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Scott Agness: Caitlin Clark exited the Fever’s win at TD Garden in the final minute, clutching her right groin in pain. She had 14-8-7 and scored nine straight points late to secure the road win. Her status is now uncertain ahead of All-Star Weekend in Indy. fieldhousefiles.com/p/caitlin-clar… pic.x.com/HVNInWqgFG
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever received the most votes for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game and will be a team captain for the July 19 game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The league reported Sunday that Clark received almost 1.3 million votes, and will be a captain along with Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx.
The Fever’s roster of sponsors “ballooned from 65 last year, which already beat the league average, to 85 this year,” according to Dave Lindquist of the INDIANAPOLIS BUSINESS JOURNAL. Pacers Sports & Entertainment EVP/Strategy & New Business Ventures Joey Graziano added that the Fever’s leadership “looks for corporate partners that share a vision and a set of values with the team.” Coffee and cookie chain Please & Thank You founder Brooke Vaughn, whose company is a Fever sponsor, said that she believes there are “more opportunities for small businesses to be sponsors in women’s sports than in men’s sports.”
Caitlin Clark Effect Back in Full As Fever-Liberty Draws 2.2 Million Viewers Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images When Caitlin Clark is on national TV, the ratings go boom. Saturday’s game between the Fever and Liberty averaged 2.2 million viewers on ABC. ESPN announced that viewership peaked at 2.8 million and was the third-most-watched WNBA game ever on ABC. The matchup drew 76% more viewers than the average regular-season WNBA game on ABC last year. Clark had missed five games with a quad injury, during which time WNBA ratings sagged—although Indiana games even without Clark still did pretty well, all things considered, as Front Office Sports’s Colin Salao documented.
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WNBA TV ratings down more than 50 percent with Caitlin Clark sidelined
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark’s absence due to a strained left quad has had a significant impact on WNBA TV ratings. The league's TV ratings have declined with Clark sidelined. Nationally televised WNBA viewership is down 55% since her injury, according to Nielsen. Fever national TV games are down 53% since Clark's injury – 1,810,000 average viewers before her injury and 847,000 viewers since her injury for Fever national TV games.
Lead ESPN NBA sideline reporter Lisa Salters will miss Sunday’s NBA Finals Game 2 on ABC, according to a network press release. Jorge Sedano, who had been covering the Finals as a sideline reporter for ESPN Radio, will replace her. (Vanessa Richardson will fill in for Sedano on radio.) In a statement, ESPN said Salters is out due to personal reasons. Her partner and ESPN colleague, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White, also missed her team’s game Saturday night for personal reasons.
Angel Reese initially signed with Reebok in 2023, and agreed to a multi-year extension with the company in October 2024, which will include a signature shoe to be released in 2026. While Reese has not yet met Allen Iverson in person, she is thrilled to have him in her corner. "I love Allen Iverson," Reese said prior to the Sky's matchup with the Indiana Fever at the United Center. "He has that mentality of a dog, he's a killer. No matter what he goes out there and gives his all every night and that's what I try to do, good or bad, I always try to give my all. It's always great to have him in my corner."
Scott Agness: WNBA issues statement 10 days after start of investigation of fans from Sky at Fever. "Based on information gathered to date, including from relevant fans, team and arena staff, as well as audio and video review of the game, we have not substantiated it."
Caitlin Clark out at least a couple of weeks
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will be out at least two weeks with a left quad strain, the team announced Monday. Further updates will be provided following reevaluation, the team said. Fever coach Stephanie White said that she wasn't sure when the injury happened but that Clark reported some pain in her leg after the team's loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday. Clark subsequently underwent an MRI and was diagnosed with the strain, although White said she did not know its grade.
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The Fever averaged 17,036 fans in 20 games last year, slightly higher than the 16,718 for the Pacers during the 2024–25 regular season. According to TickPick, the average purchase price for Fever tickets ahead of the 2025 season was $149, up from $79 last year. That’s more expensive than the average purchase price of both the Pacers’ regular-season games ($72) and first two playoff rounds ($131). National TV ratings are comparable: The Pacers averaged 1.08 million viewers across nine regular-season games on ESPN and TNT this year, a number the Fever passed for 18 regular-season games last year. The Fever’s season opener last Friday against the Sky drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC, the most-watched WNBA game ever on ESPN platforms, and more than any Pacers regular-season game this year.
As popular as the Fever have become, it’s unlikely they can immediately bridge the valuation gap with the Pacers. The WNBA is about a third of the age of the NBA and has only recently found its footing as a league. The Pacers were valued at $3.6 billion by Forbes last year, while reports indicate the next WNBA expansion team is expected to be valued at around $200 million to $250 million—though the Liberty recently raised capital that valued the team at $450 million, according to The Athletic.
The Indiana Fever’s 93-58 win over the Chicago Sky last Saturday drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC. That set a record for the most-viewed WNBA regular-season game across ESPN networks and is believed to be the most-viewed WNBA regular-season game in 25 years, since the era when NBC aired the WNBA. The game peaked at 3.1 million viewers.
Caitlin Clark: LeBron James is the GOAT to me
After the game, James took to social media again to congratulate Clark on her latest triple-double — a gesture that left the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year in awe. "That's one of my idols. LeBron is the GOAT to me," Clark said during her Monday media session. "He really does follow the WNBA. He watches and he loves and appreciates basketball and he loves and appreciates the way the Fever and my teammates play. I didn't see [his post] before the game, but a lot of people sent it to me."
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