Indiana Fever Interest Thrives Even Without Caitlin Clark

The Indiana Fever continue to pace the WNBA in viewership, including games with Caitlin Clark out of the lineup.

Jul 27, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Injured Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts during the first half of a basketball game against the Chicago Sky at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Breaking news: WNBA viewership drops when Caitlin Clark doesn't play. That includes games involving the Indiana Fever, and of course across the entire league as well. But said subject has been covered plenty.

Underneath the obvious is another interesting story, the fact that the Fever continue to outpace the rest of the league whether Clark plays or not.

This is of course a testament to fans growing attached to the team as a whole and supporting the squad that has had to make due without the transcendent superstar for much of the 2025 season.

Numbers are down without Caitlin Clark obviously, but Fever continue to outpace everyone else. Which is a testament to fans attaching to the team.

— Robin Lundberg (@robinlundberg) July 29, 2025

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.

The numbers from last night’s nationally televised Aces-Liberty game are in: The Liberty win averaged 701K viewers, peaking at 813K on ESPN.

It was the most-watched non-Indiana WNBA game on ESPN (E1) since 1999

— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) July 9, 2025

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.

This past Sunday, ABC aired another of its most-watched #WNBA games EVER with the @IndianaFever's win over the @chicagosky 👏

🏀 1.5M avg. viewers (1.7M peak)
🏀 WNBA on ESPN up 6% from last season pic.twitter.com/Ecy10i5JEO

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) July 29, 2025

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 rank 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.