Caitlin Clark's impact on women's basketball has been remarkable. She has shattered on-court records, but her largest impact is felt off the court. She draws eyes to the game like never before. The highest-viewed WNBA Draft pre-Caitlin Clark was the 2004 Draft, featuring Diana Taurasi.
The 2004 WNBA Draft set the record with 600,000 viewers, until Clark came along. The 2024 WNBA Draft had 2.45 million viewers, up 374 percent from the previous season.
During Clark's rookie season (2024), the WNBA had a whopping 23 games reach one million-plus viewers. Clark played in 20 of those games.
On the list of most-watched games from last season, you would have to go to No. 15 to find a game without the Indiana Fever.
Clark was named Time Magazine's 2024 Athlete of the Year for her accomplishments and impact on women's sports. However, in 2025, she was left off the list of the 100 most influential people, prompting multiple questions from fans and media members.
"If Caitlin Clark's not in this, the list is nonsense"@ColinCowherd reacts to @CaitlinClark22 being left off the Time Magazine Most 100 Influential People list pic.twitter.com/mhcDYbBvqa
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) April 16, 2025
Long-time sports talk show host Colin Cowherd weighed in on the controversy surrounding Clark's omission from the list. He called it "the dumbest thing" he's ever heard. How can she go from Athlete of the Year in December 2024, to no longer being influential in April 2025?
U voted Caitlin Clark athlete of the year, she changed the viewership and attendance in WNBA singlehandedly and she doesn't make the list? Stewie and Collier, OK a whopping 300K watch Unrivaled in PRIME TIME on TNT. CC games, 2 million. But even so, great, keep those 2 and CC.
— Sean Elliott (@SeanElliot1990) April 17, 2025
Sean makes a good point. Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier are great names, but influential? They do not draw even close to the same viewership that Clark does. Are they great players? Yes. Do they deserve to be on the 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL list? Absolutely not.
In which parallel universe do Collier and Stewart have more influence than Caitlin Clark? 😆
— bballbballer (@bballbball76593) April 17, 2025
Another disgruntled fan asked a similar question: how does Stewart and Collier have more influence than Caitlin Clark? There is no argument for the two to be on the list while Clark is left off.
The people at @TIME magazine are a buck of effing clowns. Yall got ZERO CREDIBILITY. Your 100 most influencial list without Caitlin Clark? Are you ignorant or racist? Take your pick
— Hank Armentrout (@757VaHank) April 17, 2025
With more colorful language, this observer called the Time Magazine crew a bunch of clowns for leaving Clark off the list. This rant echoes multiple sentiments found on social media after Time released their list.
@TIME how you going to leave Caitlin Clark out of the top 100? pic.twitter.com/EnG1B0pulw
— David (@DavidNunya48709) April 17, 2025
A simple question in this post. How do you leave one of the most influential athletes of the last decade off of a list that includes 100 influential people?
Love her or hate her, Caitlin Clark has changed the landscape of women's basketball and women's sports as a whole. There is no argument for Time Magazine leaving her off the 2025 list naming 100 most influential people.