Unrivaled pays the price for Caitlin Clark snub as new women’s league announces awful TV viewership
The inaugural season of Unrivaled is not proving a hit with basketball fans after the new three-on-three women’s league announced underwhelming viewing figures for its opening night.
Unrivaled got underway Friday night with two live games televised on TNT Sports, albeit without WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark in its ranks.
Clark, who brought unprecedented attention to the WNBA during her rookie season in 2024, opted not to take part in the breakaway competition despite being offered a staggering $1million to do so.
And after being snubbed by the biggest name in women’s basketball, Unrivaled has ultimately paid the price.
According to Front Office Sports, Friday’s launch night peaked at an average of just 364,000 viewers across TNT Sports and truTV, which is well below what the WNBA registered in 2024.
An average of 1.19 million viewers tuned into ESPN during the WNBA regular season, albeit mainly to watch Clark in action for the Fever.
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The opening night of Unrivaled peaked at an average of just 364,000 viewers Friday night
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The new women’s league has paid the price for not landing WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark
The year before she entered the big leagues, an average of 505,000 viewers watched the top tier of women’s basketball in the US on ABC, ESPN, and CBS.
Despite landing big names such as Angel Reese, Sabrina Ionescu, Brittney Griner, Cameron Brink and more, Unrivaled chiefs tempered expectations before Friday’s opening night.
‘We don’t expect to go get the same numbers the WNBA does,’ league president Alex Bazzell told Front Office Sports. ‘We’re just trying to deliver a great product, which I know we can do.’
Unrivaled got up and running on Friday with two games as Napheesa Collier’s Lunar Owls team took down Breanna Stewart’s Mist, before Arike Ogunbowal’s Vinyl got the better of Angel Reese’s Rose.
The new competition aired Friday on TNT, before coverage continued Saturday on truTV. Its opening weekend then concluded Monday night back on TNT.
Despite the seven-figure offer, Clark decided to continue recharging her batteries in the WNBA offseason instead of taking part in Unrivaled.
The Indiana Fever sensation took in some NFL playoff action over the weekend after heading to Kansas City to watch her beloved Chiefs take on the Houston Texans.
Clark joined Taylor Swift, the high-profile girlfriend of Chiefs star Travis Kelce, in her private suite at Arrowhead as the hosts ran out 23-14 winners.
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Unrivaled got underway Friday night with two live fixtures that were broadcast on TNT Sports
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Clark opted not to sign up to the three-on-three league after finishing her rookie WNBA season
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The Fever star joined Taylor Swift in her VIP suite at the Chiefs’ latest NFL outing on Saturday
The pair were captured sitting together as Kelce helped Kansas City claim a precious victory, while they were even seen hugging in celebration at one stage after he scored a touchdown.
Clark’s presence in the VIP suite hardly came as a surprise given she was recently a guest on New Heights, the popular podcast hosted by Kelce and his older brother Jason.
Despite clarifying that she is very much a Chiefs fan on the podcast, ESPN’s Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo claimed that she’s not and is only supporting them ‘because they win’.
A day later, Russo was told by Dan Patrick that Clark is most definitely a Chiefs fan.
In response, he said: ‘I’m Chief’d out, Dan. I’m Chief’d out. And now all of a sudden Caitlin Clark is a Chiefs fan?
‘Let me guess this straight, we watched Caitlin, a wonderful athlete… I never saw her once wear a Chiefs jersey, wear a Chiefs hat, have her father wear the Chiefs…and now all of a sudden, she’s a huge Chiefs fan? Oh, come on!’
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Clark and Swift went wild after Travis Kelce scored a touchdown for Kansas City vs Houston
Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark hit it off at Chiefs game
When Patrick told Russo that Clark announced she was a Chiefs fan years ago, Russo said in response: ‘I didn’t know that. Did she? She’s a Chiefs fan. She knows about Super Bowl I…does she know about Miami-Kansas City double overtime 27-24 for one of the most famous games in the history of the National Football League?’
After bringing up a photo of a young Clark wearing a Chiefs jersey, Patrick asked Russo if he wanted to apologize. To which he said: ‘I guess. I guess. I shouldn’t be picking on Caitlin Clark. I’m Chief’d out.’
Clark is also a huge Swiftie and revealed earlier this year that the singer had told her she was keen to watch the Chiefs with her.
They started the game sat apart but in the third quarter, they swapped seats and sat together with Clark laughing while Swift spoke to her with her hand covering her mouth.
The 22-year-old is a Chiefs fan because she has family that lives in Kansas City and as a child, would go to a Chiefs game during the holidays
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