Caitlin Clark has set records on and off the court. The University of Iowa’s superstar guard is on track to do something never accomplished by a women’s basketball player.
Appear on all four broadcast networks in the same season.
Clark and the third-ranked Hawkeyes host No. 14 Indiana on Saturday night on Fox. Iowa is featured in four of the six Big Ten regular-season women’s games that will air on either Fox or NBC. Both networks have left open the possibility of adding more games.
In fact, appearing on the four broadcast networks is something usually achieved only by top NFL players, like Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes. Fox even promoted the Indiana-Iowa game during its recent broadcast of the Jets-Patriots game.
Fox’s Gus Johnson, who arrived in Iowa City on Thursday, called games in the early days of the WNBA for the New York Liberty. He also called college games for CBS, including what were the annual top-five matchups between UConn and Tennessee. Johnson marvels at what Clark can do, saying her star power is well deserved.
“She is literally a virtuoso. I had to look that word up to really understand the exact definition of it before I came down here. She is a virtuoso in basketball,” Johnson said. “I’ve seen her on tape and live on TV. But now I get to see her with my own eyes, and I am so excited.
Both Hawkeyes games against No. 17 Ohio State will be aired nationally (Jan. 21 on NBC and March 3 on Fox) while the Feb. 3 contest at Maryland on Fox could be moved to prime time.
Geordie Wimmer, Fox Sports’ VP of Production, said the network is treating Saturday’s game like one of its biggest matchups of the year, including the men’s games. Besides Johnson, Fox has its top basketball production crew deployed and will use the same amount of cameras normally used for a top-ranked team. Johnson’s analyst will be Sarah Kustok, who also does Brooklyn Nets games on YES Network.
