The 2022 WNBA season finished as the league’s most-watched regular season on ESPN in 16 years, and its most-watched season overall in 14 years.

The WNBA averaged 372,000 viewers across 25 WNBA games on ESPN networks, a 19 percent increase over last season and the highest average viewership since 2008. Including CBS games, the league averaged 379,000 viewers, up 16 percent from 2021.

Sunday’s matchup between the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces on ABC averaged 852,000 viewers and peaked at 1.1 million viewers, which made it the most-viewed WNBA game across all networks since 2008.

Ahead of the Storm-Aces game, the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun averaged 682,000 viewers (822,000 peak) on ABC, which made it the fifth most-viewed game since 2012.

#WNBA on ESPN presented by Google scores its most-viewed regular season since '08

• Up 19% through 25 games vs '21 regular season

Sunday's @seattlestorm vs @LVAces:
• 852K average viewers
• Most-viewed @WNBA game across all networks since '08

More: https://t.co/IJNkmwofXJ pic.twitter.com/f5Or0IrVXM

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 16, 2022

The WNBA All-Star game brought in an average of 734,000 viewers — a 54 percent increase over 2021 and the most in six years. The WNBA draft also saw increased ratings, up 20 percent over 2021 with 403,000 viewers on ESPN.

The numbers not only point to an increase in interest in the league but also show that the league’s media rights may be undervalued.

The WNBA season average of 372,000 viewers on ESPN outpaces the 2021 ratings of the MLS, which averaged 276,000 viewers across 31 games on ESPN networks.

As part of the WNBA’s current deal with ESPN, the league received $27 million in 2021, and that number will grow to $33 million by the final year of the deal in 2025. Just this year, MLS signed a deal with Apple worth $250 million per season.

WNBA league averages also aren’t too far off of the NHL’s averages in the first year of that league’s deal with ESPN and Turner Sports. For the 2021-22 season, the NHL averaged 460,000 viewers per game – the league’s highest since 2016-17. That deal is worth about $400 million per year from Disney and about $225 million per year from Turner.

Aside from viewership, other league engagement metrics also increased. WNBA League Pass, which is the league’s out-of-market game package, experienced a 10 percent growth in subscribers, while web traffic to the WNBA’s website nearly doubled, with visits totaling 9.2 million — a 79 percent jump. Unique visitors were up 99 percent to 5.4 million while page views were up 83 percent to 23.8 million.

On social media, the league set records for engagement with 186 million views across all videos posted throughout the season, a 36 percent increase over 2021.

The WNBA playoffs begin at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday with a matchup between the Chicago Sky and New York Liberty.

Caitlin Clark made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, which quickly went viral.

The Iowa star showed up on the show’s Weekend Update segment to playfully call out Michael Che’s history of making jabs at women’s sports.

It started when Che joked that Iowa should replace Clark’s retired No. 22 “with an apron.” 

When Clark entered, Che said that he was a fan. But Clark wasn’t convinced – especially not when co-host Colin Jost brought the receipts of Che’s jabs.

“Really, Michael? Because I heard that little apron joke you did,” she said, before making him read some jokes of her own in retaliation. Clark finished her segment by shouting out the WNBA greats that came before her. She then got in one final dig – bringing Che a signed apron as a souvenir. 

She’s got jokes 😎@CaitlinClark22 on @nbcsnl #Hawkeyes

pic.twitter.com/54khqQw2MR

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 14, 2024

When Che promised to give it to his girlfriend, Clark delivered her last playful dig of the night.

“You don’t have a girlfriend, Michael,” she said.

Afterward, SNL castmember Bowen Yang told People that the 22-year-old and teammates Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Jada Gyamfi – who joined her at Studio 8H – “were so cool.”

“She's so charming and witty,” Yang said. “They were just the most stunning, noble people.

“Athletes just have this air about them. They know they're amazing. I mean, these are people who have numeric attachments and values to their performance. That's something that comedians never have.”

The Portland Thorns continue to struggle to start the NWSL season, falling 2-0 to the North Carolina Courage over the weekend to remain winless through their first four games. 

It’s uncharted territory for Portland, who has never started the NWSL regular season without a win in four games before.

