.9 million, making it the second-most-watched opening weekend for ABC and ESPN.
ESPN has been broadcasting the league since it launched in 1997.
There will be a record 216 WNBA regular-season games and events available on broadcast platforms this season. The league will have games on ABC/ESPN, CBS, Amazon Prime Video, ION, NBC, USA Sports and NBA TV.
___
