Opinion: Is Caitlin Clark improving women's sports for the better or worse?

USA Today

2 days ago

Opinion: Is Caitlin Clark improving women's sports for the better or worse?
On a special episode (first released on June 2, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: People from across the country weighed in on the impact Indiana Fever's point guard Caitlin Clark is having on the WNBA and women's sports in general. Forum is a series from USA TODAY's Opinion team that is dedicated to showcasing views from across the political spectrum on issues that Americans are starkly divided on. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to [e-mail].
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Michael McCarter:
Hello, and welcome to The Excerpt. Caitlin Clark is an athlete that has made more people pay attention to the WNBA. She had a record-breaking rookie season with the Indiana Fever last year.
As the 2025 season kicked off last month, we asked, "Is there too much media coverage of Caitlin or too little? Has she changed women's sports for the better or made things worse?"
I'm Michael McCarter. I lead the opinion sections of Gannett, the parent company of USA TODAY. This is a special bonus episode of The Excerpt, highlighting a series from USA TODAY's opinion team called Forum. Here's what we heard from you about Caitlin Clark, the WNBA, and women's sports.
Theresa Koster:
I think Caitlin gets the right amount of coverage. For fans who may not have been paying attention, it may seem to be excessive, but I do think there's some great players across the WNBA and I'm really excited that the coverage seems to be getting a little bit better dispersed this year.
Michael McCarter:
This is Theresa Koster, a 58-year-old from Marietta, Georgia. She started watching WNBA games and learning more about the league's players because of her interest in Caitlin.
Theresa Koster:
I think Caitlin Clark is changing the WNBA and women's sports for the better. I think she has a natural ability to attract attention, and she has a unique ability to tell a story.
She's very composed and she's often cited going back to the history with Title IX and the extent that the University of Iowa in particular championed it and calls back a lot of that support and activity that maybe a lot of people just aren't as familiar with.
I think the WNBA's newfound popularity is here to stay. I think things fundamentally changed in the last four to five years. Just from a behavioral perspective, I think people started paying attention differently, but I think there's a more recognized acceptance of the WNBA, and you see that from all walks of life, including their counterparts in the NBA, that they respect the game and are helping lift up women's sports.
I love volleyball and I've been happy to see all of the pro volleyball leagues get started in softball. I played softball all through high school, and softball, it's just fun, so it'll be fun to see that and hopefully see it catch up to what the attention that the WNBA has been getting.
Michael McCarter:
Anthony Sowinski is 68 and lives in Huntersville, North Carolina. He's a fan of Caitlin Clark and of her team, and he thinks that the level of play for women's basketball has soared over the last few decades.
Anthony Sowinski:
I believe Caitlin Clark is going to get as much coverage as the sports media and fans demand. The game she plays is so pure and she reminds me of Pete Maravich. She's like the female version of somebody new coming out, and if anything, she elevates every one of the players around her and they either get better or she exposes the fact that they can't handle what she is able to produce these days.
When I was coaching basketball and reffing 30 years ago, it was horrible level of play. Frankly, nobody wanted to do women's games or it was considered whatever it was considered. I think as camps and interest and all that has occurred over the last few decades, the level of play has just gone up and up. It has a ways to go yet, but it has come a long way.
Hopefully with the level of play and the interest, TV contracts get better, therefore women get paid more, but obviously she's going to make many, many more times in endorsements what she's going to make as a player, and that's very sad. But that will probably be the same kind of reflection that you can make on what NBA players used to make 30 years ago versus what they make now.
If people took a look at women's softball a little more than they do, I think they'd find that really riveting as well. Those games are heavy right at the edge of your seat, especially at the level of play and how intensely competitive that is.
Michael McCarter:
In Naperville, Illinois, Ruth Anerino has been delighted by the rise in attention to women's sports in general. She's 78.
Ruth Anerino:
Even my neighborhood book club that has ladies older than I are chit-chatting about her, and the kiddos love her, and she's being very responsive to the kids.
I'm concerned about kind of the roughhousing and the kind of acceptance of the tough plays, and also I'm concerned that the refs are not calling plays. She's hurt, she's out for two weeks, and some of the moving picks could be career-ending for these women athletes.
Accidents will happen, but some of this stuff is not pure game. I played basketball in the old days in Iowa with three on three, couldn't cross the middle line, two dribbles, it was pure basketball, stop, reach, not like it is today. And I hope it stays more pure basketball.
Caitlin kind of epitomizes the joy and the family and the faith and the philanthropic things. I mean, she's giving back a lot. That's what I think makes her appeal. She's just down to earth and caring about not herself. You hear her speak of gratitude, and that's really an important value right now, to really be compassionate and caring, and I hope she heals fast and gets back on the court.
Michael McCarter:
Julian Howard hails from Buffalo, New York. The 63-year-old thinks that the WNBA's newfound popularity will be short-lived, lasting only as long as Caitlyn plays.
Julian Howard:
I think Caitlin is changing the WNBA for the better, because the more attention that we can draw to women's sports and the more people that watch it and get interested in it, I think that's good not only for the WNBA, but for all of women's sports.
It's always been a fairly popular league. Caitlin Clark has elevated the media attention to it. I don't know if it's here to stay. I would like it to be here to stay because I think there needs to be some good options to sitting on your couch and watching men's sports all weekend.
The US women's national team in soccer certainly plays better soccer than the US men's national team, and certainly being good increases their visibility. So I think Caitlin Clark is a good player, people want to watch her play for the Indiana Fever. Now, whether that lasts or not, who knows?
I mean, she's out with an injury right now. In fact, not only is she out, but I heard that they're having trouble selling tickets. So right now, the popularity of the Indiana Fever and any road game they play is based solely on Caitlin. Whether that lasts depends on whether she continues to play at the same high level.
I think the biggest issue facing women's sports is the sexualization of women athletes, especially as it pertains to the uniforms that in many cases they are mandated to wear. And this affects women's track and field, it affects volleyball, it affects field hockey. If you watch women's beach volleyball at the Olympics, they're playing in bikinis, whereas the men are playing in board shorts and T-shirts. I know a couple of my daughter's friends quit the volleyball team because they weren't comfortable wearing those uniforms.
So I think we're going to have to ask ourselves, "Are women's sports popular because women are great athletes, or are men watching women's sports because there are scantily clad women jumping around?" Because those are two very different things.
But that is the issue to me. If you've got young women who are giving up on sports because they're not comfortable with their body in the uniform that they are mandated by a regulatory body to wear, then I don't think we're doing what we need to do for female athletes.
Michael McCarter:
That's all we have for today's episode. This is a co-production with the Forum team at USA TODAY where we invite readers to weigh in in writing on a national topic of interest.
If your submission is selected for print, we might invite you to add your voice to a future special bonus episode like this one. There's a link to Forum in the show description. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to [e-mail].
Thanks for listening. I'm Michael McCarter, Vice President of the Gannett Opinion Group. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.