Fans are outraged by the Wall Street Journal’s recent article “Inside the WNBA’s Big, Bold, Record-Breaking Year” which highlighted A’ja Wilson and Angel Reese but failed to mention Caitlin Clark’s contributions to the league’s historic season.
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“How the WNBA went from grasping for notice at the margins of American sports to seizing public attention like never before,” the Wall Street Journal wrote in a post on X.
Under the post were several angry replies from readers who felt the publication snubbed Clark, the rookie sensation.
Caitlin Clark is the sole reason there are so many new fans of the W! This article is ludicrous!😡
— Monica L (@MLoganLandes) October 17, 2024
Pathetic example of hate and racism in the approach to your article. And – it’s a flat out lie!!! Caitlin pushed the growth agenda from the beginning, and it helped spark attendance in other arenas as the season went on. Your paper is complete bull💩 if you post this garbage.
— Jonathan Parker (@metalmancpa) October 17, 2024
Leaving Caitlin Clark out discredited this article 😪
— Cameron Neilon (@cjpneilon) October 17, 2024
And one of the main reasons they’d rather watch the women rather than the men is not pictured nor hardly mentioned in this agenda-driven article.
— Mitch Williams (@MitchLeeDubya) October 17, 2024
The WNBAneeds to get smarter as does the WSJ! These are the most unlikeable players in the leagueYou will get more fans promoting Phee, Caitlin, Sabrina, Aliyah, Kelsey, Arike, Courtney, Cameron, Kamilla, Kah, Sophie, Satou, Jonquel..it goes on. Change the culture and money flows
— caryn farmer (@carynjeanne) October 17, 2024
The Fevers final game in the playoffs drew 2.5M viewers. Game one of the finals 1.1M. Up from last year? Sure. But dismissing the Clark affect, which this article does… just sad.
— Ekky’s World (@Ekstranded) October 17, 2024
The first player that comes to mind when it comes to public attention for the WNBA is none other than Clark. She had the highest-selling jersey in the league as a rookie.
Clark broke multiple WNBA records and was named the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year. The Indiana Fever guard helped lead her team to playoffs for the first time since 2016.
She helped attract a new audience to the sport and is considered the most popular player in the league. Her impact on the WNBA is undeniable.
Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
Although Clark is a household name, she wasn’t highlighted in the Wall Street Journal story on the record-breaking year in the WNBA.
The article begins with the Las Vegas Aces moving from their 10,000-seat venue to T-Mobile Arena to combat the droves of fans attending the Aces matchup with the Chicago Sky.
Although the move took place in September, the first team to force the Aces to play at T-Mobile Arena was the Indiana Fever, home to the sensational rookie Clark.
Multiple teams decided to move their games against the Fever to a larger arena to accommodate the surge in fans. This was never mentioned in the article.
Clark was mentioned once in the story in reference to the 2023 National Championship when Reese taunted her, according to multiple fans.
There was no mention of Clark becoming the first rookie since 2008 to receive first-team All-WNBA honors. There was no mention of Clark becoming the first rookie in WNBA history to record a triple-double.
As a result, readers took to social media to voice their opinions on the article. Some call the story “agenda-driven” and have a “blatant ignorance” toward Clark.
Credit deserves to be given where credit is due. Although Clark isn’t the best player in the league, she will always be remembered as a driving factor in transforming the game of women’s basketball.
For more WNBA news, make sure to head over to Newsweek Sports.
