There’s no question that the WNBA — and women’s basketball as a whole — has seen explosive, unprecedented growth over the last five years.
Ticket sales, viewership ratings, merchandise, and the number of young women picking up a basketball for the first time are all on the rise. Stars of the game, like Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson and Angel Reese, are now the faces of multi-billion-dollar brands through endorsement deals — opportunities their male counterparts in the NBA have enjoyed for decades.
With the league’s success expected to continue, who do WNBA players see as the face of the league in the next five years? The Athletic asked this question to nearly 40 WNBA players and recently released its anonymous WNBA player survey on who they think will be the face of the sport over the next half-decade.
How did The Athletic conduct its anonymous WNBA player survey?
Since May, staff at The Athletic have spoken to 39 players, which represents roughly a third of all non-rookies in the league. The interviews spanned all 13 teams, excluding rookies, and players could skip individual questions and weren’t allowed to vote for their teammates.
“The WNBA’s face of the league does not have to be its best player, or even its most decorated,” The Athletic’s staff wrote. “A player’s success on the floor is important, but so is her social omnipresence, her brand prominence and her desire to be a voice on topics that not only involve her but her peers.”
Who do WNBA players think will be the face of the league in five years?
Slightly more than half — 53.8% — think Caitlin Clark will be the face of the league by 2030. Here are the players who received other votes:
Among all the other young rising stars, such as Reese and Bueckers, Clark is often credited as the catalyst behind the surge in league viewership and attendance.
When it comes to TV viewership, Clark carried her record-breaking college momentum into the pros. After setting the record for the most-watched women’s basketball game ever during the 2024 national championship, her rookie year saw all of the WNBA’s broadcast partners post their highest-viewed games, all of which featured Clark’s Indiana Fever.
The Fever averaged a record 17,036 fans per home game in 2024 — nearly 4,300 more than the next-best team. Indiana also set a record on the road, with 15,131 fans per game, outdrawing every other team by more than 4,400.
‘She is currently the face of the league’
Some Clark fans and sports pundits were displeased with the notion that the 23-year-old only got 53.8% of the vote, with others claiming that her performance on the court, mixed with her ability to draw, makes her the face of the league already.
“Hmmm. Only 53.8?” USA TODAY columnist and Clark biographer Christine Brennan said in a social media post. “Record TV ratings, attendance, moving to bigger arenas just for her, massive cultural fame. Is that going to stop? No. How do they not see this?”
Some current WNBA players expressed this sentiment. “I mean, she is currently the face of the league,” one WNBA player said in The Athletic’s survey.
Clark can remain one of the top figures in the sport if she can avoid missing time due to injury, which has hindered her so far this season. The former Iowa star left the Fever’s 85-77 win over the Connecticut Sun on July 15 early with a right groin injury. She’s missed 10 games so far this season with lower-body muscle injuries.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Is Caitlin Clark the face of women’s basketball? WNBA players weigh in on new survey
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
