Interest in women’s basketball, sports growing throughout western Washington

SEATTLE — The WNBA Draft befell Monday night, as Caitlin Clark and different younger stars within the highlight proceed to develop the recognition of ladies’s basketball and girls’s sports activities all through the area.

“Seattle is definitely considered as a hub for ladies’s sports activities now, in a approach that numerous different cities aren’t,” mentioned Jen Barnes, the CEO/Founding father of Rough & Tumble.

Barnes opened this pub to get extra individuals to observe ladies’s sports activities. And now over a yr after she opened the enterprise, her dream is coming true. 

“Individuals who by no means watched it earlier than, are watching ladies’s basketball now,” Barnes mentioned.

And the numbers back that up. In keeping with Nielsen, about 14.8 million individuals watched the NCAA Males’s Championship recreation final Monday. However the day earlier than, practically 18.9 million individuals tuned in to observe the Girls’s Nationwide Championship. That is about double the quantity of people that watched the ladies’s closing final yr. 

“It has been packed,” Barnes mentioned. “Strains down the block simply to get in. I feel it was for the Last 4, we had a seven-page waitlist after individuals had been seated.”

She mentioned numerous that has to do with Clark and different rising standouts within the ladies’s recreation.

“We’re excited concerning the course that our recreation goes and the entire momentum that we’ve proper now,” mentioned Talisa Rhea, Seattle Storm common supervisor.

Rhea mentioned the Clark impact is actual. Single-game tickets for the Storm went on sale Monday, with followers opening up their wallets to see Clark when the Storm takes on her new staff the Indiana Fever. 

Followers could have the chance to see Clark at Local weather Pledge Area on Might 22 and June 27.

“We had our greatest first day in franchise historical past,” Rhea mentioned. “Particularly for these Indiana video games issues offered out within the decrease bowl, we have opened up the higher bowl, there’s simply numerous pleasure.”

Coaching camp for the Storm is ready to occur in a few weeks at its new coaching facility in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood.

The Storm’s first dwelling recreation shall be towards the Minnesota Lynx on Might 14.