Following the loss, defender Becky Sauerbrunn voiced her frustrations with the start. 

“It’s hard to find a lot of encouraging things, but what I find encouraging is that people are frustrated,” she said. “People are pissed off that we’re not doing well. We care, and I think that’s really important.” 

She also added that while the team will reflect individually, “there’s going to be no finger pointing.”

“We’re going to look at ourselves and figure out what we should have done, or I should have done better,” she said. “There is a list of things that I could have done better, and I’m going to make sure I know every single thing and watch this game back.”

The Thorns currently sit at the bottom of the league table with just one point, having allowed 10 goals – tied for the worst in the league. They’ve yet to lead in a match. And as questions grow, attention turns to head coach Mike Norris. 

Norris is in his second year as head coach of the club after leading the team to a second-place finish in the regular season last year. When asked about the possibility of pressure growing after the unprecedented start, Norris said that the pressure has been there “from day one.”

“I cannot be driven by my day-to-day and the longer vision of the pressure of the job,” he said. “We’ve got a belief in how we want to play, how we operate. We’ve got to stick with the process of that. While we do it, we have to review and see what is working, what’s not working.

“I’ll be showing up for the team and being there for what they need from me as we approach getting back together as a group next week.”

Maria Sanchez, who signed one of the biggest deals in NWSL history just four months ago, has reportedly requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

ESPN was the first to report the news, which was confirmed by multiple sources.

In a statement to ESPN, the team said: “​​Maria Sanchez is under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

In December, Sanchez signed a new three-year contract with the Dash worth $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. At the time, it was the largest contract in NWSL history – something that was eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

The winger was a restricted free agent in the offseason, meaning that Houston could match any offer from another team and retain her rights. Should the team trade Sanchez, her contract would remain as it has been signed with the league. That limits the number of teams that could take on her contract. 

In three starts with the Dash this season, Sanchez has zero goals and an assist. The Dash are 1-2-1 through four games and have allowed a league-worst 10 goals.

The team hired a new coach, Fran Alonso, in December. Earlier this year, former goalkeeper coach Matt Lampson was fired for violating the league’s Coach Code of Conduct and Anti-Fraternization policy. 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close at midnight ET on Friday.

Canada got its revenge on Sunday, winning the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship and taking down the U.S. in a 6-5 overtime classic.

Marie-Philip Poulin, a longtime star for Canada, got her first two goals of the tournament, while Danielle Serdachny had the game-winner. 

GOLD FOR CANADA! DANIELLE SERDACHNY WINS IT IN OVERTIME! #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/fHmqUmHoGw

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 15, 2024

"I hate to say you're not trying to rely on it, expect it, but I know I've grown to expect it," Canada coach Troy Ryan said of Philip-Poulin. "Tonight was just a whole other level. I could see in her eyes every time we called her name that she was ready to go. It's just special."

The win came after Canada lost 1-0 to the U.S. in the group stage of the tournament. On Sunday, the two teams met for the 22nd time in 23 tournaments in the gold medal game – and the action between the two teams delivered. 

Among those scoring for the U.S. were Megan Keller, Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey. Julia Gosling, Emily Clark and Erin Ambrose had the other three goals for Canada, giving them their 13th World title after falling to the U.S. in last year’s title game in Toronto. 

This year’s game was held in New York, and it was the second-highest scoring final between the two teams. The U.S. won a world championship 7-5 in 2015. 

"Oh man, that feels good to win it on U.S. soil," Canada goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens said after the game. "We owed it to them and owed it to ourselves to win that one."

Canada also denied Knight a record 10th World Championship win, although she did become the most decorated player in women’s world championship history with 14 medals. After the game, Poulin gave Knight a hug on the ice. 

"We just said 'that was unbelievable,'" Poulin said.

U.S. coach John Wroblewski echoed the sentiment that it was an outstanding game after being asked about ending the game on a power-play after leaving too many players on the ice. 

"Instead of talking about the isolated events of tonight's game, I think that normally that's an interesting storyline,” he said. “But I think the entity of an amazing 6-5 game is an amazing hockey game that took place."