In the 2014-15 college football season, Ohio State made a splash by defeating Marcus Mariota’s Oregon Ducks to win the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship. That victory marked the end of the BCS era and kicked off a new chapter for college football.

Caitlin Clark, and the phenomenon she helped create in college basketball, is certainly the most prominent example of this rise. Clark’s popularity and the tidal wave that washed over sports discourse, however, had ripple effects felt throughout different leagues.