00:00Christine, I did not watch women's basketball until Caitlin Clark.
00:05I did not watch WNBA basketball.
00:09I have never seen a WNBA basketball game until she got into this league.
00:16How important is she compared to, say, somebody like a Larry Bird bringing the white viewers to the sport?
00:24And what people look at that conversation as sometimes, Christine, they look at that conversation as,
00:30why do you go down the race line?
00:31Well, race sells.
00:32Take a look at the news industry right now and how much they try selling that.
00:36How much and how important is that to bring the fringe white customer into the building?
00:42I would say men in general.
00:44I've certainly, you know, white men.
00:46I've also met black men.
00:47And women, too, white or black, who said the same thing that you just said.
00:52Never watched a WNBA game.
00:54Probably never watched much of women's college basketball unless it was your school or something.
00:58But more watched college because of the affiliation with the college.
01:02So the TV ratings are higher for the women's college game than the women's pro game.
01:06But I have this, you know, because I've been touring the country with my book, the people I meet are
01:13so fascinating.
01:14And they tell me this over and over again.
01:16I never cared.
01:17I never watched.
01:18And now, as I said, they tell me they rearrange their evenings around Caitlin Clark's game.
01:25And it is men.
01:26It is white men.
01:27But I bumped into a black couple going to a game in Indiana.
01:31I said they spent all this money to drive in from wherever they were.
01:35I think Wisconsin somewhere.
01:36And this is the first time they've ever been to a game.
01:39So it is across racial lines.
01:43But your point is a good one.
01:47What I've seen from some of the reporters on the WNBA, as I chronicle in the book, there's some tweets
01:56that were like, you know, angry that there were new fans.
02:01And I couldn't believe what I saw.
02:03Having covered sports for over 40 years, you want, as a journalist, you want your beat to be bigger.
02:09You want more people to read you, watch you, care about it, right?
02:12That's the whole goal.
02:13I mean, in addition to being a great journalist and covering whatever you're covering and being fair and honest and
02:17truthful.
02:18And what I kept seeing was people wanting to keep the small things small, Dan.
02:23And it's just unbelievable.
02:25Like, does Roger Goodell say to the Taylor Swift girls, you know, the millions and millions of Taylor Swift fans,
02:30the tweens and whatever, no, no, no, don't watch the NFL.
02:33We don't want you.
02:35Well, that is the message that I have seen.
02:39I've actually witnessed people talking about it.
02:41And I've reported on it in general.
02:44And it is absolutely absurd.
02:47You want to grow a sport.
02:50Caitlin Clark is the one.
02:52You know, Paige Beckers, you often hear people talk about Paige Beckers.
02:57And Paige is a great basketball player.
02:58And Paige was Caitlin before Caitlin.
03:00They are a couple months apart in age, grew up a four-hour drive away.
03:03And Paige Beckers was the number one recruit coming out of high school from Minneapolis suburbs.
03:09And Caitlin Clark was the number four recruit coming out of high school from the Des Moines suburbs.
03:14Okay.
03:14So, but then Caitlin, or Paige got injured.
03:17Caitlin obviously becomes Caitlin.
03:18And, of course, you know, it's the Logo 3s.
03:20She's an entertainer.
03:21It's the High Wire Act.
03:23And, and, but now you hear people say, oh, Caitlin and Paige, or Caitlin and Angel.
03:27Angel Reese could not sell out the United Center without Caitlin Clark in Chicago when she played in Chicago.
03:34People were not buying tickets to watch Angel in Chicago.
03:38They were, Caitlin coming into town was, was the reason.
03:42Same with Paige Beckers.
03:43Dan, you will not believe this.
03:45Paige Beckers with Dallas cannot sell out a 6,251 seat arena.
03:5120 games last year, only seven were sold out.
03:556,251 seat arena.
03:58Caitlin, of course, 17,000 plus in Indiana, plus on the road, moving to the 20,000 seat arenas.
04:04Caitlin Clark and Paige Beckers are not even in the same solar system.
04:08And when people realize this, when that true, the truth, the facts, just the basic facts come out, or when
04:15people realize them,
04:16I think the WNBA will be better off when they realize that Caitlin Clark is the one and is bringing
04:23the eyeballs that they should be so pleased to have.
04:26NAAN NASP
04:26Charlesiny
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