Fever dream high
From The GIST Sports Biz (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hello!
The WNBA regular season went out with a bang on Thursday night as 20,711 fans streamed into D.C.’s Capital One Arena to see the Indiana Fever take on the Washington Mystics. The game shattered the WNBA’s regular season attendance record, which is very on-brand for a Fever game in 2024.
- Keep scrolling to see just how much Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark changed the women’s game by bringing back that late ’90s-level WNBA hype. Throwback.
WNBA
🔥 Too hot to handle
The GIST: When Caitlin Clark declared for the WNBA Draft, interest in the Indiana Fever — one of the WNBA’s worst teams in 2023 — spiked overnight. Now that Clark has a full season under her belt, the regular-season numbers prove just how much she changed the WNBA — and there’s still more to come in the postseason. Fever dream high.
Last season: Indiana frequented the bottom of WNBA table for the last several years, landing the franchise back-to-back No. 1 draft picks in 2023 and 2024. Despite nabbing South Carolina phenom Aliyah Boston last year, the Fever ranked second-to-last in W home attendance with an average of 4K fans and only one of its 40 games aired on ESPN in 2023.
2024 viewership: Per Sportico, 21 of the 24 WNBA broadcasts this season with over 1M viewers featured Clark. Before this year, the WNBA hadn’t crossed the 1M viewership threshold for any single game since 2008. Increased access helped boost these numbers: The W put 38 of the Fever’s 40 games on national TV in 2024. Ready for their close-up.
2024 attendance: This season, the Fever packed the house when hooping at home, averaging a WNBA–record 17,035 fans. And Clark didn’t just drive attendance in Indiana — every team’s attendance improved this year. The Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury welcomed historic crowds when hosting the Fever, and average league-wide attendance was at its highest since 1999.
- In order to make these records possible, several WNBA teams flexed their venues for increased capacity when playing against Clark. For example, the Aces can only host 12K at its home court, but moved a July matchup to T-Mobile Arena that welcomed a record 20,366 fans.
2024 postseason: Clark helped the Fever reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016, meaning the Clark Effect will also extend to postseason action. Indiana’s first playoff game — an away loss to the Connecticut Sun yesterday — drew 8,910 fans, and according to TickPick, the cheapest seats for the first-round matchup cost more than the cheapest tickets for all 2023 WNBA Finals games.
- The Fever likely won’t make a deep playoff run, but Clark will remain a draw in early rounds, which should influence the W’s postseason viewership and attendance averages. And again, she didn’t just boost the profile for her team — the entire league has benefitted from increased interest in the women’s game. She is the moment.
⚽ ESPN nabs U.S. broadcasting rights for the UK’s Women’s Super League (WSL)
CBS has long been building itself up as a hub for domestic and international soccer in the U.S., but ESPN is quickly closing in on its game. CBS lost out on exclusive NWSL media rights after the league signed a multi-network media rights deal last year, and last Friday, the WSL passed on an exclusive renewal option with CBS, opting for a one-year agreement with ESPN.
🏀 Philadelphia and Houston pursuing 16th WNBA expansion franchise
After the WNBA confirmed Wednesday that Portland would get the league’s 15th franchise, other cities on the shortlist started making moves. The same day, Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker announced that city government and the NBA’s 76ers ownership agreed on a deal for a new arena in Center City after years of local opposition, which could potentially help Philly nab a franchise.
- And on Thursday, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta — who boasts a $13.8B net worth — said he’s been chatting with the W to add Houston to the list and bring a team back to the city, which was famously once home to the Comets dynasty. H-Town vicious.
🏆 A’ja Wilson unanimously won the 2024 WNBA MVP award, adding to an illustrious year that includes inking a long-awaited signature Nike deal and inclusion on Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people list.
🗽 The NY Liberty made two major moves in the fashion space last week: A partnership with cult clothing brand Off-White and a Nike Sabrina 2 colorway inspired by popular Liberty mascot Ellie the Elephant. And one.
💸 After Nike suddenly announced CEO John Donahoe is stepping down, shares were up more than 9% in Thursday after-hours trading, signaling a move in the right direction amid the brand’s job cuts and revenue dips.
👀 Warner Bros. Discovery and TBS are still fighting the NBA’s refusal to renew media rights, alleging TBS followed protocol by matching Amazon’s package despite the league’s claim that the bid was insufficient.
🏈 Las Vegas Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan and Carolina Panthers president Kristi Coleman made history Sunday, marking the first time two NFL teams with women presidents have faced off in league history.
🃏 An autographed Caitlin Clark WNBA draft rookie card sold for $84K last week, setting a record for the most expensive women’s sports card in history. Who doesn’t love a good Panini?
Together With Columbia University
Ready to give your sports career a Big Apple boost? Then register for Columbia University’s fifth annual Sports Management Conference on October 10th, hosted by the school’s acclaimed Sports Management Master’s program.
- Don’t miss out on your chance to learn from the sharpest minds in the industry, like former WNBA president Val Ackerman, as they discuss next steps in the women’s sports renaissance. Snag your ticket today.
Here’s what has The GIST team currently hyped:
🛍 What to shop
The Béis Commuter Collection. Travel in style with sleek, water-repellant bags designed to keep your life organized on the go.
🏃♂️ What to know
Boston Marathon qualifying just got harder…by five minutes. That might not sound like much, but these new times are shaking up the running world.
⚽ What to support
The “End Abuse in Women’s Football” campaign. Proceeds from this shirt support Common Goal, an org working toward a safer, more equitable world of sport.
Today's email was brought to you by Aryanna Prasad and Briana Ekanem. Fact checking by Bonnie Lee. Editing by Molly Potter. Operations by Elisha Gunaratnam and Lisa Minutillo. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster and Alessandra Puccio. Managing edits by Molly Potter and Ellen Hyslop.