Indiana Fever Interest Thrives Even Without Caitlin Clark

Indiana Fever Lead WNBA Ratings

All of the most watched games this year have involved the Fever, which should come as no surprise. However, Indiana's games without Clark continue to outpace the rest of the WNBA.

The best way to illustrate this is to note that the Las Vegas Aces vs New York Liberty contest from July 8 was the most viewed ESPN WNBA non-Fever regular season game since 1999. The Liberty victory notched 701,000 viewers.

Meanwhile, the Fever vs Liberty game from July 22, without Clark, drew nearly 1.2 million viewers on the same network.

The above continues a trend. For instance, the Fever's game against the Dallas Wings on June 27 pulled over a million viewers, in another contest without Clark playing. That made it the highest-rated game Clark did not play in ever aired on ION.

Then there are the contests against the Chicago Sky. Sunday's Fever-Sky game drew strong numbers even without both Clark and Angel Reese playing.

The Fever win snagged 1.5 million viewers on ABC, which pairs with the 1.9 million who saw Indiana's previous victory over the Sky that aired on CBS—both games Clark missed and both ranking in the top-ten most watched WNBA broadcasts this season.

To be clear, that's a far cry from the season opener between the two aforementioned squads—which was the most watched game ever aired on ESPN platforms (nabbing an audience of 2.7 million on ABC).

Still, it's clear that fans are supporting Kelsey Mitchell and company in her backcourt mate's absence. Because though Clark remains the biggest driver of interest in the WNBA by far, her team is still on top of the rest of the pack ratings-wise when she is sidelined.