From CNBC: 2024-05-14 15:55:24

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark makes her debut as point guard in the WNBA regular season opener on Tuesday night. As the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, Clark attracted a record 18.9 million viewers to the Women’s March Madness National Championship game. The game will be streamed on Disney+, marking the platform’s first live sports event. Disney’s ESPN is also planning to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming product in fall 2025. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery’s exclusive TV rights for NBA games are currently under negotiation. The WNBA’s current media rights deal, worth around $60 million, is expected to double in value when renegotiated in 2025. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert predicts the increased value based on the impact of star players like Clark. Patrick Rishe, director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University’s Olin Business School, believes Clark’s WNBA debut could be a “watershed moment for the league,” particularly with the game being streamed on Disney+, which caters to a key demographic of families and younger audiences. He draws parallels between Clark’s potential impact on the WNBA and Lionel Messi’s influence on MLS with his streaming deal on Apple TV.



Read more at CNBC: Disney+ to stream Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut with Indiana Fever