Nobody is Going to Care About the WNBA After Caitlin Clark's Olympic Team Freeze Out

Colin Cowherd: “You’ve heard of the official ‘gold medal count’. How about the television ratings official count? The ratings are in... EVERYTHING exploded in Paris with one exception... Women’s basketball. The ratings couldn’t even beat the Toyko Olympics that happened during COVID. The men with fading older stars got 20 million viewers and over doubled the last Olympics. Even BREAKDANCING was a hit, and yet the women who won gold – attendance down, ratings flat. How?? Everything else exploded... Because there was a giant wave in women’s basketball, and they forgot their surfboard. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese should have been on this team.

Women’s basketball had a moment, and they couldn’t meet it. The reality is that they’re too insular. They’re too loyal to the niche women’s basketball media. Stop it. Ruffle feathers. Who cares if you leave some talented, albeit not-that-popular players off for Caitlin Clark? This was a MOMENT. I’m not here to lecture but this is a teaching moment.

You’ve heard of that saying ‘a disruptor’... Caitlin Clark was the disruptor. Conor McGregor was a disruptor and he kind of ended boxing. Dana White leaned into it. When you get these ‘moments’, grab your surfboard and ride it. Don’t get insular, don’t get precious, don’t lecture us that we ‘didn’t watch the sport’. Everything exploded in Paris except women’s basketball. And now, the Premier League starts Friday, college football is ten days out, Dodgers and Yankees will headline a very interesting postseason, NFL Preseason... and the WNBA will be off the agenda. I spent the whole summer talking women’s basketball, we were like ‘this is amazing, this is fascinating.’ Caitlin Clark is Taylor Swift in sneakers and now it’s over. Nobody is going to care.

It was a moment; it was your time. This should have been the Olympics of Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, and the women’s basketball team, and it was the only thing that was flat or down from Tokyo. 2028 in Los Angeles they will crush but that’s four years down the road. That’s not the ‘moment’.

The WNBA was just flying regular commercial flights like you and I. Caitlin arrived and you now have a two-year deal for their own flights. This was it; this was the moment. They say in business it’s all about timing and location. This was both. Paris was the location and the timing was now, and you left your surfboards at home.”

Listen to Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports Radio’s The Herd explain why women’s basketball should be kicking itself following their lackluster TV ratings at the Paris Olympics, saying the sport robbed itself of a once-in-a-generation chance to capitalize on the boundless popularity of Caitlin Clark on the US women’s team.

Check out the segment above as Colin can’t get over how incompetent the Olympic selection committee looks in leaving off star-studded rookies Clark and Angel Reese, saying this was women’s basketball’s ‘moment’ and they completely blew it, adding that with college football, NFL, Premier League soccer, and the MLB postseason on the horizon, the WNBA will now drift into irrelevance after nuking their monumental opportunity in Paris.

[eriknewton]

women's basketball lost a huge huge opportunity to grow their game globally and domestically byt not having angel reese or caitlyn clark and now the wnba will go back to not mattering at all with the start of football coming up and baseball playoffs quickly approaching.

[stevenvox]

Now they say they didn't know Clark was that good. Why not look at the 4 years of records at the major college level. Is that enough for them? These were all time records and she took an underdog team to the final game 2 years in a row. This was not an honest mistake.

[keshealm]

I'm glad they won the GOLD, but this WOMAN'S USA Olympic basketball team was absolutely boring to watch.

