"Absolute cinema", "You were must see TV": Fans show love to $3.2M NIL-valued Caitlin Clark as national championship game broadcast breaks records

Caitlin Clark`s time as an Iowa Hawkeye is over, as her team finished as the NCAA Tournament runner-up for the second consecutive year, losing 87-75 to undefeated South Carolina on Monday night. Even so, fans gave the West Des Moines, Iowa, native her flowers for a legendary collegiate career.

The game between the Gamecocks and the Hawkeyes set numerous broadcast records with a peak viewership of 18.2 million. This eclipsed previous record-holders (for women's college hoops) like the LSU-Iowa Elite Eight clash and Iowa-UConn in the Final Four, with all three games in this tournament.

In the post replies, fans wished the $3.2 million NIL-valued star (as per On3) the best of luck as she embarks on a professional career in the WNBA.

"Say her name @CaitlinClark22 because she is the reason people tune in to watch on TV and sold out at arena wherever she play. 🔥😍 ," another fan added.

Here are a few other reactions to the Iowa-South Carolina title game that broke broadcast records. Most of them fondly look back at the career that Caitlin Clark carved in Iowa City, and how her immense popularity could be a potential goldmine for the WNBA.

"Congrats! This is the legacy of Caitlin Clark in Iowa City. I just hope these @WNBA players don't fck this up for everybody, and for the overall popularity of the women's game," one fan posted.

"Women's NCAA basketball's catalyst event was sparked by @CaitlinClark22 . The @WNBA will be changed with the upcoming wave of talent including but not limited to Caitlin Clark," another fan wrote.

"Pay. Her.🐐", another fan commented.

Clark's four seasons for Iowa saw her break record after record covering both NCAA men's and women's basketball. She leaves college as Division I basketball's all-time leading scorer, women's basketball's all-time leading scorer, the leader in career 3-pointers in women's March Madness, the women's March Madness all-time leading scorer and the NCAA leader in single-season three-pointers made.

The 'Caitlin Clark Effect' in the WNBA

Fans are understandably excited about Clark finally going to the pros, as they believe that the so-called "Caitlin Clark Effect" will be able to completely pump up the league's ratings.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert recently said that with Clark and her recruiting class's entry into the league, the WNBA is expecting its current media deals to at least double in value (via France24). The WNBA is due to renegotiate its deals in 2025.

"We hope to at least double our rights fees," Engelbert said. "Women's sports rights fees have been undervalued for too long. So, we have this enormous opportunity at a time when the media landscape is changing so much."