The WNBA caps off a huge regular season

Women’s professional basketball and Charlie Sheen in his Two and a Half Men-prime both have something in common: they’re #winning.

The WNBA playoffs tipped yesterday, capping off a potentially transformative regular season for the league that saw massive increases in attendance and viewership.

• Overall attendance was up 44% year-over-year, largely driven by fans who had a Fever and the only prescription was Caitlin Clark.
• The Indiana Fever wasn’t the only franchise putting up numbers, however: six teams recorded an average attendance of 10,000+/game, something that hadn’t been done since 1998, the league’s second season.
• ESPN said TV audiences for WNBA regular-season games increased 170% over last year. Ion said viewership jumped 133% annually to reach a total of 23.7 million viewers, with young girls (ages 2-17) and male (ages 25-54) viewership both increasing 181%.

These eyeballs are starting to translate into $$$. This past July, the WNBA signed an 11-year media rights deal worth $2.2 billion. This marks a 6x increase over the previous agreement – but the deal, which is up for renegotiation after three years, has drawn criticism from the WNBA Players Association, who says it undervalues the league (the NBA negotiated the arrangement and keeps ~60% of the proceeds; each WNBA franchise will receive ~$421,428/year toward roster compensation, per The Next).

🏀 In other WNBA news: A’ja Wilson was declared the league’s unanimous MVP to cap off a record-breaking season, while Caitlin Clark took home Rookie of the Year honors.