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The NBA is hoping to get a piece of the Caitlin Clark Effect.
The 2025 NBA All-Star weekend, which will be held at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Feb. 14–16, is expected to feature a revamped version of last year’s NBA vs. WNBA three-point challenge between Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu—and this one could include Clark and Mavericks wing Klay Thompson, according to ESPN.
Last year’s All-Star Saturday night drew 4.57 million viewers, up 31% from the previous year, the least-watched iteration of the event, and up 8% versus 2022. Viewership peaked at 5.4 million during the 10 to 10:15 p.m. ET window, when Curry and Ionescu battled.
Based on recent history, bringing in Clark should boost the ratings once again—and perhaps have a multiplier effect as she has a viewership pull that very few athletes can match at this point in time. Clark drove nearly 19 million to watch the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball championship between Iowa and South Carolina and helped the WNBA set regular-season viewership records during her rookie season.
Clark did not participate in the WNBA’s three-point contest in July, even though she was present during the weekend in Phoenix because she was named an All-Star. She said she wanted to “rest” after going immediately to the WNBA from college. But it didn’t help the WNBA’s pitch that the prize for the winner of the league’s All-Star exhibition events was just $2,575—until sponsor Aflac came in late and added $50,000.
It’s unclear what the NBA would offer to Clark for her participation.
The NBA still owns a reported 60% of the WNBA. The WNBA’s historic $2.2 billion media-rights deal is part of the NBA’s $77 billion deal with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon, with the value of the WNBA’s portion determined by the NBA and WNBA, in consultation with Endeavor.
NBA All-Star Changes
The NBA is also looking to make changes to the format of the All-Star Game on Feb. 16 as the league continues to search for a way to make it more competitive.
According to ESPN, the contest will have a four-team, tournament-style format with two semifinal games of up to 40 points and a championship game of up to 25 points. The idea is that the low-scoring, pickup-style format can change the game’s tenor.
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game reverted to the East vs. West format last used in 2017. Commissioner Adam Silver hoped the players would take the game more seriously, but little defense was played as the teams combined for 397 points, the most in the game’s history. The game averaged 5.4 million viewers, up 17.6% versus the previous year, but it was still the second-least-watched All-Star Game in history.
