Anyone offering the WNBA unsolicited lessons about its business model may want to start with the league’s ratings sheet, which tells a very different story this summer.
Even as the league navigates heated debate surrounding Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham’s comments on trans athletes in women’s sports, the hard foul she took from Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington, and the WNBA’s lack of a formal gender-identity policy, fans are still tuning in at remarkable levels.
Tuesday night’s matchup between the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty in Brooklyn delivered ESPN’s second-biggest regular-season WNBA audience in 30 years, averaging two million viewers. That figure was also 116 percent above the network’s regular-season average dating back to last season.
Across the season, WNBA viewership is up 12 percent, according to Sports Business Journal. The outlet also reported that games airing on ABC and ESPN have climbed roughly 5 percent from last year, when Fever star Caitlin Clark was dealing with injury issues throughout the season.
Those numbers have been easy to overlook amid the noise surrounding Cunningham, Carrington and the broader debate over transgender participation in women’s sports.
Cunningham’s opposition to trans athletes competing in women’s sports prompted protests and counterprotests at multiple stops during a recent Indiana road swing. In the final game of the Fever’s three-game trip, Carrington was ejected after delivering a hard foul on Cunningham, a moment that quickly triggered backlash from the Indiana forward’s supporters.
DiJonai Carrington’s hard foul on Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham has fueled a major WNBA controversy
Carrington faced criticism from WNBA fans after committing a series of hard fouls
In response to online criticism over the foul, Carrington, who is Black, wrote ‘white privilege’ on X. Later, in another post, she denied writing that comment in response to the foul call, but did not offer any further explanation.
And this week, Carrington came under fire again after having a fan removed from their seat only to have her complaint described as ‘unfounded.’
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In the fourth quarter of a game between the Sky and the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday, Carrington went to officials to complain about the behavior of a fan sitting courtside.
The fan was then escorted away by security, only to return later in the game.
‘The fan was cooperative after a complaint that was unfounded,’ a Valkyries official told ClutchPoints.
A statement from the Sky to ClutchPoints revealed the fan was given a warning, but otherwise declined to comment.
Officials chatted to Sky head coach Tyler Marsh before Carrington spoke with referees and a Chicago staff member, likely to tell them what the fan said.
Cunningham is left with a bloody mouth after receiving a hard foul from Carrington last week
That same Chicago staffer spoke briefly to the fan, who was later seen laughing on camera with the woman sitting beside him.
‘So, there is a stoppage right now as Chicago’s team security has stepped out along with arena security representatives,’ a commentator on the USA Network broadcast said. ‘Carrington went over to one of the officials, as you see Sarah Williams there, to say something.’
The co-commentator on the broadcast said, ‘I don’t know what was or wasn’t said. I will say respect for the players is something, especially right now, that is being taken very seriously from everybody around the league, as it should be.’
Play resumed as security escorted the fan away from his seat. Eventually, he was seen back in his spot.
Carrington finished the game with just three points and three rebounds in 24 minutes of a 91-71 loss.
