Despite never actually using her name, the Indiana Fever recently put out a report that all but puts a shining spotlight on their star rookie, Caitlin Clark.
The official release came out Aug. 14 and boldly boasted about how the team’s “Fans Are Engaging with the Indiana Fever in Record Numbers.”
The Fever bragged about a number of team milestones as it returned from the Olympics break (where a number of WNBA players — though none from the Fever — won the gold medal in women’s basketball).
“Women’s basketball has exploded in popularity, and more fans are tuning in, packing arenas, and engaging in social media to watch their favorite teams and players,” the Fever stated. “Indiana in particular has been the epicenter of the sport with fans engaging with the Fever and their young stars in new ways, and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down as the team makes a push to return to the WNBA playoffs this season.”
While never mentioning her by name, it’s pretty notable that one of the key differences between the Fever last year and this year is the presence of Clark — whose nuclear superstardom has already generated quite a bit of jealousy and a tinge of racial animus in the league.
But those aren’t the only things Clark has helped generate.
“The Fever lead the League in attendance for both home and away games with more than 186,000 fans attending a Fever home game since the season tipped off in May, the highest total in franchise history and a 265 percent increase in attendance from last season,” the Fever release stated.
It added: “Four Fever home games this season have set single-game records for sales at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse Team Store, and the Team Store has experienced a jump of more than 1,000 percent in net sales.”
Perhaps just as impressively, the Fever boasted about how it was hanging with much bigger, much more successful sports leagues in certain arenas.
Have you watched any regular season WNBA games because of Clark?
Yes: 66% (63 Votes)
No: 34% (32 Votes)
“The Fever hold the top spots in the League in social media engagement, video views, followers gained, and total followers and since April, the Fever have had more than 800M video views across platforms,” the release said. “The team is ranked first among teams in the WNBA, NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB in video consumption in that span.”
All of this buzz was enough for Sportico, an outlet focused on sports business more so than sports itself, to outright call these huge numbers a direct result of the “Caitlin Clark effect.”
And, again, that description is hard to argue with.
Clark’s arrival has been a veritable boon for the WNBA, and her on-court rivalries with the likes of Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese and (apparently) the entire Phoenix Mercury squad has ignited genuine interest in a product that had been struggling to maintain any sort of foothold with sports fans over the years.
It does need to be noted that Clark is very deserving of this adulation and these accolades.
Unlike some of her more shameless peers, Clark’s game is actually efficient and skilled.
Yes, her turnovers are an issue, and yes, she’s not a lockdown defender, but her offensive brilliance (historic offensive brilliance, by the way) is rare for anyone — let alone a precocious 22-year-old — to have in basketball.
For all the aforementioned good buzz, however, Clark and the Fever are scrapping for one of the final few playoff spots.
Indiana will next look to keep those playoff hopes alive on Monday, when the team travels to Atlanta to face the Dream.