[marxmans]

I was SLIGHTLY interested in the WNBA with Clark, Reece, and Brate.
Buth with all the "Female Bickering" WNBA Players did early in the season, The Clark HATING, the b*tching about the new $2BILLION TV deal wasn't enough, ....THEN the Clark snub from the Olympics?
Oh Im done with the WNBA, they lost me just as I was nibbling on the bait!
And I'm sure I speak for A TON of potential new "Male Viewers"

[etherieeetheriee]

womens basketball got no attention until the last game for the gold

[darrylrankins]

Who cares bout women's basketball

[williest]

Rather than showcase their bright new stars they decided to roll out 20 year veterans who already have five medals! Absolutely nobody cared about seeing the same faces that they've never even watched in the first place. Caitlin Clark is the biggest name in all of sports in the world and they decided to leave her off the roster. Ironically all the questions were geared towards Caitlin Clark

[ArthurFaulkner-dblq]

The U.S. women's national soccer team claimed the gold medal after its 1-0 win against Brazil, they had there highest viewership since 2004 Olympics. 9 million plus. They had a vibrant young team that love playing soccer, developing for the future. Basketball miss the boat.

[JakeTruth]

Charity slots for old dinosaur WNBA players who were boring on the court, contributed little to nothing just to get them their *🏅. Sad.

[EPICJHN]

WNBA can’t get out of their own way lol. Who cares if a team wins a championship in a league no one watches? Bill Russel didn’t grow the nba and he did nothing but win.

Now Larry vs magic with their flashy styles and story lines, that grew the sport and set up the nba for Michael.

The wnba needs to focus on being profitable whatever that looks like. Juju is around the corner and they should be trying to set the stage for her.

[_Apache]

For the love of God stop bringing up Angel Reese in the same sentence as Kaitlyn Clark !! We told you we weren’t going to watch the Women’s Olympic team and we were not playing !! Now all of these insecure divas sit down, shut up and know your role !! Including Angel Reese!

[oldmansportsog]

The Wnba did what it does best,

It bricked a layup

Having Clark and Reese on olympic team was a no brainer just based on their popularity and anytime those 2 are on same team people going watch

[JuneHolloway]

People really don't like hearing the truth. Clark and Reese would have risen to the occasion for Gold.

[sulleys]

It also seems like no one is really celebrating the Women's Basketball Gold Medal either. It is rarely talked about in the media or in social media unless the Caitlin Clark snub is the focus of the conversation. So even in victory Team USA women's basketball is a big "so what".

[alberthennen]

As a former coach of a womens sport ( admittedly at a much lower level, and a much more obscure sport ) - water polo, there is no doubt that tired out, short sighted and selfish personalities missed what will be the best opportunity to advance their sport ( and other womens sports ) in my lifetime for sure ( I'm 62 ) and probably further.
Shame on the US Women's basketball program.
Shame, and you have hurt your future and your sport.
I am sad for the great women athletes on the US team that performed well even when the fan turnout that was the result of the organizational bad decisions was poor.
Yes they won the Gold Medal ( by the skins of their teeth ), but when they bite it in future they will find it hollow.
Here's to Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Arike Ogumbawale ripping up the second half of
the WNBA season. I hope they continue to light it up.
This level of opportunity to grow a sport on a global level will not occur again for a long, long time.
I am sad for all the young girls out there who were denied an opportunity because of
selfish, jealous old players, coaches and administrators.
You can pull the blinders off now - but it's too late, the horse is already in the barn.

[thomashazlewood]

Yeah, but Taurasi now has 5 Gold and a Participation Medal in the Olympics.

[esquare]

Never watched a women’s game until CC. Bought first tickets ever to their game in DC.

[americantexmex]

I did not even know that they had already won a few medals. Its a shame that they could not see the big picture and respectfully chose deserving Veterans out of Respect for them winning another medal to their resume. It would have been an amazing thing to watch the game without having to fake the excitement. And I like how you were very inclusive for adding another player in the same conversations about Clark. Got to protect your behind nowadays in the name of job security.

[CarlosJ-vpds]

It is a travesty to send injured WNBA players to the Paris Olympics instead of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. They missed the opportunity of a lifetime. Old-click politics and angry jealousies got in the way of sanity. Dinosaur Taurasi's greed tarnished her legacy.

[Dshipp]

How you not relevant when you talk about them everyday😂😂😂