Packing the House: Caitlin Clark and Big Ten Women’s Basketball Attendance

This paper examines the effect of Caitlin Clark on Big Ten women’s basketball attendance over the 2017–2018 to 2023–2024 seasons. The results indicate that Clark’s effect on both home and away attendance increased substantially from her sophomore to senior seasons, with her senior season associated with about 7,500 additional fans at Iowa’s home games and more than 9,000 additional fans at Iowa’s road games in the Big Ten. Including neutral court games, and road games against non-Big Ten teams Clark increased attendance by more than 315,000 in her senior season, an increase that exceeds the season total attendance for many Big Ten teams. However, the most novel result is the finding of a large effect on attendance for games after Clark played as a visitor. No evidence of this type of spillover effect has been documented in the superstar effects literature.