WNBA commissioner calls Caitlin Clark ‘most popular athlete in America,' talks schedule expansion
Caitlin Clark didn't just bring new fans to women's basketball, she introduced new viewers to the world of sports, WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert said during an interview on 'The Bill Simmons Podcast.'
'(NBA commissioner) Adam (Silver) and I talk all the time about this; she's the most popular athlete in America,' Engelbert said.
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With the second season of the WNBA's Caitlin Clark era set to tip off Friday night, the reigning Rookie of the Year remains the talk of the league despite Clark and the Indiana Fever not playing until Saturday.
The league is brimming with other marketable stars such as 2025 No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers, who will be making her WNBA debut Friday, and reigning MVP A'ja Wilson, who had a signature shoe released with Nike. And while that's a good problem for the league to have, Engelbert stressed the importance of showcasing the league's other standout players, while also leaning into the Clark phenomenon.
'It is a balance, but she's a generational talent,' Engelbert said. 'No league is ever about one player, but in this case, Caitlin brought tens of millions of new viewers into the W. And there's no denying that impact.
'You want to balance making sure that you're also promoting your other stars like an A'ja WIlson, like a Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier … That's why this year is sustain and gain. Sustain the momentum we had last year and gain even more new viewers.'
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Englebert and the league are leaning even more into the Clark momentum by broadcasting 41 of the Fever's 44 games on national TV. This is an unprecedented showcase for a league that just expanded from 36 games to 40 games in 2023 and now from 40 to 44 in 2025.
And that expansion may not be complete.
'I can definitely see us going to 50 (games),' Englebert said.
But lengthening the WNBA's summer schedule is complicated. On the front end, the league needs a buffer after the NCAA season for its rookies — Bueckers was drafted by the Dallas Wings just eight days after UConn won the NCAA title on April 6. And on the back end, lengthening the schedule means competing with the heart of college football and NFL season — the 2024 WNBA Finals wrapped on Oct. 20.
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'You can't move it too much forward if you want the rookies to come in, which we do because it's a great, it's a great theater system for us,' she said. 'So we'll look at the back end and how far can we go and how many NFL and college football Saturdays can we go into and we'll evaluate all that under the CBA.'
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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