Many of the W’s best players — such as A’ja Wilson, Brenna Stewart and Diana Taurasi — were part of the USA Basketball squad that claimed gold in the French capital this summer.
One player that wasn’t a part of Team USA’s golden success was Caitlin Clark.
The 22-year-old was controversially left off the team as head coach Cheryl Reeve plumped for a more ‘senior’ squad instead.
The former Iowa Hawkeyes sharpshooter became the biggest thing in college basketball over the past few years,
and that has continued into the pros after she was selected No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever.
‘The Caitlin Clark effect’ became a tangible thing due to her unprecedented impact on the popularity of women’s basketball,
and now, at the halfway point in the season, the Fever have released the numbers to back it up.
The Fever have sold 100 percent of season-ticket inventory, their attendance is up 264 percent from 2023 and they lead the league in attendance with an average of 16,898 fans per game (nearly 4,200 more fans per contest than the next-closest team).
As a result of the increased attendances, hot dog sales are up 300% so far this year while 2,826 gallons of draft beer have been sold in 2024 (+740%) .
In terms of merchandise, the Fever have seen a 1,193% increase in jersey sales from last year, while team store transactions are up 700% from 2023.
They’ve also broke the franchise single-game merchandise sales record four times.
The team also set broadcast records for the most-viewed WNBA games on ABC, ESPN, NBA TV and Ion networks, and it has played in the 12 most-watched WNBA games this season.
Their 38 games on national TV this year are the most in the WNBA and each of Clark’s remaining 14 games in the 2024 regular season are scheduled to be broadcast on national TV,
Social media metrics have also felt the full force of Clarkmania.
The Fever have added 1.3 million followers since April 15th (when Clark was drafted), and have more social media views than any other WNBA, NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB team over the last four months – around 800 million views.
Elsewhere, the Fever have seen a 225% increase in corporate partnerships and have the largest number of team sponsors in the WNBA (Eli Lilly became Indiana’s jersey patch sponsor in May).
Clark also participated in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, which drew record numbers. The game peaked with 4.1 million viewers and averaged a record 3.4 million, topping the 2023 All-Star Game viewership by 300 percent.
Clark, alongside longtime rival Angel Reese, helped Team WNBA upset the 12-player US Olympic squad, 117-109 – a rare defeat for a team who has won the last eight Olympic golds medals.
With the world going Clark mad, the WNBA has just announced that Indianapolis will host the 2025 WNBA All-Star game. Indianapolis is one of four cities with a WNBA franchise that has never hosted All-Star weekend, but that’s now changed in part because of Clark.
It follows the news that the Fever rookie, as well as Reese, will be featured in the upcoming video game NBA 2K25 which is released in early September.
Much was made of Clark’s paltry WNBA rookie contract when she was drafted, especially in light of the millions last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama was making.
Under the current agreement, Clark is earning $76,535 from the standard rookie base salary structure. However, she’s set to make substantially more after securing lucrative endorsement deals with the likes of Nike, Gatorade, State Farm and Wilson.
Clark’s effect on the basketball court has been evident too.
The Fever are returning from the Olympic break at 11-15 and are on the verge of eclipsing their win total from 2023.
They’re also seventh in the WNBA playoff standings while Clark is currently the WNBA assists leader with 8.2 per game.
Through 26 games, she’s averaging 17.1 points per game and 5.8 rebounds, and is the runaway favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors – an award that comes with a $5,150 bonus.
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Source: New York Post
