Caitlin Clark fever has already struck the WNBA.
Shortly after the Indiana Fever selected her with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft on Monday, most sizes of Clark’s jersey were sold out on Fanatics within an hour. It’s unknown how many Clark jerseys Fanatics sold, but extra small, medium, large, extra large and double-extra large jerseys were unavailable to purchase on the website not long after they became available for sale.
Clark’s immediate impact on the WNBA isn’t much of a surprise. As her college career at Iowa progressed, Clark brought extra attention to women’s college basketball. Iowa’s home and road games were constantly sold out during Clark’s senior season, which saw her break the all-time Division I scoring record, men’s or women’s.
The Clark effect also translated to record-setting television ratings for women’s college basketball. Her final regular-season game at Iowa was the most-watched women’s college basketball regular-season game since 1999. Iowa’s final three games in the 2024 NCAA Tournament broke the record for the most-watched games in women’s college basketball history. In fact, Iowa’s loss to South Carolina in the women’s title game drew a larger audience (18.9 million) than the men’s national title game (14.8 million), marking the first time that’s ever happened.
Ahead of Monday’s WNBA Draft, the league prepared itself for the extra attention Clark will likely bring to the sport. The Fever will have 36 of its 40 regular-season games on national television despite holding the league’s second-worst record last season. While the Fever haven’t made any information about ticket sales public, the average resale price for tickets to their games in 2024 is triple what it was in 2023, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal.
Is Caitlin Clark the future of the WNBA?
On the road, the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces are switching home arenas when Clark’s Fever come to town on July 2. They’ll host the Fever at T-Mobile Arena instead of their usual home court, Michelob Ultra Arena, as the former has nearly 8,000 more seats. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Mercury made tickets available for its June 30 matchup against the Fever the day after Clark’s college career ended, using her to promote the event even though she hadn’t been drafted yet. The cheapest single-seat ticket was $109.
Clark’s first preseason game is even bringing extra attention, too. Tickets for the Fever’s game at the Dallas Wings on May 3 are going for as cheap as $136 on StubHub as of Tuesday morning. Tickets for the Fever’s first regular-season game, which is at the Connecticut Sun on May 14, are going for as cheap as $107 on StubHub.
Clark’s first regular-season home game with the Fever will come on May 16, when they host the defending Eastern Conference champion New York Liberty.
Women’s National Basketball Association
Indiana Fever
Caitlin Clark
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