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ESPN Makes Historic Caitlin Clark Decision Before WNBA Season

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Parker Johnson | Last updated Apr 15, 2025 11:34 AM ET

It does not matter when or where Caitlin Clark is playing basketball, people want to watch the Indiana Fever superstar.

During the 2024 season, the Fever played on national television 36 times in 40 games. Broadcasts of WNBA games involving Clark averaged 1.19 million viewers, while games without Clark averaged just 394,000.

This year, 41 of the Fever's 44 WNBA regular season games will be nationally televised, starting with the 2025 season-opener against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on May 17 on ABC.

According to The Athletic, ESPN – which will air the Fever 10 times, including games on ABC – is not stopping there.

For the first time in history, ESPN will air a WNBA preseason game between the Fever and the Brazil National Team on May 4.

The game will be on ESPN at 6 p.m. ET, unless there is a Game 7 in the NBA playoffs that day, in which case Clark and the Fever would move to ESPN2.

Indiana organized the exhibition at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where Clark played four seasons of college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Tickets for the preseason showcase sold out within 45 minutes of being listed.

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It is appropriate that Clark is helping break new frontiers at her old stomping ground, where her popularity first took off. On her way to setting the all-time NCAA scoring record for the Hawkeyes, Clark's teams accounted for the three most-watched women's college basketball games of all time, all during the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Iowa's Final Four game against UConn drew 14.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched basketball game on the ESPN network in history, men's or women's, college or professional.

The 2024 NCAA championship against South Carolina went onto surpass that number, averaging a mind-blowing 18.7 million viewers on ABC.

There is plenty of history to suggest that ESPN is making a strong bet televising any game involving Caitlin Clark, even one in the preseason.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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