
Caitlin Clark's return to Iowa for Fever preseason game draws average ESPN viewership of 1.3 million
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Caitlin Clark's return to Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the WNBA preseason game between the Indiana Fever and Brazilian national team averaged 1.3 million viewers on ESPN, the network announced Tuesday.
The average viewership for Sunday's game was 13% higher than ESPN's 2024 regular-season average for the WNBA.
The Fever-Brazil television audience peaked at 1.6 million, and the game drew a sellout crowd of 15,000 at Carver-Hawkeye, where the average paid ticket price on the resale market was $440.
Clark,
starting her second season with the Fever
, scored 16 points in Indiana's 108-44 win. It was the
NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader's
second time back at Carver-Hawkeye since she left the Hawkeyes; her
jersey No. 22 was retired
in a ceremony after Iowa's 76-69 win over Southern California on Feb. 2.
___
AP WNBA:
https://apnews.com/hub/wnba

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hamilton Spectator
13 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Late miscues cost Phil Mickelson a shot at the weekend in his 34th — and maybe last — US Open
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — By the time Phil Mickelson reached the 18th green at Oakmont on Friday evening, the once-packed grandstand was maybe a quarter-full. Same for the luxury suites. There was no grand gesture as the 54-year-old Mickelson loped up the hill. No wave to the crowd the way Arnold Palmer did in the same spot on the same course 31 years ago. No lengthy standing ovation from the gallery in return either. The man whose decades-long pursuit of the U.S. Open made him a fan favorite in his prime — not unlike Palmer in some ways — instead quietly marked his ball 16 feet from the hole, then walked over to the far edge of the green and stared at the leaderboard that glowed in the rainy twilight. A birdie would have let Mickelson stick around for the weekend at his 34th — and perhaps last — trip to the national championship. Wearing a white hat featuring the logo of his LIV Golf team, the HyFlyers GC, Mickelson stood over the line trying to get the right read. When the putt slid a foot left of the hole to keep Mickelson one outside the cut at plus-8, a small groan arose from those who stuck around. There was a shout or two of 'We love you Phil!' Along the railing, a man leaned toward a friend and said, 'His exemption is done. No more U.S. Open for you Phil.' Maybe, maybe not. The five-year exemption into the tournament that Mickelson received when he captured the 2021 PGA Championship is expiring. Whether he'll be back to make a run at the one major that has eluded him is anyone's guess. Mickelson sure isn't saying. He politely declined to talk to reporters after emerging from the scoring area, disappearing into the clubhouse and an uncertain future at a tournament where he's been a runner-up six times. There are a number of ways for Mickelson to make it to Shinnecock next June. The USGA could offer him an exemption, as it did at Torrey Pines in 2020, though that doesn't appear to be USGA chief championship officer John Bodenhamer's first choice. 'I think the way that we would also think of Phil is we hope he earns his way in, and I think he'd tell you the same thing,' Bodenhamer said Wednesday. 'That's what he did last time. We gave him one and then he went out and won the PGA Championship. So wouldn't put it past him.' Mickelson became the oldest major champion ever when he triumphed at Kiawah in 2021 at age 50. A lot has happened since then. Both on the course and off it. The man known universally as 'Lefty' played a major role in LIV Golf's rise, a move that has taken a bit of the shine off of his popularity back home. And while Mickelson's game can still show flashes — he really did knock a sideways flop shot into the hole during a LIV event last week in Virginia — and he looks fitter now than he did two decades ago, the reality is the swashbuckling approach that once endeared him to so many doesn't work that much anymore at the U.S. Open. Mickelson appeared to be in solid position to play the weekend when he stood on the 15th tee. He even on the day and 4 over for the tournament, well inside the cutline. A tee shot into the ankle deep rough at the 489-yard par 4 led to double bogey. He still seemed to be OK when he got to 17, a short uphill par 4. His tee shot sailed into the rough above a greenside bunker. There would be no magic this time. His attempted flop splashed into the sand instead. He blasted out to 25 feet and three-putted for another double bogey. That put him in a position he's been familiar with for a long time: heading to 18 at the U.S. Open needing to make a birdie of consequence. It didn't happen. And as he disappeared into the clubhouse, along with it came the realization that at this point, it likely never will. ___ AP golf:


San Francisco Chronicle
15 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Narváez walk-off single in 10th helps Red Sox earn 3rd straight win over Yankees, 2-1 in 10 innings
BOSTON (AP) — Carlos Narváez hit a walk-off RBI single off the wall in the 10th inning after Aaron Judge hit a tying solo home run in the ninth and the Boston Red Sox rallied to beat the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night. Ceddanne Rafaela added an RBI. Boston has now won its last three against its longtime rivals. The loss snaps a three-game overall win streak for New York, which came in off a sweep of Kansas City last week. Jarren Duran grounded out to open the 10th, moving automatic runner David Hamilton to third. Reliever Tim Hill (3-2) then walked Rafael Devers. After a strikeout, Narváez came to the plate. Garrett Whitlock (5-0) pitched a scoreless 10th to salvage a master performance by Boston starter Garrett Crochet, who pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings, yielding four hits and striking out seven. Crochet gave up just three of those hits over eight innings, striking out Judge each of the first three times he faced him. His luck ran out the fourth time when Judge unloaded on Crochet's seventh pitch of the at-bat — a 99.6 mph fastball — belting it 443 feet over the Green Monster. Yankees starter Ryan Yarbrough gave up four hits over 4 2/3 innings, walked three and struck out three. Key moment With two outs in the 10th , Yankees manager Aaron Boone challenged a foul ball call on a grounder by DJ LaMahieu down the first baseline. A review determined it to be foul. Boone came out to argue and was ejected. Key stats Up Next LHP Carlos Rodón (8-4, 2.87 ERA) took the loss in the finale of last week's series against the Red Sox. RHP Hunter Dobbins (3-1, 4.20) has won each of his last three starts. ___


San Francisco Chronicle
15 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Marlins secure multiyear deal to again host Caribbean Series, AP source says
MIAMI (AP) — The Caribbean Series will return to the Miami Marlins' loanDepot park after the team reached a multiyear agreement with the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. The deal will allow the Marlins, who hosted the Caribbean Series in 2024, to host three more editions of the winter league champions tournament beginning in 2028, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team has not made a formal announcement. The Marlins had already secured the 2028 edition of the tournament after bringing record numbers to Miami in 2024 — the first time the Caribbean Series was held at a major league ballpark. The future years are not yet set. A crowd of 36,677 watched Venezuela beat the Dominican Republic in the championship at loanDepot park — the largest crowd ever for a Caribbean Series game and a higher attendance than the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship game (36,098) between the United States and Shohei Ohtani's Japan club held at the same venue.