Iowa star Caitlin Clark draws record ratings whenever she plays as she inches toward the NCAA women’s basketball all-time scoring record.
Wherever Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark goes, people watch.
If she is playing in person, people marvel.
If she is playing on TV, a streaming service or even TikTok, both eyes are glued to the screen to see the college hoops phenom.
And as Clark went for the all-time women’s scoring record Sunday in front of a sellout crowd in Lincoln, Neb., the attention around her reached a crescendo.
Fox’s nationally televised broadcast between then-No. 2 Iowa and Nebraska earned 1.8 million viewers, making it the network’s most watched women’s college basketball game of all time
Clark finished the game with 31 points, eight shy of breaking Kelsey Plum’s scoring record of 3,527, set while she was at the University of Washington. Nebraska erased a 14-point Iowa lead in a comeback for a 82-79 victory.
Barring injury or unrelenting defense from Michigan, Clark will almost certainly break the record Thursday when Iowa hosts the Wolverines in Iowa City.
Averaging 32.1 points this season, the senior point guard has scored at least 21 in every game.
Thursday’s broadcast will be streamed exclusively on Peacock and headlines a slew of Big Ten content shown on the network leading up to the game.
Iowa’s remaining regular-season games are either on Fox, FS1 or Peacock.
A spokesperson for Iowa said there will be no additional seating at Iowa’s 15,500-seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena and that there have been no changes to existing game plans.
Clark has boosted Iowa women’s basketball’s ticket revenue significantly during her time at Iowa.
According to Sportico’s intercollegiate financial database, the program increased its ticket revenue from $767,069 in 2021-22 season to $1.4 million in 2022-23 season—a jump of nearly $672,000.
Clark won National Player of the Year in 2022-23 and Iowa went on to reach the national title game.