FanDuel has announced that it is widening its horizons for this season as they are now entering a new partnership deal with the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), becoming its official sportsbook partner while also providing exclusive in-app streaming in the United States in the long run.

It is hard to argue that FanDuel is coming up with a much more solid presence on more facets of women’s sports at this point with the way they are rolling with various signings – the PWHL being one of the biggest acquisitions they have landed this week. This has been in response to the rising interest in the sports world where women dominate the space, not just men.

Looking at how Caitlin Clark’s rookie season reinvigorated interest in the WNBA in just a short span of time, it cannot be denied that there is indeed a strong market in women’s sports, as evidenced in college ranks as well. This partnership with the PWHL sets FanDuel towards a new horizon in the long run.

The Caitlin Clark Effect

Looking back in the WNBA season where college phenom Caitlin Clark made her debut with the Indiana Fever, the viewership of the WNBA has been at an all-time high. For starters, the 1.1 million viewers for Game 1 of the Finals was a massive jump from the 729,000 drawn in the first game between the Liberty and Las Vegas Aces last season. That's an increase of 57%, making it the first WNBA Finals game to top a million viewers in over 20 years.

On top of that, all the games that featured Clark had significantly higher viewership than any other contest. If you are not impressed, Clark’s season finale drew 2.5 million viewers, which makes it the most-viewed WNBA game to date and certainly trumps the Finals alone.

So far, the viewership of the WNBA Finals has never reached a million mark since 2015, with last season’s Game 1 viewership peaking at 729k that aired on ABC. This year’s Game 1 peaked at 1.14 million, which says a lot about how it has grown in a short span of time.

At this point, the revival of interest in women’s sports has been on the rise, and Clark has brought indeed unprecedented changes and expectations in various leagues where women are the main focus. This is a start of a new era for women’s sports, and the WNBA is at the helm in leading that charge towards a bigger change in the long run.

A New Focus for FanDuel

This collaboration opens up FanDuel to provide unmatched access to the PWHL for fans, being able to enjoy at least 90 regular-season games and streaming the playoffs live on the FanDuel app. On top of that, fans can wager on their favorite teams and players for the whole season while being able to enjoy original and unique offers for those who use the app.

The PWHL has a total of six teams in the US and Canada combined, composed of the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Toronto Sceptres. This league is starting out new and is entering its second season with the hopes of bringing bigger fan engagement with the help of FanDuel’s services.

So far, this is turning out for the best as the PWHL is starting to earn bigger presence in the hockey scene. Fans can expect to see more from the league as FanDuel helps expand its visibility among various leagues in the United States.