Indianapolis — Caitlin Clark is well aware of her place in athletics, particularly the WNBA. The Indiana Fever guard has yet to play a professional game but is already one of the world’s most popular sportsmen. She recently inked an eight-year, $28 million endorsement agreement with Nike, and her brand is fast expanding after dominating the sports news cycle for nearly two months.
Clark’s appearance has led to high demand for tickets at The Fever. More than 6,000 fans attended the team’s draft party earlier this month solely to witness the franchise select Clark, and the media presence after team sessions this week is more than ten times that of previous seasons. The excitement surrounding Clark and the team is palpable.
“I think that just shows the excitement regarding our team,” Clark said this week of the draft party’s attendance and the team’s rising popularity. She anticipates a large turnout for Indiana’s preseason game on Friday in Dallas.
The Fever are looking forward to big crowds at their games. Erica Wheeler, a veteran guard, believes that Fever games will have some of the highest attendance she has seen since she faced UConn in college while at Rutgers University. NaLyssa Smith recalls playing in front of smaller audiences at Indiana Farmers Coliseum during her first season with the Fever. That will appear a lot different.
Not only will the home crowds be tremendous. Tickets to see Clark and the Fever in non-Indiana markets are in hot demand. The Las Vegas Aces will play a home game versus the Fever in T-Mobile Arena instead of Michelob Ultra Arena to accommodate about 6,000 additional people. This season, the Washington Mystics will host Indiana for one game at Capital One Arena rather than Entertainment & Sports Arena. That improvement will increase the entire capacity by approximately 16,000 fans.
Fans in Chicago are lobbying for similar events to occur. Clark and the Fever will be popular wherever they go, which might alter the landscape of the WNBA.
“The day she declared, we immediately started selling tickets,” Fever general manager Lin Dunn remarked following the 2024 WNBA Draft. “From a business standpoint, she’s already made a significant contribution to the excitement in this community… She has just generated an incredible amount of attention. But she has earned it. “Look what she has done.”
Clark averaged 31.6 points and 8.9 assists per game during her final collegiate season. That season, she became the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s all-time leading scorer, a considerable boost to her profile.
Clark added that she is still staying in a hotel in Indianapolis while she adjusts to her new surroundings. She likes Indianapolis because of its size and speed, which suit Clark and her lifestyle.
“Just have a quiet presence around me. “I mean, I don’t really go out in public and do much,” she explained following her first formal session with the Fever. Clark said her leisure time is spent recovering and watching films; she brought her PlayStation 5 to Indianapolis but has yet to link it up.
Her skill and popularity have had a huge impact on her life. She was a college basketball star for years, but when Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes made a remarkable run to the NCAA Championship game during her junior season, everything changed.
“Probably after my junior year of basketball in college.” But it’s escalated to a level that’s really different from what it was then,” Clark said when questioned about the moment her life became strange and weird. “I probably still don’t live my life as I should. I still try to do normal things and live normal lives,” she said, before joking that she now has a security detail following her around.
That degree of prominence comes with a plethora of off-court activities. Clark has appeared on Saturday Night Live, signed with Nike and will receive a signature sneaker, and will serve as an executive producer on a show, among other things. She appears in numerous ads and has become one of the world’s most recognisable athletes.
That will alter everything for the Fever and the WNBA. Indiana has not made the playoffs since 2016 and has consistently been in the bottom two in attendance over the past two seasons. That will undoubtedly alter this year.
“I believe there will be a lot of new fans joining the WNBA. “There are already a lot of fans here,” Clark explained. “Just continuing to grow that and attract that and keep those fans will be super important.”
The star guard is aware of her situation and the implications for her and the Fever. However, she has carried herself well in recent weeks and will seek to carry that to the court when Indiana’s season begins next month.
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