Women’s basketball is rapidly becoming one of the most popular sports on television due to rising stars such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Sabrina Ionescu.
Nevada women’s basketball head coach Kelly Sopak has seen the game evolve during his 25-plus years as a youth coach and considers himself fortunate to coach (and coach against) many of today’s best WNBA players, stars such as Ionescu, Clark and Reese, while becoming one of the West Coast’s top prep and travel-ball coaches.
“At the time, you did not know that the sport would change that much,” Sopak said of the rising popularity. “You’re in real time. You can’t predict the future, nor do we ever think about the future in those terms. But in retrospect now, you look back and you say, ‘I saw that.’ I saw Caitlin Clark when she was in the eighth grade. I saw her in the ninth grade. I saw in the 10th grade. I saw the dynamic players. I saw Angel Reese. So, you saw all of this happening, but you didn’t know it was going to happen the way it is, and now that it’s happened and the popularity has just blossomed, you can look back and go, ‘The writing was on the wall’ It really was.”
Nine of Sopak’s former players have been drafted by WNBA team, and he’s produced 25 USA Basketball alumni, 18 McDonald’s All-Americans and 17 Gatorade Players of the Year. Among his WNBA stars is Ionescu, a New York Liberty guard who played club and high school ball for Sopak before a decorated college career at Oregon. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft and won an Olympic Gold Medal and WNBA championship in 2024.
“There is no one more deserving than Kelly to be able to lead the University of Nevada women’s basketball program,” Ionescu said via social media. “His dedication to invest in players, build a strong culture and win everywhere he’s been is who he is. I’m super thankful for what he’s done for me and my career, and I wouldn’t be the player or person I am today without Coach Sopak’s guidance. I’m excited for this next chapter for him and can’t wait to cheer him and the Wolf Pack women on.”
Per ESPN, the 2024 WNBA season was the most viewed regular season across ESPN platforms, up 170 percent from 2023 with an average of 1.2 million viewers. The 2024 WNBA draft, which featured Clark as the top pick, and the All-Star Game also set record viewership, featuring an average of 2.4 million viewers for the draft and 3.4 million viewers for the All-Star Game. The 2025 season rivaled the 2024 regular-season numbers, with an average of 1.3 million viewers for regular-season games on ESPN, up 6 percent year-over-year. The 2024 WNBA playoffs were also the most watched in 25 years. The 2025 playoffs averaged 1.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched WNBA postseason on ESPN networks.
The WNBA and WNBPA recently reached a tentative agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement through the 2032 season, pending ratification by the players and the league’s Board of Governors. The new CBA will establish the first comprehensive revenue-sharing model in women’s professional sports history and a revenue-based salary cap directly tied to league and team revenue growth. Other benefits will include league-provided housing, league-wide charter air travel, new facility standards, expanded team staffing requirements and other enhanced retirement benefits. Sopak said the historic CBA will help the league take its next step forward.
“They’re at a pivotal time with their CBA,” Sopak said. “Now that they’ve got that resolved, I think they’re at the crossroads in their sport that they have to take that next step. Everything is bumped up for them. Now, they’ve gotta take it to the next stratosphere, and I think they will. Just like here when I said about coming out to support, this is such low-hanging fruit to be a fan of. To come out and support and be a part of something and you get in on the ground floor, which is women’s sports. And I really appreciate all those fans that did do that 10, 15, 20 years ago because they’re getting to see the fruits of their labor of being a fan as well because they’ve been there, done that.”