Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever have me (and millions more) actually watching WNBA games

I never thought this day would come but here we are. I am not watching entire games or anything crazy like that but I do tune in to catch the highlights after every Indiana Fever game. The Caitlin Clark effect is very real and networks that in the past appeared to be broadcasting the games because they were obligated to do so, now are pulling in record numbers across the board.

src

The effect that Clark is having on the league is undeniable despite the amount of haters that she has managed to dig up out of the dark corners, especially with the handful of fans that existed before she became part of the game. Every game that Indiana is involved in gets huge numbers of viewers and many of the games were intentionally moved to much larger stadiums in order to accommodate demand for tickets. In the past there were YouTubers that would walk around asking people if they would rather have $5 or courtside WNBA tickets and almost everyone chose the cash. Things are different now and it is almost exclusively because of Caitlin Clark.

The main thing that people seem to really enjoy is the ongoing rivalry that she brought with her from college against Angel Reese, who honestly should be thanking for letting her piggyback into the spotlight because if it wasn't for Clark, almost nobody would even know who Angel even is.

src

These two have met up twice this year so far and Indiana has won both games. In both games, hard fouls were committed against Clark and honestly, these infractions should be punished. Angel Reese seems to be content with being the villain in all of this though, and well, more power to her. The problem with this strategy of hers (if it is indeed a strategy and not just being salty and jealous) is that players that rack up fouls and cause drama on and off the court without also making a meaningful contribution to the games rarely stick around for long.

Regardless of how anyone chooses to look at this, the publicity that is generated from their ongoing feud is getting a lot of eyeballs on the games and this is very good for the WNBA which might be on track to turn a profit for the first time since the league was created.

The downside of me and many other that are only watching Clark highlights is that unfortunately, at least for now, the Indiana Fever just aren't a very good team and they get absolutely destroyed by the better teams in the league. You need more than one or two star players to win a basketball game.

While there are probably a ton of veteran WNBA players that are upset that Caitlin is getting so much attention and of course a huge amount of money in sponsorships, they probably need to step back and be at least a bit grateful. For the first time really ever, the general population is taking interest in a sport that for the most part, you couldn't give away tickets for. With a 2023 average attendance of just over 6000 people, these games were far from profitable. I know that I didn't even bother with knowing the scores or even the names of the teams until this year and I am not the only one that feels this way.

The players that are intentionally fouling Clark for whatever personal reason need to be very careful with how they handle this. If Clark were all of a sudden to be out because of an injury, that attendance and viewership would head straight back down the toilet.

src

The Indiana Fever regularly had just over 4000 fans per game in years past but this year they are selling out nearly 18,000 seats in every single home game. When Indiana goes on the road the same is true in other cities' stadiums with a recent visit to Washington D.C. seeing the highest attendance in WNBA history at over 20,000 people in the crowd.

I never thought I would ever bother to watch anything WNBA related that wasn't making fun of it but I have to say that these games (at least the highlights) are a lot of fun. Obviously it lacks the same impact that NBA games have but I can honestly say that if I had the opportunity to attend a WNBA game now, I would actually go.

If the other teams can ride this Caitlin wave, they could end up seeing the same sort of results that Indiana has been seeing. The worst thing they can do is get all catty and try to bring Caitlin down because other than Brittney Griner getting put in jail in Russia, I don't think most sports fans can even name anything about the WNBA at all. They have a novel opportunity here because a lot of basketball fans can't afford to go to NBA games. This could be the only chance that the league gets to acquire real fans.... let's hope they don't blow it.